A Skeptical Look at Fiction Science: A talk by Andrew Fraknoi May 16, 2008

Nancy Reagan's Astrologer, Roswell, the "Face" on Mars, and a Young Universe:

Thanks to the popular media, an enormous amount of attention has been given to some pretty amazing claims on the fringes of astronomy. These include the idea that your life path and romantic destiny are determined by the position of objects in the sky at the moment of your birth; that extraterrestrial space-craft have regularly landed on our planet (and kidnapped innocent citizens without being noticed); that an ancient race left us a message on the planet Mars in the shape of a human face; and that the entire cosmos is less than 10,000 years old.
ﾠ
In this illustrated talk, astronomer and popular lecturer Andrew Fraknoi will discuss the most famous fiction science claims related to astronomy, and provide the background and analysis needed to appreciate them properly. He will unveil some recent detective work about these cases, and show how there is often a lot LESS to them than initially meets the eye. And he will show how a few skeptical questions and a bit of careful investigation can often help bring these extra-ordinary cosmic claims down to Earth.
ﾠ
Andrew Fraknoi is the Chair of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College and Senior Educator at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. He served as the Society's Executive Director for 14 years, and has organized over 20 national workshops on teaching astronomy. Fraknoi is the lead author of Voyages Through the Universe, which has become one of the leading astronomy textbooks in the country and recently wrote a book for children, Disney's Wonderful World of Space. In 2007, he was selected as the California Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Endowment for Higher Education and won the Gemant Prize of the American Institute of Physics.

Doors open at 6pm, talk starts at 6:30pm. As usual you are invited to join the speaker at a local restaurant after the talk.

$10 for general public, free for Friends of the Center.

Official Website: http://centerforinquiry.net/sf