Gideon Marcus (he/him)
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gideonmarcus.bsky.social
Gideon Marcus (he/him)
@gideonmarcus.bsky.social
700 followers 160 following 680 posts
San Diego-based professor, space historian, and science fiction author. I go to a lot of protests these days.

https://gideonmarcus.com

Like science fiction and time travel? Go here:
https://galacticjourney.bsky.social/
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gideonmarcus.bsky.social
What? #StarTrek #StarWars #AndorIsAStupidNameForAStarWarsProperty
Title card for a show called "Star Trek: Endor"
October 9, 2025 at 9:26 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
@corabuhlert.bsky.social 's #Worldcon report really is one of the best things ever published by the Journey. Read on about for the local, West German color...and to find out who won the 1970 #Hugo #ScienceFiction awards!

galacticjourney.org/september-14...
Postcard "I lost my heart in Heidelberg" with views of the city
September 15, 2025 at 5:30 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
Teaching at Carlsbad by the Sea today about #Europa!
A dashing, balding, Jewish-looking man in glasses, with a beard and curly pony tail, wearing a purple shirt and a vintage brown tie, makes a dramatic gesture from the podium, a slide of the Moon behind him.
August 26, 2025 at 12:11 AM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
"The Man Who Folded Himself", by David Gerrold
1st edition cover of The Man Who Folded Himself, by David Gerrold, which features a man in silhouette infinitely mirrored.
August 12, 2025 at 2:24 AM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
Both the computer and the cartridge still work, by the way...

Here's my current setup:
Room with Atari 800, Atari 520ST, and IBM 80286 computer, all on. Nerd paradise.
July 17, 2025 at 3:29 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
Vision of Tomorrow continues to be a worth, if variable #ScienceFiction mag—and it's still the only one out of the UK right now! @krisvm.bsky.social has all the details:

galacticjourney.org/july-14th-19...
Cover of Vision of Tomorrow #11 illustrating Last Vigil by Michael Moorcock with an advanced city with thin towering structures on a mountainous cliff edges above a stormy sea.
July 14, 2025 at 6:47 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
Ahhh :) So, in Star Trek, there is a United Federation of Planets, and one of its founding members is the planet Andor. Andorians (blue skinned, antennaed folk) are a fundamental part of the show(s).

It's a very identifiable name, just as "Endor" is a name well known to all Star Wars fans.
Andorian ambassador Shras from the TOS episode "Journey to Babely". He has blue skin, white hair, antennae, and is wearing a brown tabard over a mail shirt.
July 2, 2025 at 4:48 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
Yesterday was a good day.
June 21, 2025 at 3:25 AM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
I need to learn how to smile. Good photo, though!
A phenomenally beautiful short woman and a somewhat impressive if dour looking "irresistibly middle aged" Jew.
June 19, 2025 at 5:21 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
Just one: Katherine Johnson (though Sarah Vaughan was her boss early in her career).

I'm glad Hidden Figures exists, but I kind of wish it has been a straight documentary as their real lives are even more interesting!
June 16, 2025 at 10:39 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
3-5000 people showed up for the #NoKings rally in *Carlsbad* — it was enormous.
June 14, 2025 at 8:25 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
Dual wielding for tomorrow's rally.

Don't fuck with the Bear.

#California #ICE #NoKings
A ridiculous-looking, but "irresistibly middle-aged", bespectacled Jew in a blue dress shirt, green tie, and khaki slacks proudly holds an American flag on a pole in one hand and the California flag on a pole in the other. He is in a yard with a fetching yellow cottage behind him.
June 13, 2025 at 5:51 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
aMeRiCa IS AN iNvAdEd cOuNtRy!!!1111one #ICEprotests

( for the really stupid)
A band of foreigners, probably, invading the streets of Savannah, waving flags of another country. Maybe Mexico. Could be Italy.
June 11, 2025 at 3:24 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
May 31, 2025 at 8:01 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
Looks like linking en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discove... from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Sta... was the right idea.
Graph of page hits on Discoverer 2 showing a rise from 5 hits a day to 20.
May 21, 2025 at 3:46 AM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
My wife says this fellow is hot, and she can't imagine why...
May 14, 2025 at 3:58 AM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
Join the bandwagon! Tune in to KGJ (for the best music from 1966-1970):

tinyurl.com/kgjtunes
Beige General Electric 1963 AM/FM radio
May 13, 2025 at 2:52 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
600 folks assembled for Carlsbad's May Day protest.
A handsome man in his late 30s with a sign that reads FIRE HEGSETH next to a young world-saving woman with a sign reading AMERICA=WE THE PEOPLE next to the most beautiful woman in the world (also in her 30s) with a sign reading "You can't have my rights. I'm not done with them yet," and she is next to a guy who looks like the typical Trumper, but he's actually one of us. Behind them are 600 people protesting near the beach in Carlsbad.
May 2, 2025 at 4:11 AM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
So who's up for a late night with me tonight? 🙂

discord.gg/kwK2xJ6m?eve...
Apollo 13 patch
April 14, 2025 at 12:43 AM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
Another great episode of Science Fiction Theater tonight at 7pm PDT! You don't want to miss it—will Mattingly get to fly on Apollo 13? Find out!

discord.gg/ajtnSC5K?eve...

And don't forget: Apollo 13 launches tomorrow!

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Film clip of Leonard Nimoy in 1970
April 11, 2025 at 1:20 AM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
Tuned in to KGJ this morning. Come join me! :) It's April 1970...

tinyurl.com/kgjradio
1965 Ramsgate portable radio
April 8, 2025 at 3:53 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
For me, this will always be a Kestrel (the "K")
Screen shot of the old DOS game "ROGUE" with the character, represented by an ampersand, entering a room containing a Kestrel, represented by a K.
March 27, 2025 at 4:30 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
Today's class at Carlsbad by the Sea on #Apollo and #Soyuz.
"Tragedy and Triumph. Apollo and Soyuz Part 1" Photo of a dude with long hair, glasses, and a beard in a white blazer, white slacks, black shoes, and a blue button up with lapels that look like they could loft a DC-10. He is holding a blue umbrella like a pointer. Photo of a dude with long hair, glasses, and a beard in a white blazer, white slacks, black shoes, and a blue button up with lapels that look like they could loft a DC-10. He is holding out his hand in emphasis. Photo of a dude with long hair, glasses, and a beard in a white blazer, white slacks, black shoes, and a blue button up with lapels that look like they could loft a DC-10. He is holding a blue umbrella like a pointer at an illustration of the Soyuz A.
March 25, 2025 at 11:19 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
UCSD last week, teaching about the women pioneers of space science like @poppynorthcutt.bsky.social , without whom, many of our Giant Leaps would not have been possible.
Photo of some guy with frizzy long hair and glasses in a very 1970-corduroy blazer/tie/yellow shirt/gray trousers at a podium. He looks very incongruous with the modern laptop and LCD screen. But pretty stylish nevertheless.
March 21, 2025 at 4:23 PM
gideonmarcus.bsky.social
Yesterday at CSUSM, teaching about cool moons
Photo of a guy with long curly brown hair, a beard, and glasses, holding a blue umbrella, dressed in a white suit, blue shirt, and big striped tie, in front of a display of the solar system circa 1960, behind a bunch of astronomy textbooks
March 20, 2025 at 8:11 PM