Although science fiction encompasses many different kinds of stories, I've always especially liked hard SF. Hard SF stories attempt to be as consistent as possible with known scientific and engineering principles. Some hand-waving is always required (or it would be contemporary, not science, fiction), but the best hard SF stories do not contradict any know physical law and are internally consistent.

Case Studies

Because of these requirements, hard SF stories require some science homework. They are also subject to analysis with existing scientific tools. This section includes several case studies of situations portrayed in science fiction and analyzes the science behind them.

As always, feedback is welcome! I'd be interested in hearing about case studies other people have done or situations that you would be interested in seeing analyzed.

• Travel at relativistic speeds - Travel at relativistic speeds can be complicated to analyze mathematically. After reading some of the "Man-Kzin War" books (in which realistic relativistic travel is important), I developed a suprisingly simple mathematical structure for doing calculations (restricted to travel along a single axis).

Back up to the science fiction page.