Welcome to Sci-Fi Science

The first science fiction film was released in 1902 and it was called "A Trip to the Moon". That is not to say this was the start of science fiction, it started far earlier. The first evidence of science fiction is rather contested, but in my opinion it started sometime between the 17th and early 19th centuries when we were experiencing a boom in scientific discovery, and the great industrial revolution. Imagine being in that time, making amazing discoveries, but wondering where it will go. What is possible, and what is not?

Films, such as A Trip to the Moon, opened peoples' eyes to the possiblity of leaving the Earth in a spaceship and exploring new worlds. It also opened the debate on the difference between fantasy and science fiction, for example is space travel purely fantasy?

I mentioned earlier that I believe that science fiction commenced somewhere between the 17th and early 19th century. The reason it is contested is that an argument could be made that it was thosands of years ago, based on the idea that we were just as clever then as we are now, but lacked advanced technology. We did seek knowledge and truth, and where we didn't know, or could not explain an observation, we would guess, usually coming up with every increasingly more complex ways to describe the world around us. The sun moving across the sky is a God driving a chariot. The change in the seasons explained by the goddess Persephone spending half the year with Hades. These ideas have created the groundwork to build the concepts of both Science Fiction and Fantasy. The sun moving across the sky, is not the sun moving, but us moving around the sun. The seasons are there because the Earth is tilteed on its axis, so different areas of Earth see different amounts of light and heat as the year progress. Our ancient selves saw what was happening, but were unable to determine why.

Fantasy, science fiction, and science itself, has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I am a professional scientist, a fellow of a learned body no less, and this free website is my way of giving back. I hope to inspire and to educate, and to have a little fun along the way.

How did my journey start? It started with a British TV show called Doctor Who, and two American TV Shows called Star Trek and Stargate SG-1. In Doctor Who, we had a hero who never used a gun, but carried a screwdriver instead, and used his intelligence to solve problems. I always thought the Dcotor was an excellent role model for boys. However, as much as I liked the Doctor (all of them), it was not the Doctor that caught my attention, it was the TARDIS. A living spacehip that was bigger on the inside and can travel anywhere in time and space! Isn't that just captivating? Could a TARDIS be built? is it possible to build something that is bigger on the inside? What does real science say about travelling in time and space?

One of my favourite quotes from Doctor Who was from the talented Jon Pertwee, and that was "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" - it always made me laugh, espeically as back then I knew that neutrons had no polarity. However, science forever increases our understanding and now we know (stretching the point here, but bear with me) that the internal components of the neutron do possess a kind of polairity!

Then with Star Trek, all my friends loved Captain Kirk, and I admit he was a handsome man, but for me, my favourite character was Mr Spock. I loved his logic and the way he interacted with Bones and Kirk. However, for me, the star of the show was the USS Enterprise. A ship that can travel at warp speeds, what is warp speed? Is it theoretically possible to travel faster than light? The idea of using antimatter was fabulous, as antimatter really exists. What is dilithium? Lithium I've heard of, but dilithium?

Finally Stargate SG-1, I loved the story telling, the team, but most of all the wormhole and all the amazing technology. How much of that technology could one day be real? Could advanced species have visited Earth years ago, generating some of our myths?

That's a lot of questions for an introduction. How are we going to move forward, we are going to explotre an eduring question, namely "What happens when imagination meets the laws of nature?"

Why am I investing time building the Sci-Fi Science website, several reasons:

1. I mentioned that it was science fiction that sparked my interest in science. It was science fiction that, as child, made me wonder if it really was possible to travel to other worlds in space ships like the USS Enterprise, to travel in time like the TARDIS, and to meet many different alien lifeforms. Mankind has made such impressive leaps in technology in the last 100 years, imagine what could happen in the next 100 years, or maybe the next 1,000 or 100,0000 years, so just how feasible are some of the concepts seen in Sci-Fi?

2. The connection with fantasy, who does not enjoy a little swords and sorcery,but sadly it is unfortunate that there far too many people who do not understand the difference between fantasy (can never be true) and science fiction (potentially could one day be true, or is theoretically possible, but beyond any capability we can currently imagine, but doesn't mean it's impossible). Sci-Fi Science explore the diffrence, particularly where fantasy borrows from science!

3. At its core, Sci-Fi Science is about curiosity:

• Curiosity about the universe

• Curiosity about our future

• Curiosity about the stories we tell to understand both

Sci-Fi Science will provide clear explanations of the real science behind familiar sci-fi concepts, thoughtful analysis of where fiction departs from reality, and reflections on why these stories continue to matter — even when the science doesn’t add up. For example:

• The real physics behind sci-fi technologies

• The limits imposed by energy, distance, and time

• Why advanced aliens are probably rare — and why they almost certainly haven’t visited Earth

• Where science fiction ends and fantasy begins (and why that boundary is fuzzy)

The menu pillar on the left cascade into a wide variety of sub-topics, whereas the pillar on the right hand side features my personal reviews of books and films, as well as a blog on my thoughts and concerns. Finally, the last topic is a fun section to add addirtional value.

Please feel free to get in contact with me and I will be delighted to add your thoughts to the FAQ sub-topic in My Fun topic.

Enjoy ...