Charles A. Wood

Chuck Wood and his wife live in the oldest dated house in Wheeling, WV. Researching their home’s history led to learning the history of the town and region, and the decision to capture it in a novel, Wheeling 1850. Chuck’s life is dominated by the space age, working for NASA to research moons and planets, asteroids, comets and meteorites. Thus, it was natural to use this fascination with astronomy – notice the books about the Moon, impact craters and volcanoes? - to make the protagonists of the 1850 book be astronomers and to accurately portray the telescopes and astronomical understanding of that antebellum time. Hopefully the blending of history, science and story are all captivating! Here are snippets from Chuck's life: • He was at John Kennedy’s New Frontier speech in Los Angeles in 1960, • was a Peace Corps volunteer in 1960s Kenya, • trained astronauts, including teacher in space Christa McAuliffe, in Houston, • discovered meteorites from Mars, • survived the Flood of the Century in North Dakota, • a revolution in Ethiopia, • and a deadly volcanic eruption in Columbia, • was arrested as a spy in Cairo, • worked from a hammock in Nicaragua, • ran for Congress in 2014, • participated in the 27 year Cassini exploration of Saturn, • leads an international committee to approve names for lunar craters, and • was surprised when an asteroid was named 363115 “Chuckwood”.