Weekly Fellows Update
by Deanna Cantrell
With Pluto recently in the news, it is a great opportunity to highlight SPI Fellow Gregory BenfordÔÇÖs article The Pluto of Science Fiction.┬á Mr. Benford┬áis an astrophysicist and science fiction author┬áwho is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. ┬áHe is also a contributing editor of┬áReason┬ámagazine. ┬áBenford is best known for the┬áGalactic Center Saga┬ánovels, a┬áseries that postulates a galaxy┬áin which sentient organic life is in constant warfare with sentient electromechanical life.
For 85 years, Pluto has belonged to the SF writers. Now itÔÇÖs about to get real.
Pluto may be small, but it glimmers with enticing unknowns.
This we do knowÔÇöitÔÇÖs the only planet found by an American, Clyde Tombaugh, who only received a high school education but had a knack for telescopes. He got lucky when he looked in a distant, dark sky for new wonders and found a small speck in 1930.
Pluto also is fantastically cold, at 43 degrees above absolute zero. For much of its orbit, the entire atmosphere freezes out. We may get to see that happening when┬áNASAÔÇÖs New Horizons spacecraft zooms by it this July.
But we are drawn to Pluto for its mystery. In literature, thereÔÇÖs poetic reference by the Hungarian poet┬áRobert Zend, describing the dwarf planet as ÔÇ£the old man who lives alone in the attic, visible only by the glint of the Sun off his pince-nez.ÔÇØ
For the last 85 years, Pluto has belonged to the science fiction writers, who imagined what wonders it might hold. Soon we shall see if any of their ideas hold up.
For the full article, visit Air and Space Magazine