Astrophysicist/Science Fiction Author Kondo/Kotani at ISU Sept. 30

Eric Kotani, better known as Professor Yoji Kondo when he headed the astrophysics lab at Johnson Space Center and when he taught at several major universities, will be the first speaker at the Illinois State University Department of Physics Fall Colloquium Series at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30.

The astrophysicist and science fiction novelist will speak on "A Stroll into the Forest/Jungle of the Modern Astrophysics," in Moulton Hall room 214.  Admission is free and open to the public.  

Kondo, who has a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Pennsylvania, headed the Johnson Space Center astrophysics laboratory during the Apollo and Skylab Missions, and was the NASA director of a geosynchronous satellite observatory for 15 years, among other roles. He also served as president of the International Astronomical Union's (IAU's) Commission on "Astronomy from Space," as well as president of IAU Commission on "Close Binary Stars" and the IAU Division on "Variable Stars."

While at NASA, Kondo held concurrent appointments as professor at the University of Oklahoma, the University of Houston, the University of Pennsylvania, George Mason University, the Institute of Space & Astronautical Research in Japan, the University of La Plata in Argentina and the Catholic University of America.

Writing under the pseudonym Eric Kotani, he is the author of "Act of God," "The Island Worlds," "Between the Stars," "Delta Pavonis," "Supernova," "Requiem: New Collected Works by Robert A. Heinlein and Tributes to the Grand Master" (which became a Book of the Month selection and made the national best-seller list of the San Francisco Chronicle), "Death of A Neutron Star," "Legacy of Prometheus,"  short story, "The Edgeworld," in the Martin Greenberg-John Helfer anthology, "Star Colonies," and "Orbital Station Fear," published in the 2004 Teknobook anthology, "Space Stations."

Kondo is a 6th degree black-belt in judo and 7th degree black belt in aikido.

The rest of the Physics Fall Colloquium Series include Christopher Glosser of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville speaking at 4 p.m. Oct. 7 on "Computational Biophysics in the 21st century;" Argonne National Lab's Guenter Conzelmann speaking at 4 p.m. Oct. 15 on "Modeling Reality;" Argonne's Mark Nutt speaking at 4 p.m. Nov. 11, on "Nuclear Waste Management: History, Current Status and the Future;" and Timothy Stelzer of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana speaking at 4 p.m. Nov. 18.