November 15, 1991
Physics professor creates planets as a hobby
Sheridan Simon fuses physics and
Christopher M. Craig
Copy Editor
Ever wonder what a planet would look
like spinning at times the speed of the
earth?
Well, physics professor Sheridan Simon
could tell you. For the last ten years he has
been creating realistic designs for the distant
dreams of imaginative science fiction writers
around the world. In a very real sense, Simon
is the creator of a universe.
"People write in," said Simon in a
presentation he gave of his work last Friday,
"and I take it from there. I give [my clients]
accurate descriptions of the shape,
atmosphere, color, and gravity of their
planets."
In addition Simon describes the probable
geology, ecology, meteorology, and biology
of his commissioned creations, but he stresses
that his Ph.D. is in astrophysics, not biology,
so his advice in these secondary areas in
purely amateur.
Nevertheless, his work is extraordinary,
and his full-color, computer-generated
models which, upon request, accompany
the written descriptions, are like planetary
"still-lifes."
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15 2 Lloyd Cole Don't Get Weird On Me Babe Capitol
2 3 Follow For Now Follow For Now Chrysalis
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4 5 The Ocean Blue Cerulean Sire/Reprise
5 6 Billy Bragg Don't Try This At Home Elektra
35 7 Tribe Abort Slash
I 8 Pixies Trompe LeMonde 4 AD
8 9 Machines of Loving Grace Machines of Loving Grace Mammoth
II 10 MC 900 Ft. Jesus Welcome To My Dream Nettwerk
12 11 The Millions M is for Millions Smash
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13 NitzerEbb Ebbhead Geffen
14 My Bloody Valentine Loveless Sire/Warner
17 15 Pearl Jam Ten Epic
20 16 P.M.Dawn Of the Heart... Island
22 17 Various Hearts Lust In Limbo C'estLaMort
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19 Grapes of Wrath These Days Capitol
6 20 Quit Earlier Thoughts Mango Head
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23 Chris Stamey Fireworks RNA
10 24 Various Tyranny of the Beat Mute
25 Weird Paul Lo Fidelity, Hi Anxiety Homestead
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29 29 Levellers 5 The Peel Sessions Dutch East INdia
33 30 Webb Wilder DooDad Zoo
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32 His Name is Alive Home Is In Your Head 4 AD
33 Cabaret Voltaire Cololurs EP Mute/Plastex
34 Pulnoc City of Hysteria Arista
il - 35 Seven Simons Four Twenty-Four TVT
These pictures rank up there with George
Lucas' best effects. Simon explained, though,
that motion picture effects are comparatively
easy, for "[the movie people] don't mess
with the the scientific stuff... It could be
done, but it would take roughly forever."
Simon chooses, instead, to photograph
his computer images directly from his
Macintosh Fx computer, upon which he
writes the programs for this work. The final
products are stunning.
One of the pictures is of an
intergalactical war. The commissioning
writer wanted one galaxy to shoot a giant
black hole at the other galaxy. Needless to
say, the calculated outcome shows a dazzling
display as the approaching black hole sucks
up the rainbow gas of an immense Jovian
(gaseous) planet. Imagine Jupiter being eaten
by a huge space-Hoover.
Another design shows a planet with an
average daily rotation of two hours, therefore
spinning about twelve times faster than the
Earth. The thing looks like an aspiring
doughnut.
Simon also gets commissions which
call for him to predict real situations, as in a
picture he designed of Mars' surface. In this
piece he took a photograph of a Hawaiian
Features
lava field and compu-edited it to resemble
the pink iron-oxide (rust) environment which
is actually a characteristic of that planet.
"This [sort of hobby] has real-life
interest," said Simon to an interested student,
"such as to describe the effects of ozone
depletion."
But apparently no competent scientist
has taken up such an endeavor, and as Simon
said in response to a question about a sort of
planetary design manual, "I'm the only one
who does [design planets]." So he has a
definite corner on this market, to which he
has given a good beginning.
It all started when Dr. Simon was reading
through abook cal led/?z>i£ World Engineers,
a "hard" (meaning scientific) sci-fi novel by
the well-known author Larry Niven.
As he came across the various physical
phenomena in the book, he ran through
calculations, proving, or rather mostly
disproving, the reality of their occurrences.
Much of Niven's physics were flawed. At
the end of the novel he had a long list of
things which he had proven impossible, and
he sent these to the author.
In reply, Niven said he had appreciated
the clinical analysis, but that he'd already
sold something like 60 thousand copies of
the book and was sure he hadn't needed to be
completely factual.
So Simon started looking small. He put
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an advertisement in Locus magazine, a sci
fi publication, and began to receive new
commissions about once a month. In the
beginning he charged nothing, but, after a
couple of overly zealous requests of, say, 30
planets by next week, he soon realized he'd
need to charge at least a token fee.
Now Simon's rates range from SSO to
SIOO, depending on the resources of the
patron. The photographic facsimiles cost
more, since the printing process is expensive.
If you thought Simon were making a
profit you'd be wrong. "I could charge three
thousand bucks is I used my regular
consultation fees," he said, but he doesn't
When asked if this endeavor was a
business or a hobby, Simon answered," that
depends on the year, but the government
does tax the income." An interesting, and
sobering, fact —especially for one who is
honestly so far out.
It'sobvious in Simon's excited delivery
that he loves his work.
As he explained in a joyful tone, "Just
because we can imagine things doesn't mean
they exist... but that doesn't (stop me) from
playing around with them!"
His work molds together the forces of
both physics and aesthetics, creating a
fictional world which makes real the most
wonderful and experimental theories of
physics.
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