Starfield Celestial Systems Pay Homage to Pioneering Scientists

Highlights

Starfield's star systems are based on real stars within 50 light years of Earth, with some names simplified or replaced with common names.

Starfield has named 28 of its 120 star systems after renowned scientists, including Archimedes, Copernicus, Newton, and Hawking. While it's worth noting the five star systems with names from the real world, like Barnard's Star and Wolf 359, it's important to mention that the other 23 systems are original creations by Bethesda.

Starfield's systems are not just fictional creations; they are actually based on real stars that exist within a distance of 50 light years from Earth. However, Bethesda, the creators of Starfield, have made some adjustments. They either simplified the names of these stars or assigned them new common names instead of using their actual astronomical names. In Starfield, you will come across a variety of names, including mythological characters, animals, and even some star systems named after famous scientists.

Out of the 120 star systems in Starfield, there are a total of 28 systems named after scientists. Interestingly, five of these star systems, such as Bernard's Star, Kapteyn, Luyten's Star, Van Maanen's Star, and Wolf, actually have similar or identical names in real life. However, it is worth noting that Kapteyn's Star and Wolf 359 are the official names for Kapteyn and Wolf, respectively, in reality. The remaining 23 star systems in Starfield have been entirely named by Bethesda.

1. Every Starfield System Named for a Scientist

Al-Battani

Archimedes

Bardeen

Barnard's Star

Bessel

Bohr

Copernicus

Copernicus Minor

Fermi

Feynman

Foucault

Hawking

Heisenberg

Huygens

Kapteyn

Khayyam

Linnaeus

Lyuten's Star

McClure

Newton

Nikola

Piazzi

Rutherford

Sagan

Sakharov

Schrodinger

Van Maanen's Star

Wolf

Archimedes, the renowned Ancient Greek mathematician, inventor, and astronomer, is the oldest and one of the most famous figures in this field. He made groundbreaking discoveries in geometry and physics. During the Islamic Golden Age, Al-Battani, an astronomer and mathematician, laid the essential groundwork for astronomy as a scientific discipline. Additionally, Omar Khayyam made significant contributions in the field of geometry.

Another notable figure is Nicolaus Copernicus, who is celebrated for his development of the heliocentric solar system model. Moving forward by 170 years, Sir Isaac Newton formulated the laws of motion, constructed the first practical reflective telescope, co-invented calculus, and played a pivotal role in the Scientific Revolution. Preceding Newton, Christiaan Huygens earned his place in Starfield's star charts by discovering Saturn's moon Titan and inventing the pendulum clock, among other notable achievements.

Astronomer Friedrich Bessel, an early astrophysicist, was the first to infer the existence of an unseen star. In the 18th century, Giuseppe Piazzi, an astronomer, discovered the dwarf planet Ceres. Additionally, Carl Sagan, a prominent name in Starfield, was not only an astronomer and astrophysicist but also a renowned science communicator known for his research on the potential existence of extraterrestrial life.

Similarly, the five star names in the real world also belong to a group of astronomers. Edward Emerson Barnard, who made the discovery of Jupiter's moon Amalthea. Willem Jacob Luyten also made significant discoveries of numerous stars, while Jacobus Kapteyn conducted research on the rotation of galaxies. Adriaan van Maanen, a Dutch-American astronomer, found his star in 1917, and Max Wolf, a German astronomer, measured the motion of Wolf 359 relative to the Sun.

John Bardeen, an accomplished American physicist and engineer, revolutionized the world of electronics by inventing the transistor and earning two Nobel Prizes. It is safe to say that Starfield owes its very existence to Bardeen's groundbreaking contributions. Additionally, Starfield's Bohr system is aptly named after Danish physicist Niels Bohr, whose seminal work on atomic structure laid the foundation for the game.

Starfield's Hawking system pays homage to the renowned British physicist, Stephen Hawking, who made significant strides in our understanding of gravity, black holes, and quantum mechanics. Hawking's belief in the existence of multiple universes resonates with the essence of Starfield, making his inclusion particularly fitting. Accompanying Hawking is Werner Heisenberg, celebrated for his formulation of the Uncertainty Principle in quantum mechanics.

Ernest Rutherford, a nuclear physicist in the early 20th century, is credited with the discovery of the proton and contributions to the development of the modern atomic numbering system. Similarly, Andrei Sakharov was a Soviet physicist known for his advocacy of human rights. Erwin Schrodinger, an Austrian-Irish physicist, is famous for his creation of the Schrodinger's Cat thought experiment.

Enrico Fermi played a significant role in the Manhattan Project by developing the first nuclear reactor. However, he is perhaps more renowned for proposing the Fermi Paradox, which questions the absence of evidence for extraterrestrial life despite the high probability of its existence. Another Manhattan Project researcher, Richard Feynman, is prominently featured in the Starfield for his groundbreaking discoveries in quantum mechanics.

The McClure system in Starfield is believed to be named after Robert McClure, a renowned Arctic Explorer who achieved the feat of circumnavigating the Americas. Given his exploratory background, it is reasonable to associate his name with the Starfield.

Likewise, the Nikola system is likely named after Nikola Tesla, a notable figure who made significant contributions to the development of alternating current. On the other hand, Michel Foucault was a philosopher from the 20th century whose work had a profound impact on various disciplines such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, criminology, and others.

Lastly, Carl Linnaeus, an esteemed Swedish biologist from the 18th century, was responsible for formulating the modern system of species classification.

Starfield is available now on PC and Xbox Series X/S.