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Re: "Science in Science Fiction"



As long as we're speaking about science fiction, what happened to the
Cassini 'special' that we all heard about at the AAPT meeting last summer?
I thought that little photon was supposed to save science education last
November. Do any of you know anything about this??

Sam


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Sam Sampere
Syracuse University
Department of Physics
Syracuse (Where all the snow is NOT..), NY 13244



On Mon, 27 Apr 1998, Dewey Dykstra, Jr. wrote:

Does anyone on this list teach or know someone who teaches a "Science in
Science Fiction" type course? I would appreciate any info you might have.
Thanks.

Teresa Hein

Teresa:
Science fiction has for a long time been an intereste of mine. I do not
teach such a course, but there have been those who do. You should look
back in the AAPT Announcer at meetings during the mid-late 80's. There was
a series of sessions on this topics. As I recall Gordon Aubrecht had
something to do with them. Marvelous series of sessions.

As for some specific references:

Tales from the White Hart by Arthur C. Clarke
Where Do We Go From Here? I. Asimov (ed)

One of the sessions was about using planetary "design" for science fiction
as a capstone course for science majors. Hal Clement (pen name) was an
invited speaker. His books are classic examples of this genre.

Good luck.

Dewey

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dewey I. Dykstra, Jr. Phone: (208)385-3105
Professor of Physics Dept: (208)385-3775
Department of Physics/MCF421/418 Fax: (208)385-4330
Boise State University dykstrad@bsumail.idbsu.edu
1910 University Drive Boise Highlanders
Boise, ID 83725-1570 novice piper

"Physical concepts are the free creations of the human mind and
are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external
world."--A. Einstein in The Evolution of Physics with L. Infeld,
1938.
"Every [person's] world picture is and always remains a construct
of [their] mind and cannot be proved to have any other existence."
--E. Schrodinger in Mind and Matter, 1958.
"Don't mistake your watermelon for the universe." --K. Amdahl in
There Are No Electrons, 1991.
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