A wide-angle view shows the ascent of the shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986. In the seconds after ignition, the rocket engines' hot blast began the process of destruction. (Photo by NASA)

Female of pygmy hippopotamus called Malaya from Netherlands in zoo in Dvur Kralove nad Labem, Czech Republic, February 22, 2016. (Photo by David Tanecek/CTK via ZUMA Press)

A keeper feeds a four-week-old jaguar while presenting it to the media, at a zoo in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, October 14, 2015. (Photo by Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)

Models wait backstage during the Ukrainian Fashion Week in Kiev, October 16, 2015. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

William Gibson is not one of the authors that spits out novels like a machine – in his long and fruitful career he has only published 11 novels andof short stories and articles in the tens each. Still his impact on modern literature was huge – the “noir prophet” of the cyberpunk subgenre (that he was one of the pioneers of) has predicted the rise of reality television, virtual reality, video games and the internet. He is a Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction writer, with a special eye for what the future might bring.

U.S. Rep Steve Southerland grins after winning an auctioned possum during the Wausau Possum Festival on Saturday, August 2, 2014, in Wausau, Fla. What is usually a must-attend event for statewide candidates was notably lacking of them this year, perhaps because candidates who now raise tens of millions of dollars focus more on television ads than making personal contact. But not attending is a missed opportunity, said Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida political science professor who drove more than 350 miles for the festival. (Photo by Heather Leiphart/AP Photo/The News Herald)

Young women flash the victory sign in front of a bonfire as Turkish Kurds gather during Newroz celebrations for the new year in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, on March 21, 2017. Newroz (also known as Nawroz or Nowruz) is an ancient Persian festival, which is also celebrated by Kurdish people, marking the first day of spring, which falls on March 21. (Photo by Ilyas Akengin/AFP Photo)

Cottbus Aviation Museum specialists prepare a Soviet Tupolev 134 A passenger plane for dismantlement in Gruenz, Germany, 10 July 2017. The team is preparing the 29 ton plane for transport from a garden in Gruenz to the Aviation Museum in Cottbus. The plane' s owner acquired it in 1991 and transported it with nine tractors and numerous helpers to his vegetable garden where he planned to open a cafe. The plane, formerly used by the East German Stasi for anti- terror operations training, is 30 metres long. (Photo by Jens Büttner/Zentralbild/DPA)