The Cloudy Crystal Ball: Does Science Fiction Predict the Future?
Location
Janet Ayers Academic Center, JAAC 4094
Presentation Type
Presentation
Start Date
19-9-2019 2:00 PM
Description
The Apollo 11 Moon landing 50 years ago fulfilled one of the dreams of science fiction fans: the first step in humanity’s exploration of the solar system. But the following decades did not turn out exactly as hoped; we still have not colonized the solar system, contacted alien races, or even built a decent jetpack for personal travel. Dr. Scherrer will draw on his experience as a scientist and science fiction writer to examine the extent to which science fiction has predicted the future: when has it hit the mark, and when has it failed miserably? And what accounts for these hits and misses? Dr. Robert Scherrer is Professor and Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Vanderbilt University. His research area is cosmology, encompassing work on dark energy, dark matter, big bang nucleosynthesis, and the large-scale structure of the universe. He is also the author of a quantum mechanics textbook and has published several popular science articles and science fiction short stories. He maintains a blog, Cosmic Yarns, on science and science fiction.
Recommended Citation
Scherrer, Robert, "The Cloudy Crystal Ball: Does Science Fiction Predict the Future?" (2019). Humanities Symposium. 11.
https://repository.belmont.edu/humanities_symposium/2019/2019/11
The Cloudy Crystal Ball: Does Science Fiction Predict the Future?
Janet Ayers Academic Center, JAAC 4094
The Apollo 11 Moon landing 50 years ago fulfilled one of the dreams of science fiction fans: the first step in humanity’s exploration of the solar system. But the following decades did not turn out exactly as hoped; we still have not colonized the solar system, contacted alien races, or even built a decent jetpack for personal travel. Dr. Scherrer will draw on his experience as a scientist and science fiction writer to examine the extent to which science fiction has predicted the future: when has it hit the mark, and when has it failed miserably? And what accounts for these hits and misses? Dr. Robert Scherrer is Professor and Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Vanderbilt University. His research area is cosmology, encompassing work on dark energy, dark matter, big bang nucleosynthesis, and the large-scale structure of the universe. He is also the author of a quantum mechanics textbook and has published several popular science articles and science fiction short stories. He maintains a blog, Cosmic Yarns, on science and science fiction.
Comments
Convocation Credit: Society and the Arts & Sciences