Robert Booth Fowler, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, UW-Madison, channels Ralph Waldo Emerson and explores Emerson’s 19th Century ideas about how to become a self-directed individual.

Few people are aware of Marvel Whiteside Parsons (a.k.a Jack Parsons), co-founder of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories. Parsons made major contributions to rocket development, particularly in the area of solid fuel propellant. The solid motors on the Space Shuttle and the motors in the Minuteman missile were based on the solid propellant technology that he invented. He was a founding member of Aerojet Corporation, and he even has a crater on the dark side of the moon named after him. So why isn’t he as celebrated as the other founding fathers of spaceflight? Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley, was a British occultist, writer, mountaineer, philosopher, poet, mystic, drug experimenter, and chess player. He was an influential member in several occult organizations, including the Golden Dawn, the A∴A∴, and Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), and is best known today for his occult writings, especially The Book of the Law, the central sacred text of Thelema. He gained much notoriety during his lifetime, and was infamously dubbed "The Wickedest Man in the World." Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons by John Carter: https://amzn.to/2oifa6s Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley by Richard Kaczynski: https://amzn.to/2ojmrmd Freedom Is a Two Edged Sword by Jack Parsons: https://amzn.to/2NtSxac ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax4gVYZYduQ