# Sam Jones — Search the Sky character guide

> Sam Jones in Search the Sky by Frederik Pohl.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Sam, Jones, the Jones, Dr. Sam Jones, Dr. Jones, By Jones

**First appearance:** 0000-i

## Snapshot

The crew's aging doctor and only credentialed scientist, he's the man you send to talk to strangers — when he can stand upright long enough to do it.

## Who they are

Jones is the starship's resident intellectual, the one Ross nominates to make first contact with the unnervingly advanced people of Earth. But he greets the moment of humanity's greatest need pickled in a backslide, bellowing a bawdy song about seven-sided doors and purple curbing before Helena's presence sobers him into mortified apology. His collapse forces Ross to improvise diplomacy with beings who have outgrown mathematics itself, making Jones's absence the hinge on which the crew's first contact — and their credibility — turns.

## Relationships

### [Ross](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/search_the_sky_se/characters/ross)

_friendship_

Ross and Sam Jones are friends or acquaintances, with interactions indicating a casual bond.

### [Ross](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/search_the_sky_se/characters/ross)

_friendship_

Ross and Sam Jones are friends or acquaintances, with interactions indicating a casual bond.

### [Ross](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/search_the_sky_se/characters/ross)

_friendship_

Ross and Sam Jones are friends or acquaintances, with interactions indicating a casual bond.

## In the story

### [Landing on Earth and Encounter with the Joneses](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/search_the_sky_se/chapters/x)

A plastic-surgeon-type Jones who examines Helena and confirms they are not Peepeece.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/search_the_sky_se/characters/sam_jones
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/search_the_sky_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/search_the_sky_se/characters