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A
Listing Compiled by Andrew Fraknoi (Foothill College)
Version 4.7; July 2006
©
copyright 2006 Andrew Fraknoi (e-mail: fraknoiandrew {at} fhda.edu)
All rights reserved.
This
is a selective list of some short stories and novels that use
more or less accurate science and can be used for teaching or
reinforcing astronomy or physics concepts. I include both traditional
"science-fiction" and (occasionally) more serious fiction
that derives meaning or plot from astronomy or physics ideas.
The titles of short stories are given in quotation marks; only
short stories that have been published in book form are included.
While one book source is given for each short story, note that
some of the stories can be found in other collections as well.
The author welcomes suggestions for additions to or subtractions
from this list, especially if your favorite story with good science
is left out.
TOPICS:
Anti-matter
Archaeoastronomy
Asteroids
Astronomers
Black Holes
Comets
Cosmology (The Universe as a Whole)
Dark Matter
Galaxies
Galaxy (The Milky Way)
Gravitational Lenses
Impacts (of Asteroids & Comets)
Jupiter (and its Satellites)
Life Elsewhere (Plausible Examples)
Light and Radiation
Mars
Mercury
Meteorites
Moon, The
Neptune (and its Satellites)
Neutrinos
Neutron Stars
Physics, Particle
Pluto
Quantum Mechanics
Quasars
Relativity (Special Theory of)
Saturn (and its Satellites)
Science in General
SETI: The Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence
Solar System: General
Space Travel
Star Clusters
Stars
Sun
Supernovae
Telescopes
Time
Uranus (and its Satellites)
Venus
A Few Short Story Collections
with Good Science
Anti-matter
Davies,
Paul Fireball. 1987, Heinemann. Antimatter micrometeorites
threaten Earth.
Niven,
Larry "Flatlander" in Neutron Star. 1968, Ballantine.
Two explorers find a high-speed protostar and a planet made of
antimatter, passing through the Galaxy.
back
to topic list
Archaeoastronomy
Harrison,
Harry & Stover, Leon Stonehenge. 1972, Scribners. A
novel by a science fiction writer and an anthropologist.
back
to topic list
Asteroids
Baxter,
Stephen "Pilot" in Vacuum Diagrams. 1997, Harper Prism.
Future space travelers hollow out Chiron and use it as a spaceship
to escape invading aliens.
Clarke,
Arthur "Summertime on Icarus" in The Nine Billion
Names of God. 1967, Signet. An astronaut is stranded on Icarus,
the asteroid with the smallest perihelion distance, just as it
is approaching the Sun.
Hoyle,
Fred "Element 79" in Element 79. 1967, New American
Library. An asteroid with significant amount of gold wreaks havoc
with the Earth's economy.
Preuss,
Paul "Small Bodies" in Preiss, Byron, ed. The Planets.
1985, Bantam. A fundamentalist preacher and a scientist find fossils
on an asteroid.
See
also under "Impacts"
back
to topic list
Astronomers
Banville,
John Doctor Copernicus. 1976, Godine. A fictionalized
biography of the astronomer.
Banville,
John Kepler: A Novel. 1981, Godine. Fictionalization of
Kepler's life.
Benford,
Gregory Timescape. 1981, Bantam Spectra. Eater. 2000,
Eos/HarperCollins. Many of the novels of physicist Benford portray
what it is like to be a scientist. In these two books, some of
the astronomer characters are based on real astronomers.
Bezzi,
Tom Hubble Time. 1987, Mercury House. A fictional memoir
of Hubble's life; gets some of the facts wrong, but an intriguing
effort.
Brecht,
Bertold Galileo. A 1938 stage play available alone (Grove
Press) or in many collections; not historically accurate, but
with strong political points to make.
Stover,
Barrie Lamp at Midnight. 1966, Bantam Books. Revised edition
of a 1942 play about Galileo and his conflict with the Church.
Willis,
Connie "Schwarzschild Radius" in Preiss, Byron &
Fraknoi, Andrew, eds. The Universe. 1987, Bantam. Haunting
story combines episodes from the life of Karl Schwarzschild and
black hole images.
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to topic list
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