Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), Russian-born American writer, esteemed for his science fiction and for his popular works in all branches of science.

Isaac Asimov was born in Petrovichi. His family immigrated to the United States when he was three years old and settled in Brooklyn, New York. Asimov's encounters with science-fiction magazines led him to follow the dual careers of writing and science. He entered Columbia University at the age of 15, and at the age of 18 he sold his first story, to the magazine Amazing Stories.

After serving in World War II (1939-1945), Asimov earned a Ph.D. degree at Columbia University in 1948; from 1949 to 1958 he taught biochemistry at the Boston University School of Medicine. His first science-fiction novel, Pebble in the Sky, appeared in 1950 and his first science book, a biochemistry text written with two colleagues, was published in 1953.

Asimov turned to writing full time in 1958. He authored more than 400 books for young and adult readers, extending beyond science and science fiction to include mystery stories, humor, history, and several volumes about the Bible and English playwright William Shakespeare. Asimov’s best-known science-fiction works include I, Robot (1950; film version, 2004); The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), to which he wrote a sequel 30 years later, Foundation's Edge (1982); The Naked Sun (1957); and The Gods Themselves (1972). Asimov's major science books include the Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology (1964; revised 1982) and Asimov's New Guide to Science (1984), a revision of his widely acclaimed Intelligent Man's Guide to Science (1960).

The author’s later works include Foundation and Earth (1986); Prelude to Foundation (1988); and Forward the Foundation (1992). Asimov wrote three volumes of autobiography: In Memory Yet Green (1979), In Joy Still Felt (1980), and the posthumously published I. Asimov: A Memoir (1994). Yours, Isaac Asimov: A Lifetime of Letters, was published in 1995.

Asimov died in 1992 of complications from the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). He contracted the disease from a blood transfusion during a 1983 triple-bypass operation.