Greats of Science Fiction

Asimov, Isaac

Isaac Asimov was born Isaak Yudovich Ozimov; on the 2nd January 1920 in Russia, and died aged 72 on April 6, 1992 in New York. He was a prolific writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, but was best known for his works of science fiction and popular science books. His family emigrated to the USA when he was a toddler and settled in the Eastern section of Brooklyn at which time the family name changes to Asimov. His father Judah owned a series of candy shops and the young Isaac was often found helping in the store.

Asimov wrote or edited an astonishing 500 books, and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards during his writing career. Widely considered a master of hard science fiction, Asimov together with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers during his lifetime. 

His most famous work is the Foundation series of novels, together with the other major stories of the Galactic Empire and the Robot series (I, Robot was made into a blockbuster film starring Will Smith many decades later) where he first coined the Three Laws of Robotics which have become synonymous with many robots in Science Fiction since. The Galactic Empire novels are set in earlier history of the same fictional universe as the Foundation series. He wrote hundreds of short stories, including the social science fiction "Nightfall", which in 1964 was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America the best short science fiction story of all time and was later made into a novel length story of the same name. His first novel, Pebble in the Sky, was published in 1950, but he was first published in 1938 when a short story, Marooned Off Vesta was published in Amazing Stories. Asimov also wrote the Lucky Starr series of juvenile / young adult science-fiction novels using the pen name Paul French.

Although predominantly known for his SF stories (Asimov was not fond of the term SciFi) Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as a great deal of non-fiction. Most of his popular science books explain scientific concepts in a historical way, going as far back as possible to a time when the science in question was at its simplest stage. Unusually, he often provides nationalities, birth dates, and death dates for the scientists he mentions, as well as etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Included in his non-fiction works, are books on astronomy, mathematics, the Bible, William Shakespeare's writing, and chemistry.

Outside the writing world, Asimov was a long-time member and vice president of Mensa International, although there was often a certain reluctance to the role. He is noted as having described some members of the organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs" and it’s apparent that he took more joy in being president of the American Humanist Association.

His eventual death of heart and kidney failure marked the end of an astounding career, and he had dealt very privately with a diagnosis of AIDS (contracted from a blood transfusion during bypass surgery). He was survived by two children and his second wife, Janet Jeppson.

In honour of his prowess as a writer of many things literary and his work as a scientist, an asteroid (5020 Asimov), a crater on Mars, a New York elementary school, and a literary award are named in his honour.