John S. Lewis

Dr. John S. Lewis is a well-known space scientist, having contributed well over 100 scientific papers to the field, as well as taxtbooks and popular-science non-fiction.

He is also known for science fiction. In high school, and even at Princeton as an undergrad, he delved into the great old-time science fiction novels and shorter fiction. It was a short step to creating his own science fiction based on the real science he was studying.

John was one of the first to recognize the importance of using the materials found in space to sustain life in space. His books Rain of Iron and Ice and Mining the Sky are based on this principle.

A Rending Clash of Worlds: The Astronomers explores the question, 'what if a massive asteroid were found to be entering Earth's neighborhood -- in 1871?' How would this knowledge change the course of technology? Would the timetable change? Would they be in time to save Earth?

And what about politics? This too is explored.

In "Clash I: The Astronomers" and "Clash II: The Engineers" you will find original documents from around the world that build the story, as well as plenty of entertaining fiction. The main players of that day are on the stage, often in their own words. Such scientists as Mendeleyev and Tsiolkovskii. Goddard and Daniel Berringer, the fellow who discovered Meteor Crater in Arizona, all speak for themselves and contribute the real science they had discovered in their day, 150 years ago.

Even Camille Saint-Saens makes his contribution -- as he actually did.

These scientists and engineers watched as every six years the asteroid - or meteor - got closer and closer.

And the new technologies and understandings got more and more capable of dealing with it.

Rain of Iron and Ice, one of John's non-fiction books for lay readers, talks about the times meteors have collided with Earth. These are stories worth knowing about. It's common lore that no one has been killed by a meteorite, but that's not true. The known fatalities are laid out in Rain of Iron and Ice.

Join John on the Facebook page Mining The Sky: The World of John S. Lewis to talk to him and share your thoughts. He's been studying space for over 75 years.