Science fiction history is full of strange occurrences, and it's easy to imagine some wild alternate histories of the genre. And without some bolts from the blue, science fiction could have turned into something way less interesting. Here are 12 happy accidents that helped save science fiction.

In 1956, Astounding Science Fiction gushed about the wonders of a reactionless space drive invented in 1956 by Norman L. Dean. It could propel a converted atomic submarine into space, editor John W. Campbell wrote. He added, "The modern nuclear submarine is, in fact, a fully competent space-vehicle . . . lacking only…

The most remarkable stories of the period did create a world of computers, of trips to outer space, of missiles, of a science-important culture. To those of us who remember the golden age, we are now living in a science-fictional world, and one which Campbell's science fiction did significantly succeed in creating.