Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was born in in Petrovichi, Russia on January 2, 1920, but emigrated with his parents to the United States in 1923. He quickly discovered the science ficiton magazines sold in his father’s candy store, and by the age of ten had become an avid fan of science fiction. Even at this early age he wanted to become a writer.

He graduated from high school at 16 and took a degree in chemistry from Columbia University at the age of 19. In 1939 he published his first science fiction story, "Marooned off Vesta," in Amazing Stories, and shortly thereafter became a favorite of the opinionated, genre-shaping editor John W. Campbell, Jr., who encouraged the young writer and helped guide his career.

From 1949 to 1958 Asimov had a dual career of writer and Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Boston University"s School of Medicine. In 1958, literary success allowed him to resign his academic post and devote himself to writing. Asimov was a prolific writer of a number of works including science fiction, science fact, mystery, history, short stories, guides to the Bible and Shakespeare, discussions of myth, humor, poems, and limericks. As a shaper of the science fiction genre, Asimov established some widely acknowledged reference points, including the Three Laws of Robotics, and the paradigms of galactic history and psychohistory. The latter he employed in the famous Foundation Trilogy, for which he received a belated Hugo Award in 1966. In 1972, The Gods Themselves won both the Hugo and Nebula awards.

Asimov published over 300 books in his lifetime. "It"s not my fault," he apologized, "I like to write and people seem willing to let me." He kept several typewriters in his Manhattan home and always had a number of books in progress. He died on April 6, 1992 from heart and kidney failure as a consequence of contracing AIDS from a transfusion of tainted blood during a triple-bypass operation in December of 1983. He is considered to be one of the three grand masters of science fiction.