Science Fiction that Became Science (and Some that Didn’t) – clip

Charles Adler / St. Mary’s College of Maryland

The life of Eldrick Tont, aka “Tiger” Woods reads like a Shakespearean drama or Greek tragedy. Tiger burst onto the Science fiction in the movies and on TV has shown us incredible gadgets and extraordinary phenomena that aren’t real … yet.  But could they be?  And how can we decipher the real science from the fake?  In this course, Professor Adler will consider several ideas from science fiction — including colonies on other planets, flying cars, and the “warp drive” — to see which ones worked, which ones didn’t, and which ones might still be possible.  More importantly, we also will look at the scientific and societal reasons why.