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Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM

Monday, March 8, 2004 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium

Catherine Asaro

"Science and Science Fiction"

ABSTRACT -- "What If?" That central question drives the literature of science fiction. Speculative stories, when based on solid science, can provide an entertaining medium for communicating ideas in our fields and inspiring readers to learn more about our disciplines. In this talk, I will discuss science as used in science fiction, drawing in part from my own works: the mathematical games with complex numbers and superluminal speeds in my novel Primary Inversion, as based on my April 1996 paper in the American Journal of Physics, "Complex Speeds and Special Relativity". I will also talk about the science in some popular media, in particular the classic "Trouble with Tribbles" episode from the original Star Trek.

SPEAKER -- Catherine Asaro was born in Oakland, California. She received her PhD in Chemical Physics and MA in Physics, both from Harvard, and a BS with Highest Honors in Chemistry from UCLA. Among the places she has done research are the University of Toronto in Canada, the Max Planck Institut fur Astrophysik in Germany, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Her research involves using quantum theory to describe the behavior of atoms and molecules. Catherine was a physics professor until 1990, when she established Molecudyne Research, which she currently runs. A former ballerina, Catherine has performed with ballets and in musicals on both coasts and in Ohio. In the 1980's she was a principal dancer and artistic director of the Mainly Jazz Dancers and the Harvard University Ballet. She still teaches ballet. Catherine's fiction is a blend of hard science fiction, romance, and space adventure. She has published nine novels, including the Nebula Award winning "The Quantum Rose". Catherine has also published short fiction in Analog magazine and in several anthologies, as well as reviews, essays, and scientific papers. Her paper, "Complex Speeds and Special Relativity" in the April 1996 issue of The American Journal of Physics forms the basis for some of the science in her novels. Catherine was also recently elected vice president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (SFWA). Her husband is John Kendall Cannizzo, an astrophysicist at NASA. They have one daughter, a young ballet dancer who loves math.




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