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This article focuses on science fiction writer John Campbell. In the efforts to get a man into space, science-fiction fans feel they have overlooked the fact that a certain middle-aged New Jerseyan already has been there for years. Campbell has been blazing like an asteroid in the special wild blue yonder of space literature since before World War II. He has a powerful hold on these disciples because, first of all, Campbell pioneered modern science fiction and in the process largely killed off the hackneyed type of tales dealing with bug-eyed monsters. Like most nuclear physicists at the time, he was not absolutely certain that a chain reaction could be stopped.