Lighthearted, quirky, and upbeat, this book explores the portrayal of science and technology on both the big and little screen -- and how Hollywood is actually doing a better job of getting it right than ever before. Grounded in the real-word, and often cutting-edge, science and technology that inspires fictional science, the authors survey Hollywood depictions of topics such as quantum mechanics, parallel universes, and alien worlds. Including material from interviews with over two dozen writers, producers, and directors of acclaimed science-themed productions -- as well as scientists, science fiction authors, and science advisors -- Hollyweird Science examines screen science fiction from the sometimes-conflicting vantage points of storytellers, researchers, and viewers. Including a foreword by Eureka co-creator and executive producer Jaime Paglia, and an afterword by astronomer and science fiction author Michael Brotherton, Ph.D., this book is accessible to all readers fromthe layperson to the armchair expert to the professional scientist, and will delight all of them equally.

Autorentext

Kevin R. Grazier, Ph.D. was a research scientist for fifteen years at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the Cassini/Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan. Still an active researcher, he performs large-scale computer simulations of early Solar System evolution. Grazier served as the science advisor for the film Gravity, and on the television series Eureka, Defiance, Ascension and the Peabody-Award-winning Battlestar Galactica.

Stephen Cass is an Irish science and technology journalist based in New York City. He has been an editor at Discover magazine and MIT Technology Review and has written for outlets such as Popular Science and Nautilus. He has also edited several science fiction anthologies. He is currently geeking it to the max as a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum.

Inhalt

Dedication.-  Acknowledgements.- Foreword.- Introduction.- The Path to Nerdvana.- Hollywood Scientists: Reel and Imaginary.- Matter Matters.- Pure Energy.- Radiation: An All-time Glow.- A Quantum of Weirdness.- My God, It's Full of Stars: The Universe.- Shortcuts Through Time and Space.- Moving in Stereo: Parallel Universes.- Braver Newer Worlds.- Appendices: List of Films and TV Programms.- Further Reading.