It’s from Dune. The author (Frank Herbert) wanted to create a world where swordfighting and high-technology existed side-by-side, so he made personal defensive shields that admitted slow-moving things (e.g., a knife or a cool breeze) but blocked fast-moving things (e.g., bullets).
Then he had to figure out why people wouldn’t just shoot each other with “lasguns” (his equivalent to phasers), so he made a lasgun/shield interaction cause the equivalent of a small nuclear explosion, which would kill shooter and shield wearer alike.