John whiteside parsons biography
•
Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket forskare John Whiteside Parsons
About this book
Brilliant Rocket forskare Killed in Explosion screamed the front-page headline of the Los Angeles Times on June 18, 1952. John Parsons, a maverick rocketeer whose work had helped transform the rocket from a derided sci-fi plotline into a reality, was at first mourned as a tragically ung victim of mishandled chemicals. But as reporters dug deeper a shocking story emerged-Parsons had been performing occult rites and summoning spirits as a följare of Aleister Crowley-and he was promptly written off as an embarrassment to science.
George Pendle tells Parsons's extraordinary life story for the first time. Fueled from childhood by dreams of space flight, Parsons was a crucial innovator during rocketry's birth. But his visionär imagination also led him into the occult community thriving in 1930s Los Angeles, and when fantasy's pull became stronger than reality, he lost both his wor
•
Jack Parsons
John Whiteside "Jack" Parsons (born Marvel Whiteside Parsons) was an American rocket engineer, chemist, inventor, and occultist.
As an avid science fiction reader, Parsons became fascinated by all things aerospace from a young age. In 1928, when he was 14, Jack and his friend Edward S. Forman started experimenting with their own rockets. Just as Parsons was reaching college age, the Great Depression struck. He attended three different institutions of higher education, Pasadena Junior College, Stanford University, and the University of Southern California, though he completed no degrees as financial hardship forced him to drop out.
Despite his lack of degrees, Parsons had an incredibly productive career in rocket science. In 1934, Jack, with Forman and Frank Malina, formed the Caltech-affiliated Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory (GALCIT) Rocket Research Group. In 1939, GALCIT was commissioned by the National Academy of Sciences to develop Jet-Assisted
•
Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons
ROCKET SCIENTIST KILLED IN PASADENA EXPLOSIONscreamed the headline of the Los Angeles Times. John Parsons, a maverick rocketeer who helped transform the rocket from a derided sci-fi plot line into a reality, was at first mourned as a scientific prodigy. But reporters soon uncovered a more shocking story: Parsons had been a devotee of black magic.
George Pendle re-creates the world of John Parsons in this dazzling portrait of prewar superstition, cold war paranoia, and futuristic possibility. Fueled by childhood dreams of space flight, Parsons was a leader of the motley band of enthusiastic young men who founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a cornerstone of the American space program. But Parsons's wild imagination also led him into the occult- for if he could make rocketry a reality, why not magic?