34 - Kristine Larsen

For this episode, Sara sat down with our good friend and 'Tolkienian Astronomer': Dr. Kristine Larsen! Kristine is a professor of astronomy at Central Connecticut State University. Her research and teaching focus in the sometimes uncomfortable points of intersection between science and society, including: women in science,; misconceptions, conspiracy theories, and pseudoscience; the popularization of science for general audiences; and the uses/misuses of science in popular culture (including zombie films, science fiction TV series, and the fiction of Tolkien, Lewis, Gaiman and more). She has been writing on Tolkien since the early 2000s, and her paper "Deconstructing Durin's Day: Science, Scientific Fan Fiction, and the Fan-Scholar" won the 2020 Tolkien Society Award for best article! We hope you enjoy this interview as much as we did!