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Founded by Phil Cleator on Friday 13 October 1933 , the British Interplanetary Society exists to this day. BIS members include Arthur C Clarke, Carl Sagan, George Bernard Shaw, and Robert Heinlein. In 1933 Leslie Johnson was 19 and Clarke, aged 16, joined in 1934.
The initial aims of the BIS were to convince the public that space travel really was possible and help develop the technology to make it happen. It was an ambitious goal, futuristic, perhaps even reckless. A tough challenge when most people would not have seen an aeroplane up close, let alone ridden in one. Speke airport, now Liverpool John Lennon, was opened in July 1933. Movies were just turning into talkies, the BBC was founded in 1922 large populations geographically separated could share the same experience without having to be in the same place at the same time. Something that was possible for the first time in human history.
Today we are familiar with terms such as satellites, rockets, spacecraft and astronauts but in the 1930s they did not exist. Very few could visualise and understand these concepts and let alone the IDEA of space and space travel.
Like many other leading economies, Britain has a flourishing space programme today. I would suggest it started in Liverpool almost 90 years ago. Yes, despite 13th October 1933 being a Friday, the BIS is still flourishing today as the oldest space advocacy group in the world.
Leslie Johnson’s daughter Pam Reid and I spoke with Tony Snell at BBC Radio Merseyside. Listen below.
More about the book and how to get a copy direct or via Amazon.
The BIS-WM branch organised a live presentation today (18 July 2020) using Zoom. Thanks to all at BIS-WM for organising and all of you who joined. I said I would share the links and slides.
1. Astrotalkuk.org – Episode 68 from 2014. Archive material from March 2020.
2. Look inside the book.
3. Purchase book. Use 33% discount code = YYFEP4D during checkout only on this link. If in India then use Pothi.com
4. Indian Airmails.com – Piyush Khaitan. Other useful links.
5. British Interplanetary Society
Download the slides used in the presentation in pdf format. The video of the recording will be made available soon. All those who registered will be notified by email when it is available online.
Early development of rockets took place in several countries during the 1930s and 1940s. In Austria it was Friedrich Schmiedl, Germany had Gerhardt Zucker and in India it was Stephen H Smith. Although was a contemporary of Hermann Oberth, Robert Goddard and Willy Ley, Smith’s contribution was not in the same league.
Organised by the West Midlands branch of the British Interplanetary Society. Join us live. It is free but you need to register here.
Smith joined the BIS in late 1934 and details of his rocket experiments were published in the BIS bulletin in 1935. So this presentation will have a strong BIS component.
Want to look inside the book – click here or the image below.
The main contact for Smith in India was BIS secretary Leslie Johnson. Most of the letters I found were from Smith to Johnson but one was from Johnson to Smith. I will speak about this during my presentation.
