Many a science fiction writer’s fantasy has eventually come to fruition as the world of technology caught up with imagination. Forbes Magazine’s Matthew Herper examines the science of Star Wars to see future possibilities…

The Science Of Star Wars
Forbes
By Matthew Herper

Moviegoers are in for one final go-around of space-going swashbucklers slashing at each other with laser swords as they rocket from star to star.

The last chapter in George Lucas' epic Star Wars series is here. But could any exploits of these warriors of a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ever have actually happened? Are the fantastical sights--the speeding spaceships, the chattering robots, lightsabers in every imaginable color--even physically possible?

It's not as silly as it sounds. Science fiction has always played a role as a diviner of future trends. Sci-fi writers of the 1930s described moonshots and nuclear bombs, and Arthur C. Clarke was famously the first to conjure up the communications satellite. With the exception of warp drive and transporters, a lot of the technology in the 1960s Star Trek now looks antiquated. (Why, after all, is that guy with the pointy ears carrying such a clunky cell phone?) More…

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