James G. Maynard, Publisher

Award-winning documentarian and filmmaker

James G. Maynard grew up around the space program, as his father, Robert Maynard, designed and built power supplies for the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs.

His parents met after Robert’s company, MIL Electronics, was awarded a contract to create electronic components for the historic first flight to the Moon. Robert hired a woman to manage his manufacturing team, Jeanne “Terry” Gene, formerly employed working on the Mercury Redstone program in Marietta, Georgia. It was not long before the two fell in love and were married. James Maynard was born to the pair in November 1968.

James Maynard on IMDB

Science and art were always encouraged in the house, and James quickly fell in love with reading the works of the world’s great science writers. At age nine, young Maynard created his first science “magazine” – a few articles of one or two typewritten paragraphs, copied on a ditto machine, stapled together, and peddled around town.

James Maynard went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Physics, with a minor in history, while teaching the astronomy study sessions as a student instructor. While there, he was elected as president of his local chapter of the Society of Physics Students. His undergraduate research, testing an old, but largely untested idea, led to a unique discovery in thermodynamics. Maynard was invited by the American Chemical Society to present his finding at the Academic Excellence Conference in 2002.

At around the same time, Maynard managed an astronomy supply store, with both brick-and-mortar outlets and a popular online retail outlet, for amateur astronomers. During this time, he hosted dozens of star parties, each attracting up to 400 people of all ages. Meanwhile, he began writing his first weekly astronomy news column, StarWatch. This look at the attractions of the night sky was published in newspapers including The Springfield Reporter, a local newspaper from the home of the legendary Stellafane convention!

Soon after graduation, he published his first book, The Light of Alexandria. This history of the first 1,000 years of science in Greece, Rome, and Egypt highlighted the philosopher/scientists of the ancient world, including women who are mostly forgotten in the pages of most history books. The Light of Alexandria also encompassed the daily life of all people living in western Europe during the era from 625 BCE to 415 CE, including their food, drinks, games, poetry, music, wars, and politics.

In May 2008, Maynard was named as a professional member of the Meta-Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA). That group, which included some of the top researchers from Caltech, Princeton, and other universities utilized early virtual reality (VR) to model globular clusters in space, unraveling one of the oldest problems in physics. A virtual science museum Maynard designed within the VR network was featured on CNN.com, and Discover magazine.

For five years, Maynard owned a publishing company, bringing several titles to life, including a highly-successful book on the worst weather to strike New England since the late 19th Century. This book spent several weeks among the top-10-selling books on BarnesandNoble.com.

James Maynard soon became a professional writer and journalist, producing thousands of articles on science news from astronomy to zoology.

For two years, Maynard took a break from writing, opening a store selling comic books and other “geeky” items, as well as scientific goods, including telescopes, books about science, and original space memorabilia. He taught astronomy classes at the store, and he organized the March for Science in Brattleboro, Vermont in 2017. This event brought more than 400 people to a venue designed to hold 40, in a city of 12,000 people.

In January 2018, James Maynard launched The Cosmic Companion, providing unique, in-depth news about space and astronomy to the general public.

Merging artificial intelligence, 3D environments, live action, animation, and more, Maynard is now constantly re-inventing and expanding the borders of 21st Century science education.

He currently lives in Tucson, Arizona, with his adorable and intelligent family, including his lovely wife, Nicole, and Max the Cat.

 


Past Publications

Tech Times – Articles by James Maynard on a variety of topics, mostly science news.

The Light of Alexandria – James Maynard’s first book, covering the history of the first 1,000 years of science in Greece, Rome, and Egypt.


Contact James Maynard at: thecosmiccompanion@gmail.com