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Friday > Archives
> 1998
> July
> July 24, 1998:
Hour Two: The Star Trek Phenomenon
"But I canna change the laws of physics, Captain!" | That's what Scotty said to Captain Kirk any number of times on the original Star Trek series. Of course, the writers who defined the Trek universe felt free to bend many of those laws - or at least, to push their creations around those laws by using technology and inventions that science knows nothing of today. Since then, there have been nine Star Trek movies, a cartoon, and three other series based on the Star Trek universe, yet scientists are still grappling with some of the basic questions that make the Federation's voyages possible. |  | Physicists and astronomers are trying to figure out if warp drive is theoretically possible, whether or not wormholes through space-time exist (and, if so, whether matter can travel through them), and how to create the amazing amounts of energy that would be needed to power a voyage to other worlds.
But Star Trek is more than just a collection of gee-whiz inventions. It has a worldwide following that nears religious status with some people. From Indiana to Iran, it's almost always possible to find someone who knows what it means to "beam up." Why are Star Trek fans so devoted - and will some of the technology in the Trek world ever exist?
Plus - a patent on a real-life phaser.... on this hour of Science Friday.
Guests:
Jeff Greenwald
Author, "Future Perfect: How Star Trek Conquered Planet Earth" (Viking)
Contributing Editor, Wired
San Francisco, CA
Lawrence Krauss
Author, "The Physics of Star Trek" (Harper Perennial) and "Beyond Star Trek: Physics from Alien Invasions to the End of Time" (Basic Books)
Chairman, Department of Physics
Professor, Astronomy
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH
Eric Herr
Vice President
HSV Technologies
San Diego, CA
Books/Articles Discussed:
"The Physics of Star Trek" by Lawrence Krauss. Harper Perennial, 1996
"Beyond Star Trek: Physics from Alien Invasions to the End of Time," by Lawrence Krauss. Basic Books, 1998.
"Future Perfect: How Star Trek Conquered Planet Earth" by Jeff Greenwald. Viking, 1998.
Related Links:
Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program, NASA Lewis Research Center
Warp Drive, and When? (NASA Lewis Research Center)
Startrek Continuum
The Klingon Language Institute
Trekhoo |
