Actually, good science fiction takes current knowledge and speculates from
it.  That's why science fiction tends to get dated - our knowledge grows but
the fiction is already written.  Arthur Clarke described communications
satellites years before Echo I.  Jules Verne described space flight and
nuclear submarines a century before we had either.  Gene Roddenbery's "Warp
Drive" may not be so far fetched, after all.  In 1994, theoretical physict
Miguel Alcubierre published
(http://www.astro.cf.ac.uk/groups/relativity/papers/abstracts/miguel94a.html
) a feasible method for FTL travel that resembled Roddenberry's Warp Drive.
Yes there are problems with his concept, but FTL travel can exist under
General Relativity.  These are just a few examples of how science fiction
has led physics.  There are more if you care to dig for them.

As for someone who only does science - how boring!  In fact, top science and
engineering schools (MIT, CalTech, Stanford, etc.) very rarely admit
students who only do academics (science).  They look for students who have
other interests as well because they know that non-academic interests are
important.

Mike Ober.