About the Author:
Professor Dr. Valdir Bento BSc MSc PhD is an astrophysicist, environmentalist, and educator. He trained as a physicist and computer scientist and was a pioneer in computing and laser technologies in Brazil. Dubbed a Math Whizz at age 17 by the U.S. press after he won a science award from NASA and the U.S. Air Force, Dr. Bento then worked to help NASA improve rocket technologies that continue to be used to this day. In the early 1990s, before climate change was a widespread global concern, he founded a non-profit organization to educate children and adults globally about its risks and on how to preserve the natural environment. He is a major proponent of education for preservation. He resides on planet Earth (but his imagination frequently travels around the Milky Way--and boldly beyond!).