David Lasser
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David Lasser ( 20 March 1902 – Spring 1996) was one of the most influential figures of the early science fiction genre and worked closely with Hugo Gernsback. He was also heavily involved in the workers’ rights struggles of the Great Depression. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Lasser left high school early to become one of the many under-aged youths who lied about their age to enlist in the Army. After suffering from shell-shock in France, Lasser was honorably discharged in 1919 and attended M.I.T. where he graduated with a B.S. in Engineering Administration. In the 1920s, Lasser moved to New York where he pursued his interest in the nascent fields of rocketry and science fiction. On 4 April 1930, he became the president of the American Interplanetary Society (renamed the American Rocket Society in 1932) which he founded with Gawain and Leatrice Pendray, both regular contributors to Science Wonder Stories.
Lasser used his expertise in science, engineering, and rocketry to write the book The Conquest of Space (1930) which was the first non-fiction English-language book to deal with spaceflight and detailed how man would one day travel into outer space. This book served as an inspiration to a future generation of science-fiction writers, including Arthur C. Clarke. From 1929 – 1933, Lasser worked as the Managing Editor of Hugo Gernsback’s Stellar Publishing Corporation. He was responsible for editing all the issues of Science Wonder Stories and Wonder Stories Quarterly, as well as identifying and retaining promising writers. Lasser also edited Gernsback’s Wonder Stories from June 1930 – October 1933 and remained involved in the science fiction fandom throughout his life.
In 1933, Lasser founded the Workers Alliance for America which he envisioned as a national union for the unemployed. It was at this point in time that his passion for workers’ rights became too much of a nuisance for his employers and Lasser was fired from Gernsback’s Stellar Publishing Corporation. Although President Roosevelt would recognize Lasser’s dedication to the workers’ cause by nominating him to join the Works Projects Administration, Lasser’s involvement with the unions would bring him under FBI scrutiny during the early days of the Cold War and his name would not be cleared until offered an official apology by President Jimmy Carter in 1980.
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) currently awards the Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award to the best original non-fiction work dealing with aeronautics or aeronautical history. The award is named to honor David Lasser and Lester Gardner.
[edit] Published Works
(1930) The Conquest of Space
(1930) With vehicle perfected, science hopes to plumb mystery of outer space. New York Herald Tribune. 13 July.
(1931) By Rocket to the Planets. Nature Magazine. Nov.
[edit] External Links
CG Publishing: David Lasser
Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award
