Sci-Fi Meets Sci-Fact on the Campus Lecture Circuit

Last night a very entertaining, interesting and enlightening event took place at Arizona State University. Internationally known physicist Lawrence Krauss and actor Armin Shimerman (Quark from “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) captivated the assembled audience with a warp speed journey through the fantasies of science fiction via the “Star Trek” universe and the exciting possibilities the are out there in the real-live universe we gaze at when we look up to the heavens.

The multimedia presentation, which required a reservation but was free and open to the general public, began at 7:30 p.m. at the Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway, in Tempe, Arizona and was hosted by the Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science.

Krauss, a professor of physics and astronomy at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, author of “The Physics of Star Trek,” and avid SF junkie, talked about topics ranging from time travel to warp speed, from the Big Bang to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Shimerman, who, besides starring in “DS9,” also has appeared in a dozen different science fiction TV shows, brought a cache of science fiction with him for the event. Shimerman also is an author, writing a series of science fiction novels under the Merchant Prince title.

The talk – “Beyond the Star Trek Universe” – was the first in what is planned to be an annual “science behind science fiction” event, said Paul Davies, director of ASU’s research center Beyond.

You can learn more about the Center and future lectures of this nature at the their online Website beyond.asu.edu.