When America was threatned by increasing crime and the Nazi Menance, young millionare and engineer Ted Knight turned his focus to finding a way to use his science to aid in the war effort. Knight discovered and isolated a form of solar/cosmic energy and used it to fuel a device he dubbed "The Gravity Rod". Armed with the rod, Knight became one of the 1940's most powerful superheroes- Starman.

Ted served notable in the Justice Society of America; the first large organized group of superheroes in history. He also served as part of the less-remembered, but equally as honored All-Star Squadron. Still, Ted was always a scientist, more intersted in the development of his work than adventure and his interest in all things scientifc kept from persuing superheroics as fully as other mystery men of that time.

Later, feelings that he was in part responsible for developing the Atomic bomb (a device he had theorized in his notes, but never worked on specifically) led Ted to a nervous breakdown that forced him into a sanatarium for a year in 1951. After his release, he resumed the role of Starman. He improved the Gravity Rod, renaming it the cosmic rod.

Ted continued to act as Starman, until he decided to officially retire and pass the title down to his eldest son, David.