Bert Gentry Lee (born March 29, 1942) is an American scientist, space engineer, and science fiction author.

He is[dubious – discuss] chief engineer for the Planetary Flight Systems Directorate at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

When asked, Arthur C. Clarke said that Gentry Lee did the writing while he was a source of ideas.

Two take place in the Rama universe (Bright Messengers, Double Full Moon Night) while one makes several references to it (Tranquility Wars).

[5] In 2021, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to 20 planetary exploration missions to Mars, Jupiter, asteroids, and comets.