Week 1: The Science of Science Fiction

[slaven41]

Just finished week 1 of a 3 week course titled "Build Your Own World: The Science of Science Fiction." I've had the students reading the first four chapters of Lawrence Krauss's "The Physics of Star Trek," a couple of excerpts from Robert Zubrin's "Entering Space," and bits of Scientific American articles on the future of space propulsion. We watched "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", "Apollo 13", and an old Nova episode on time travel. Oh, and short stories by Robert J. Sawyer ("Shoulders of Giants") and Gregory Benford ("Sanctuary").

I've got a small (5), but eager group of students, and so far I like how the course is going. Next week I'll have them start designing their own scifi settings.