That SF has anticipated and/or even come out in first instance with some of the most creative ideas now seriously considered for scientific research is nothing new. Just think about the Ringworld concept, or hypersleep (with or without cryogenic components). Or the amazing Dyson sphere, which is one of my favourites ever.
A hypothetical Dyson sphere
In case you’re not familiar with this pure wonder, a Dyson sphere is a (still hypothetical) structure that encompasses a star, capturing its energy. It takes his name by the theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson, which, in turn, declared to have been inspired by the 1937 science fiction novel Star Maker. Yes, correct, a SF book. He allegedly said “some science fiction writers have wrongly given me the credit of inventing the artificial biosphere. In fact, I took the idea from Olaf Stapledon, one of their own colleagues.”
Now it seems we’re at it again.
The black hole presented in the Christopher Nolan’s movie Interstellar is apparently the most scientifically accurate rendition even attempted. At the point that it’s now used for theoretical research. Thanks to the involvement in the movie of Kip Thorne, a world’s leading black hole astrophysicist from Caltech, and some cutting-edge visual effects (VFX), this brand new representation has led to some new discoveries (and some academic papers) about how a black hole would appear if we could give it a close look.
“Neither wormholes or black holes have been depicted in any Hollywood movie in the way they actually would appear.” Kip Thorne said in an interview. “This is the first time that the depiction (of a black hole) began with Einstein’s general relativity equations.”
I am going to discuss more in detail black holes, in astrophysics and in fiction, in future posts. For the moment, I am simply in awe.