The Centre for the Rise of Science and Fiction investigates the relationship between science and fiction particularly in the early modern period and the Enlightenment (1600-1800), but it is also interested in the relationship between science and fiction in a broader perspective. The point of departure for the centre is the hypothesis that science and fiction supported each other's emergence in and around the age of Enlightenment and that there is still an often overlooked connection between fictionality and science. To this day, fictionality remains an important resource in communicating scientific insights and imagination. As such, it also plays a central part in scientific innovation. At the same time, fiction – contrary to what has often been assumed – is on the same side as truth, so that the insights we can gain through fiction are not false or deceptive, but can contribute to new understanding about the real world, as when novels from the 18th century reject superstition, and promote science. An example of the close relationship between fiction and science in the early modern era can be found in one of the most important scientists of the Scientific Revolution, Nicolaus Copernicus. When he presented his theory of the heliocentric universe in 1543, he used a personification of the sun as an explanatory model: "Thus indeed," he writes, "as though seated on a royal throne, the sun governs the family of planets revolving around it". The centre investigates all kinds of relations between science and fiction, such as fictionality and science in textbooks, journals, novels and various types of scientific writings. The centre is interdisciplinary, and anyone with an interest in the relationship between science and fiction is more than welcome to attend the centre's events or contact centre members for more information about the centre and the projects within it.