Science fiction and science have a very close relationship, as their names would seem to indicate. One aspect of this relationship is rather obvious: scientific advances give science fiction authors more to write about, whether that be inventions, previously vague relationships, or revisions of current scientific principles. Before the discovery of positrons, Isaac Asimov never could have written about his positronic brain; before Einstein's theory of relativity gave the universe a speed limit, the issue of traveling faster than the speed of light would never have occurred to an author; before the development of rocketry, and subsequently space travel, stories about traveling to the Moon or Mars would have been little more than fantasy.
However, the second relationship may not be so obvious: how science fiction influences science. This was the initial intent of my project, to discuss not only how scientific advances affect science fiction, but how concepts and inventions in science fiction affect science. This was initially inspired by an anecdote from Isaac Asimov. In his novel Caves of Steel Asimov has a robot tricked into suicide using a device that emitted alpha particles disrupting the activity of the positrons in its brain (Gold 322). This interaction was unknown at the time, but Asimov speculated that it might occur because of a similar interaction between alpha particles and electrons, which are identical to positrons aside from charge. Later, he “received a letter from a gentleman working with a corporation that deals with computers,” congratulating him on the accuracy of his prediction (Gold 323).
The idea started out rather hazy, something along the lines of a catalogue of inspiration scientists had taken from science fiction. Things like testing hypotheses, like Asimov's anecdote; pursuing new technology, such as the communicators of Star Trek that evolved into mobile communication devices like walkie talkies and cell phones; or even the inspiration to pursue an education in science, such as Dr. Michio Kaku who “used to always watch Flash Gordon” and one day realized “that if you understand the foundations of physics, you understand what is possible and you understand what could be just beyond the horizon” (How William Shatner Changed the World, curiosity.com).
But this wouldn't have been much of a project since it would have been a collection of the information rather than making use of it, so thanks to some outside advice, I began investigating why this latter relationship might exist, including the purpose of science fiction as a literary genre.