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| SEMINAR |
THE PHYSICS OF STAR TREK
On Tuesdays, 14:15 - 15:45
Room: 403/Süd (EKM)
Start: April 24, 2001 (SS 2001)
Also available on CD!! Klick here! |
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| Title |
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Seminar about the physics of Star Trek |
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peter.lunkenheimer____antispam____@physik.uni-augsburg.de |
| Seminar details |
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| Certificate: | Yes, A or B, after own lecture |
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| Contents |
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What we call science fiction today is often the scientific reality of tomorrow. We will discuss if the many technical wonders described in "Star Trek" are consistent with today's knowledge of the universe. The answer is - this is indeed the case for many of them. Teleportation ("beaming") of individual photons, e.g., is already possible today and will soon be for atoms as well. The space distortions, needed for velocity faster than light ("warp drive") without violating Einstein's relativity has been exactly calculated (but how does one distort space?). Stephen Hawking says: "The physics that underlies Star Trek is surely worth investigating". This shall be attempted in this seminar. |
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(Preliminary) lecture topics:
- Space distortions (worm holes, black holes, other dimensions, etc.)
- Space propulsion technology (current technology, NASA's remote future projects, warp drive)
- Inertia damper, tractor beam, camouflage and others
- "Scotty beam me up" - beaming, replicator, and holodeck (current experiments on teleportation, application to macroscopic objects, uncertainty relation,...)
- Are time travels possible?
- Extraterrestrial life (What do we learn from SETI, life on Mars?,...)
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