Dan Alderson

Daniel John Alderson was a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, and a prominent participant in science fiction fandom. He came from a middle-class family and had diabetes. A high school science fair project on the gravitational fields of non-spherical bodies won him a college scholarship to Caltech and a job at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he wrote the software used to navigate Voyagers 1 and 2.

31 October 1941

Born on the same birth date (31 October 1941): Derek Bell (racing driver) • Lucious Jackson • Sally Kirkland

Born on the same birth day (31 October): Abraham Wald • Adelbert Ames • Christopher de Leon • Denis Irwin • Dionysius of Vattasseril • Eddie Kaye Thomas • Edward, King of Portugal • Helmut Newton • Irina Denezhkina • Keith Jardine • Ken Wahl • Laura Bassi • Louise of Sweden • Magnus Wenninger • Mats Näslund • Nick Foligno • Samaire Armstrong • Siobhán Haughey • Sydney Park (actress) • Yeongjo of Joseon

Born in the same month (October 1941): Ahmet Mete Işıkara • Aleksandr Dulichenko • Art Shamsky • Colin Milburn • Helen Reddy • Karl Oppitzhauser • Ken Saro-Wiwa • Laurie Lawrence • Lynda Benglis • Marcel Berlins • Paul Ellison • Peter Takeo Okada • René Metge • Shane Stevens (author) • Simon Ward • Steve Cropper • Steven Kellogg • Theodor W. Hänsch