Imagine you are a radio wave traveling at the speed of light. You leave the earth and pass through the moon, Mars, the asteroid belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. You are moving so fast-299 million meters per second-but it still takes five hours to reach Pluto. When you shrink the solar system and reach a star named Vega 26 light-years away, the sound collage from the earth will travel with you. This is how the 1997 movie "Time Contact" started.
In the following scene, the nine-year-old Ellie Alloway (Jodi Foster) sits on the bed and talks with her father about the vastness of space and whether people on Earth are alone. He replied: "The universe is a big place. If it's just us, it would seem to be a huge waste of space." When I first watched "Overtime Contact", I was a teenager. Only a few minutes after the opening, I was frozen in my seat, completely stunned. At the age of 13, I was fascinated by space and the major issues it raised. You know, those who can make a person stay up late: Why are we here? Are we alone? What does it mean? I am obsessed with it and read everything I think might give me an answer: books, poems, whatever you want to say. Then I saw "Overtime Contact".
When Ellie was an adult, her footprints were impressive. She graduated from high school two years early and received a bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a doctorate from the California Institute of Technology. She refused to teach at Harvard and went to work in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) team at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. She lost her funds, but finally found her way to New Mexico, where she found a signal from an intelligent alien civilization. This discovery led to the construction of the spacecraft, and Arroway sought to be its passenger. I have never seen someone like Ellie. Most people don't. Twenty years ago, when the movie was released, few Space Odyssey featured female protagonists. Today, we have movies like Interstellar and Gravity, but sadly, there is still a lack of information that portrays women in popular culture as scientists, engineers, and leaders.
For many years since the release of "Contact", I began to wonder: because of this underrated science fiction movie in the 1990s, how many of us became scientists or engaged in work adjacent to science? "Time and Time Contact" left a lasting impression on me. It was the first time I saw this movie. Although I didn’t realize the nuances of the debate about faith until a few years later, I saw a blonde girl who was strong and determined. Suppressed by the men around, then strong and determined, she is one of the most important role models I have ever had. The fact that
continues to make "Time Contact" compelling is the fact that Ellie's role is still so important today. She is brilliant, struggles frantically, and constantly contends with those who control the research wallet. Carl Sagan wrote the film's original book "Time and Space Contact". Tarter is the only woman in the class. She has a Bachelor of Engineering Physics from Cornell University, about the same time that Sagan was a professor there. Her graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley and SETI career inspired Sagan to use the heroine in her story as her foundation. My friend and colleague science writer Sarah Scoles (Sarah Scoles) wrote Tate's biography, aptly called "Establishing Contact." It was released last year, only 20 years after the film was released.
For me, this movie continues to inspire me. I often think about it and watch it once a year. Not only is Ellie a woman, but the fact that she represents a person makes many of us see our own hearts. I am extremely relieved that so many women are actively seeking answers to questions about space and humanity, partly because they watched a movie 20 years ago. Towards the end of the movie
, Ellie finds herself on a spaceship with an unknown destination. She faces a very real possibility that she will not be able to complete her task. When the pod started to take off, the pod shook violently, and when the countdown clock dropped to zero, fear appeared on her face. "I'm ready," she replied. I doubt: Will I be so brave?
