Jack Parsons
1914 – 1952 American rocket engineer, chemist, occultist
Rocket propulsion pioneer and Thelemic magician who helped found JPL and Aerojet.
- Religion
- A devotee of Aleister Crowley's Thelema who led the Agape Lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis in Pasadena.
- Affiliations
- Co-founder of the GALCIT rocket group that became the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, co-founder of Aerojet, and leader of the OTO Agape Lodge.
Jack Parsons was a self-taught chemist whose work on solid rocket propellants helped establish the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Aerojet company. He was also a committed follower of Aleister Crowley's religion of Thelema and led the OTO's Agape Lodge in Pasadena. In 1946 he performed a set of sex magic rituals called the Babalon Working with L. Ron Hubbard, who then left with much of Parsons's money and his partner Sara Northrup. Parsons died in a home laboratory explosion in 1952 and later had a Moon crater named in his honor.
Connections
- mentor of Aleister Crowley — Crowley was Parsons's spiritual authority as head of the OTO, though he privately doubted Parsons's magical experiments.
- student of Aleister Crowley — Parsons was a devoted follower of Crowley's Thelema and corresponded with him as leader of the Agape Lodge of the OTO.
- associate of L. Ron Hubbard — Lived at Parsons's home and took part in the 1946 Babalon Working before leaving with Parsons's money and partner.
- associate of L. Ron Hubbard — Performed the Babalon Working with him in 1946; Hubbard then took much of Parsons's money and his partner and later founded Scientology.
- family of Marjorie Cameron — Parsons believed Cameron was the woman summoned in his rituals and married her in 1946.
- family of Marjorie Cameron — Parsons believed she was the woman invoked in the Babalon Working and married her in 1946.
In the timeline
- 1935 Jack Parsons and Ed Forman join Frank Malina's rocket group at Caltech central figure
- 1936 Founding of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory mentioned
- 1936 Jack Parsons: the occultist who helped found JPL central figure
- 1952 Jack Parsons dies in an explosion in his home laboratory central figure
- 1952 Parsons dies in a mysterious explosion mentioned
- 1972 The Moon crater Parsons is named in his honor mentioned