Navigating the Unknown: Orbital Dynamics in Foundation

If you’ve seen the first season of Apple TV’s Foundation, you probably noticed how heavily the show relies on ideas based in mathematics and statistics. However, while the idea of a field of research called psycho-history seems far-fetched, some of the show's scenes are much closer to reality than you might realize.

In this episode, we hear from planetary physicist and television science advisor Kevin Grazier about how researchers can help advise TV projects and what that actually looks like.

Find our transcript here: LINK

Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links:

Foundation novels by Isaac Asimov: https://www.goodreads.com/series/43939-foundation-chronological-order

Foundation (tv series) season 1 promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4QYV5GTz7c

The Cassini mission: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/overview/

Orbital dynamics: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4939-0802-8_10

Science and Entertainment Exchange: http://scienceandentertainmentexchange.org/

Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute

Follow Kevin Grazier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-grazier-1057792/

This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme. 

Music by Blue Dot Sessions.

The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.