Strange angel : the otherworldly life of rocket scientist John Whiteside Parsons / George Pendle.

1st ed.

015100997X

Orlando, Fla. : Harcourt, c2005.

English

350 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

TL781.85.P37 P46 2005

621.43/56/092 B

A lonely misfit born into a wealthy Pasadena family, as a boy Parsons read science fiction and launched rockets in his backyard. By his early twenties, he was a leader of Caltech's "Suicide Squad," the motley band of young enthusiasts who founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. But his visionary 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 work and his wife. With a cast of characters that includes Aleister Crowley, Howard Hughes, L. Ron Hubbard, Robert Heinlein, Theodore von Kármán, and Albert Einstein, this book recovers a fascinating life and explores the unruly consequences of genius.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 311-333) and index.

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