This is the first of a series on the Blue Revolution.  Visionaries have of course dreamed of something similar, as for example,  Homer's  Odyssey  from the 8th century BC describes the floating island of  Aeolus .  Jules Verne advanced his Self-Propelled Island in 1895, inhabited entirely by millionaires.  Today, they would be billionaires.  He mentioned submarines, and global adventures ( like   Around the World in 80 Days ), even suggesting the use of hydrogen.  But these were elemental topics, a few linking to our ultimate concept of a real Blue Revolution. Nicolaus Copernicus in the early 1500's formulated a model of the Universe that placed the Sun, rather than Earth, at the center.  He had connections and was careful not to seriously offend the Church.  He lived to a ripe old age of 69.  Scholars like Fillipo Bruno of the Dominican order had a belief in other worlds.  That was around 1600, and he was convicted of heresy by the Inquisition and burned at the stake in Rome