For trekkers, the opportunity to be guided on a warp-speed journey through the Star Trek universe was too good to be missed. For non-trekkers, also gathered in UCC, it was a wonderful chance to hear how pop culture is used to explore some "neat" aspects of modern physics with wit and elan.
The journey was directed by Prof Lawrence Krauss, a physicist of note from the US who has an equally strong reputation as an "expert" on life in the Star Trek universe. As author of The Physics of Star Trek, the professor of physics and astronomy at Case Western Reserve University set in motion a new industry.
Its mission is to consider the feasibility or otherwise of "the technologies and conundra thrown up in the various incarnations of Paramount's long-running science fiction series".
It so happens that Prof Krauss, who presented a Science Week lecture at UCC at the weekend, is the leading explorer. He puts the physics of such heavyweights as Einstein and Hawking to the test aboard the spaceship Enterprise.
"I like to compare Star Trek to the real universe," he told The Irish Times, "and see where they agree and where they don't." His show begins with a bang, and therein is a tale of one of the blunders of Star Trek.
In space it's not possible to "hear" such cosmic events, though he readily accepts it's necessary for cinematic effect. He presents a "Top 10" of such deceptions. But other phenomena may be closer to reality.
These include the feasibility of faster-than-light (warp) travel, the transporter, time travel and space-time wormholes. "At least you can say these are `not impossible' and are under investigation by modern physicists," he said.
