Mr. Chester Tuszynski's tombstone, which he shares with wife, Anna, is engraved with the name and image of Tuszynski's aeronautical invention, Universe-O-System.
In 1918, Chester was born in Poland to parents Anthony and Marianna in a home that was famous for a visit by Napoleon Bonaparte more than a hundred years prior during his campaign against Tsarist Russia.
Chester lost his mother when he was two years-old from epidemics spreading through Poland after the first World War. His father remarried a woman, Valeria, who had a wonderful, loving understanding of the children that Anthony and Marianna had shared. In his interviews, he credits the heavenly guidance of his mother and the loving support of his step-mother in all his achievements.
As a youth, Chester enjoyed scouting and trained as a firefighter. During this time, he began exploring his childhood interests in space and aircrafts. The scouting experience gave him the skills and confidence to move ahead into thoughts and areas that had been unexamined.
When Chester was finishing up his Masters Degree, the second World War began. As the first person in the family to complete higher education, it was a great honor to be an engineer, but pride was overwhelmed with nervousness when the Army Draft Board demanded Chester's service to fend off Germany's aggressive occupation. Still, Chester found opportunity! He joined the Air Force, became a pilot and a parachutist, and learned more about aircraft.
Unfortunately, the second World War was bloody and the Polish military was sabotaged and defeated, even to the extent of sugar being poured into plane fuel tanks so people were defenseless against a merciless Blitzkrieg. Chester, like many WWII veterans, saw and experienced incredible inhumanities and sacrifices all at an unimaginable risk to his own safety, sanity and life. His stories of humanity within inhumanity while a Prisoner of War in Siberia reveal the hope that has driven Chester's ambitions through the hardest of times. A surprising transfer into the British Air Force brought him into first hand experience with Communist Russia, India, the Carribean, New York and Scotland. Chester lost a kidney and half a lung to this war, but still British officers had to be convinced at length before allowing him to be dismissed for medical reasons.
Chester spent some time in England before heading off to America. Finding work in Post-WWII America was difficult since preference was given to US Military servicemembers returning from war. He found blue collar work and navigated the politics of the unions, studying psychology at the University of Chicago to help. Then he picked up trades and skills as they became available, everything from electrician to bartender!
One continuous project that has never left Chester's table was the Universe-O-System. In the words of Chester Tuszynski:
"With my experiments I envision a space program called the "Universe-O-System," capable of neutralizing all atomic weapons on Earth. Since the 40's of our century when the atomic bomb was created, we have created the greatest threat to our planet in the history of the human race. The mistake of its creators was not to keep full control over it. The arms race that resulted from nuclear proliferation has caused the over-production of nuclear bombs. So many that we no longer have room enough to store safely the tons and tons of them. If my system were accepted, however, we could regain control over the nuclear potential and liquidate safely all nuclear bombs and waste products.
"My project, the Universe-O-System, envisions twenty-four space ships. Each would be given a different task. One would be used to destroy atomic rockets and to get rid of nuclear waste on earth. It would be equipped with a container that could be loaded with over one thousand barrels of nuclear waste at one flight. It could be sent towards the sun, to disintegrate in the intense temperatures of the sun without harming anyone on Earth. The sun itself has numerous discharges of nuclear energy similar to nuclear explosions, so such a means of disposing of our nuclear stockpile would be in accord with what's already going on there. This action would of course need and deserve the political support of all progressive forces on Earth. An international organization should be formed and authorized to control countries possessing nuclear capabilities. It should have strong authority for its decisions to be respected. It would then be possible to resolve the problems of stockpiling nuclear bombs and nuclear waste in places where they could be shipped to the sun for destruction. International law should enforce compliance with such a solution to the problem of nuclear proliferation, which threatens to engulf this planet. Another "Universe-O-System" could seek out and destroy hidden atomic weapons with laser beams.
"I have been urging this administration and our congressional representatives to consider my proposal for many years now, with information about my "Universe-O-System" proposal. I have asked them to consider and support scientific research on this subject. I am sure that the acceptance of my proposals by NASA would be a greater step forward toward a peaceful twenty-first century than any others I have seen. What answers I have received from Washington, however, do not guarantee the peaceful use of my research. NASA maintains that the present state of technology and of scientific research are such that it would not be possible in practice to realize any of my proposals.
"So I want to publish one more book about my research, studies, and my computations, on which I have labored for several dozen years now, explaining the ways in which I have reached my conclusions, which make such a project feasible. I would like to pass them on to persons who would be willing and able to continue them in a way that would be beneficial for humanity."
To read more about Chester Tuszynski and his Universe-O-System, read the website:
Chester Tuszynski, the Polish-American aeronautical engineer