Thanks for your insightful comments, Daniel. I tend to be a bit "anal" (ala Freud) when it comes to details, so I do get annoyed with Hollywood when they screw them up. Forgive me if I rail too much. Kim -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of daniel turner Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2008 2:33 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Radio Astronomy Question Kim: I wouldn't be too harsh on the creators of "Contact". They did after all hire Carl Sagan to help them get the science at least close to right, though I doubt Carl had final review on screenplay. You will find pockets of ignorance all over the place in movies and television. Recently an episode of Nova had Issac Newton peering at the sky through the wrong end of his telescope. This was followed by a special on John Dobson where John freely admits that he has never taken a course in astronomy, yet he feels free to rail against physicts who actually know something about the science. I have the greatest respect for John as a teacher of telesope makers and as a science popularizer but as a cosmologist he does more harm than good. The first problem, as I see it, is that the liberal arts college graduates have been carefully cleansed of any knowledge about science, and the scientific method. The people who run the media do not know how little they know about science. They also assume that their level of knowledge is adequate for the rest of us. The second problem, as I see it, is that science is too large for any one man to keep up with and even the giants of science waste their time in dead ends. Kepler tried to force the solar system into his ideas on number sequences. He was wrong. Newton abandoned astronomy and went off into decades of mysticism. He was wrong. Fred Hoyle, after doing pioneer work in nucleosynthesis lost his way with steady state cosmology. He was wrong. It's no supprise then that the average amateur is looking around for transporter beems and trilithium crystals after decades of watching Star Trek. And John Dobson can be excused for his views on cosmology, even though he is dead wrong. We make progress, on funeral at a time. DT __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.3.0/1499 - Release Date: 6/12/2008 7:13 AM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.3.0/1499 - Release Date: 6/12/2008 7:13 AM