Iron Man: The Science in Science Fiction

As Robert Bly not­ed in his book, The Sci­ence in Sci­ence Fic­tion, some of the most intrigu­ing sci­en­tif­ic ideas have orig­i­nat­ed not in labs, but in sci-fi books and movies. With Iron Man 2 hit­ting the screens, Sid­ney Perkowitz, a physi­cist at Emory Uni­ver­si­ty, talks about whether the sci­ence in the new pop movie has any roots in sci­en­tif­ic real­i­ty – or, for that mat­ter, whether it might inspire any new sci­en­tif­ic think­ing down the road. He offers his thoughts above. In addi­tion to writ­ing Hol­ly­wood Sci­ence: Movies, Sci­ence and the End of the World, Perkowitz sits on the advi­so­ry board of the Sci­ence and Enter­tain­ment Exchange, a Nation­al Acad­e­my of Sci­ences pro­gram that tries to bring more sci­en­tif­ic accu­ra­cy to mass mar­ket enter­tain­ment.

Thanks Nicole for the tip on this one.