Indiana University Cinema Bloomington, IN
Dr. Richard H. Durisen
Emeritus Professor, Astronomy Department, Indiana University
Blade Runner— Extraterrestrial Physics
Program Description
Dr. Richard H. Durisen led a discussion on extraterrestrial physics following the film.
Presented At
Indiana University Cinema Bloomington, IN
Film Synopsis
A blade runner must pursue and try to terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.
In the not-too-distant future, Los Angeles and the surrounding area has become a dystopian wasteland, heavily industrialized and overcrowded. Genetically engineered humanoid beings known as replicants are manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corporation for use in dangerous off-world colonization. Retired police officer Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), whose job was to track down replicants and assassinate them, is informed that four have come to Earth illegally. Called before his one-time superior (M. Emmett Walsh), Deckard is forced back into active duty to find and destroy the rogue replicants. Ridley Scott’s neo-noir classic initially polarized critics, but has since come to be regarded as one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time.
About the Speaker
Dr. Richard H. Durisen is an emeritus professor in the Astronomy Department at Indiana University. Professor Durisen joined the IU Astronomy faculty in 1976. He received a BS in physics from Fordham University in 1967, and a PhD in astronomy from Princeton University in 1972. Professor Durisen has had extended research leaves at the NASA-Ames Research Center as an NRC Research Associate and at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics as a Fulbright Fellow and an Alexander von Humboldt US Senior Scientist Awardee.