About the science: YES. Steampunk loves glorifying science. About the time period... my first reaction would be NONONO, that's lovecraftian era! Don't do it!
The more mature answer is yes, you can have steampunk '20s, but you're going to have to be really careful in crafting your world to scream steampunk and not, say, call of cthulu.
I can pass this on to people who are more active players in the steampunk world, but my gut on this says 1920 is too far forward for steampunk. I think by WWI, we're past the age of steam - aerial combat with internal combustion powered heavier than air craft is pretty clearly early modern, to me.
Yes. Steampunk stories share a lot in terms of tone and outlook with pulp stories in general, so that works just fine overall. I think once you get into "The Twenties" (tm), that's a different era with a different feel, but just about anything between 1860 and WWI can count as "steampunk" and you can fudge the edges in either direction.
I always think of steampunk as being able to do magic...with steam. (Magic as in things we can't do/don't have now, such as a strong but very light weight alloy for the flying machines.)
If we could have done everything with steam, the internal combustion engine might never have been invented.
As long as every engine is a steam engine and your flying crafts aren't airplanes, I think it's all good, no matter the era. And I can imagine both Wodehouse and Agatha Christie stories in steampunk. Jeeves disapproving of Wooster's new fashionable flying helmet and Poirot on a blimp, solving a murder. (Plot bunnies, go away. I don't have time for you today.)
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timeasmymeasure
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The more mature answer is yes, you can have steampunk '20s, but you're going to have to be really careful in crafting your world to scream steampunk and not, say, call of cthulu.
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If we could have done everything with steam, the internal combustion engine might never have been invented.
As long as every engine is a steam engine and your flying crafts aren't airplanes, I think it's all good, no matter the era. And I can imagine both Wodehouse and Agatha Christie stories in steampunk. Jeeves disapproving of Wooster's new fashionable flying helmet and Poirot on a blimp, solving a murder. (Plot bunnies, go away. I don't have time for you today.)