Ken Wharton

Ken Wharton is a physics professor at San Jose State University. His research interests include ultrafast laser-matter interactions, sonoluminescence, and time-symmetric interpretations of quantum mechanics. Many of his laser experiments are performed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In 1995, while a physics graduate student at UCLA, Ken was approached by his friend, Jeff Liu, with a request for a "cool science fiction idea" that could be written into a screenplay. Once Ken came up with one, he told Jeff that he couldn't have the idea: Ken was going to write the book instead. Three years later, Ken finished "Divine Intervention"; a 400-page hard science fiction novel. Meanwhile, Ken started writing short fiction as well. In 2000, shortly after the acceptance of Ken's first published short story (The Callisto Incident), Ace Books bought "Divine Intervention". It was published in December 2001 to excellent reviews, and went on to win the Special Citation for the 2001 Philip K. Dick Award. Ken has continued to publish short stories; four of his most recent stories have been published in Analog, and one has been reprinted in Year's Best SF #8", edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. Ken is now working on a second novel, "The Silence", set on the moons of Jupiter.