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Author
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Topic: Willy Ley: Chicago Sun-Times 'Rocket Expert'
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Cozmosis22
Member Posts: 968
From: Texas * Earth
Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 03-11-2017 11:19 AM
  
During the months following the Soviet's surprise launching of Sputnik in 1957 many Americans were clamoring for answers. The newspapers of that era were the prime source of information and they scrambled to find knowledgeable sources.Apparently the Chicago Sun-Times claimed that Willy Ley was their very own "rocket expert." I am wondering if he wrote these columns exclusively for that Chicago newspaper? It seems a bit odd since Ley was living in New York City at the time.  |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-11-2017 12:07 PM
Per a doctoral dissertation by Jared Buss at the University of Oklahoma in 2014: ...Ley joined the Chicago Sun-Times as a "Staff Writer." When the Sun-Times announced his "appointment," it ran a full-page display ad that included a portrait of Ley and a satellite hovering above his head. The ad read, "On the Threshold of Space... To keep you authoritatively informed as we enter the Space Age, the Sun-Times is proud to announce the appointment of Willy Ley..." The ad also described Ley as "a noted scientist in the field of rocketry." The details of this arrangement are unknown. Most likely, the Chicago Sun-Times contracted Ley for exclusive articles. After publishing his articles first in the Sun-Times, the paper would syndicate copies to regional newspapers, like the Los Angeles Times and the Houston Post, which neither competed with the Sun-Times nor each other. Thus, Ley's articles circulated widely throughout the United States, especially throughout 1958. |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3118
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 03-11-2017 05:33 PM
I have a paperback by Willy Ley, "Satellites, Rockets and Outer Space" published by Signet in 1958 (although my edition seems to be 1962). The book is "copyright 1957, 1958 Chicago Sun-Times" and the "Foreword to the First Edition" is signed: "Willy Ley, New York City, March, 1958." The Foreword to the 1962 edition is also addressed NYC.The back-cover description of the author notes that he was a founder member of the German Rocket Society; came to the USA in 1935; and was a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society. (I mention that because I have held that title for the last 30 years or so.) |
Cozmosis22
Member Posts: 968
From: Texas * Earth
Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 03-11-2017 08:42 PM
Thanks for the replies. After finding more of his Chicago S-T newspaper articles from later in 1958 noticed they no longer have the byline of "Sun-Times Rocket Expert." He had perhaps a rather short-term contract with that paper?Willy Ley is a favorite science writer from the early days of space exploration going back to his 1944 book on rocketry. One sad thing about him is that he passed away three weeks after the airing of the final episode of the original Star Trek series and three weeks before the liftoff of Apollo 11. | |
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