Astrophysicist and Sci Fi Author

Photo: http://www.aikidoamerica.com/images/YojiK.jpg

Webpage: http://www.sfwa.org/members/kotani/

Yoji Kondo has a Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics, and headed the astrophysics laboratory at the NASA Johnson Space Center during the Apollo and Skylab Missions and served since then as director of a NASA satellite observatory at Goddard for 15 years. He has held professorships at several universities including the past one at the University of Pennsylvania and the present one at the Catholic University of America. He served as President of IAU (International Astronomical Union) Commission on Astronomy from Space and also as President of IAU Division on Variable Stars. He has published over 200 scientific articles and has edited or co-edited 13 books on astrophysics and the space program including "Examining the Big Bang", "Space Access and Utilization Beyond 2000", and "Interstellar Travel and Multi-Generation Space Ships". Among the professional honors he has received are the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achieve-ment and the National Space Club Science Award.

Eric Kotani is the pseudonym used by a scientist, (Dr.) Yoji Kondo, for writing science fiction. Kotani has published seven science fiction books: five with John Maddox Roberts ("Act of God", "The Island Worlds", "Between the Stars", "Delta Pavonis", and "Legacy of Prometheus"), and one with Roger MacBride Allen ("Supernova"). His sixth ("Death of A Neutron Star") book is a Star Trek Voyager novel, which was published in 1999 as Number 17 in that series. His seventh
novel, "Legacy of Prometheus", was issued from Tor Books in April 2000; the trade-cover edition of this book was published in the fall of 2002.

He also edited, as Yoji Kondo, "Requiem: New Collected Works by Robert A. Heinlein and Tributes to the Grand Master", which made the National Best Seller List of the San Francisco Chronicle. He has also written "The Edgeworld" in the recent (2000) Tekno Book anthology "Star Colonies", and "Orbital Base Fear" in the forthcoming Tekno Book anthology tentatively called "Space Stations".

He is the recipient of the Isaac Asimov Memorial Award (issued by the New York City Science Fiction Society) this year. An asteroid (#8072) has also been named Yojikondo in recognition of his contributions to astronomy and the space program.

One of his avocations is martial arts. He is a sixth degree black-belt in aikido and is also a sixth degree black-belt in judo. He has been teaching an aikido and judo class at the Columbia Athletic Club in Columbia, Maryland for over two decades.
He has given talks on science and science fiction at such places as the Smithsonian Institute in Washington and the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) symposium in San Francisco.