<em>First Man</em> and the Sci-Fi–Science Feedback Loop
For nearly a century, Hollywood has both drawn from and driven real scientific advances.
Friday’s release of First Man, in which Ryan Gosling reenacts the true story of Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 mission, is in some ways a classic example of art imitating life. But many viewers may not realize that Armstrong’s real-life journey to the moon also imitated art.
The flown by the moon missions was the followed by fictional astronauts in a classic silent film from 1929, . It was plotted by Hermann Oberth, and the first in a long line of science consultants for cinema. These scientists have not only made the science in movies more realistic, but have also
