looking för roman från 50-talet eller 60-talet

Du tänker troligen på "The Wailing Asteroid" (1960) av Murray Leinster. En favorit av mig som barn, förra året hittade jag filmen baserad på den: "Terrornutsna" (1967) (anpassning av John Brunner)

Now, very reflectively, he plugged in a metal lathe and carefully turned out a very tiny specimen of the peculiarly-shaped magnetic core. He wound it by hand, very painstakingly. It was a tricky job. It was six o'clock Saturday morning when the specimen was finished. He connected the leads to a storage battery and threw the switch. The small object tore itself to bits, and the core landed fifteen feet from where it had been. Burke beamed.