College Of Lake County Sociologists Study Influence Of 'Star Trek' On Real World
(CBS) -- They've been called "trex-perts," - husband-and-wife researchers who have elevated "Star Trek," to an academic pursuit, reports WBBM's Regine Schlesinger.
Over the years, College of Lake County sociologists John and Maria Tenuto have been doing a scholarly study of all things "Star Trek." He says they're especially fascinated by the influence the sci-fi series has had on the real world.
"The iPad is not named iPad by accident. The word "pad" - that's from Star Trek," John said. "They had pads on Star Trek....for years before we had iPads. Martin Cooper who invented the cell phone talks about how he got the idea for the cell phone and was inspired by Captain Kirk's communicator."
Besides teaching at the College of Lake County, the Tenuto's periodically give free public lectures to share what they've learned from their extensive Star Trek research.
At 6:30 p.m. Monday, they'll be lecturing about Star Trek at the Aspen Drive Library in Vernon Hills.