By showing that Watney sees Johanssen’s beauty as contradictory to her intelligence, Weir once again captures the insidiousness of workplace sexism. Rich Purnell's defining characteristic is his dedication to his work.
Weir developed his own tool to perform the analysis necessary to provide proper trajectory information for the novel.
After Bruce’s announcement, keeping Watney alive until rescue seems hopeless. It's well-written, well-acted, and most of all, scientifically accurate, showing respect for the audience's intelligence by resisting the temptation to dumb everything down.
