Isaac Asimov

Author profile

born

January 02, 1920 in Petrovichi, Belarus

died

April 06, 1992

gender

male

website

http://www.asimovonline.com/

genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Mystery & Thrillers, Science

About this author

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Isaac Asimov was a Russian-born American author and professor of biochemistry, a highly successful writer, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books.

Professor Asimov is generally considered the most prolific writer of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards, and he has works published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System (lacking only an entry in the 100s category of Philosophy).

Asimov is widely considered a master of the science-fiction genre and, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, was considered one of the "Big Three" science-fiction writers during his lifetime. Asimov's most famous work is the Found...more Isaac Asimov was a Russian-born American author and professor of biochemistry, a highly successful writer, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books.

Professor Asimov is generally considered the most prolific writer of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards, and he has works published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System (lacking only an entry in the 100s category of Philosophy).

Asimov is widely considered a master of the science-fiction genre and, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, was considered one of the "Big Three" science-fiction writers during his lifetime. Asimov's most famous work is the Foundation Series; his other major series are the Galactic Empire series and the Robot series, both of which he later tied into the same fictional universe as the Foundation Series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those pioneered by Robert A. Heinlein and previously produced by Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson. He penned numerous short stories, among them "Nightfall", which in 1964 was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America the best short science fiction story of all time, a title many still honor. He also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as a great amount of nonfiction. Asimov wrote the Lucky Starr series of juvenile science-fiction novels using the pen name Paul French.

Most of Asimov's popularized 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. He often provides nationalities, birth dates, and death dates for the scientists he mentions, as well as etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Examples include his Guide to Science, the three volume set Understanding Physics, and Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery.

Asimov was a long-time member and Vice President of Mensa International, albeit reluctantly; he described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs" He took more joy in being president of the American Humanist Association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, a Brooklyn, NY elementary school, and two different Isaac Asimov Awards are named in his honor.

Айзек Азимов(имя при рождении Исаак Юдович Озимов; американский писатель-фантаст, популяризатор науки, по профессии биохимик. Автор около 500 книг, в основном художественных (прежде всего в жанре научной фантастики, но также и в других жанрах: фэнтези, детектив, юмор) и научно-популярных (в самых разных областях — от астрономии и генетики до истории и литературоведения). Многократный лауреат премий Хьюго и Небьюла. Некоторые термины из его произведений — robotics (роботехника, роботика), positronic (позитронный), psychohistory (психоистория, наука о поведении больших групп людей) — прочно вошли в английский и другие языки. В англо-американской литературной традиции Азимова вместе с Артуром Кларком и Робертом Хайнлайном относят к «Большой тройке» писателей-фантастов
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Isaac Asimov. (2007, November 29). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:50, November 29, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?t...(less)

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Books by Isaac Asimov

Average rating: 3.96 · 389,730 ratings · 9,719 reviews · 1,050 distinct works

	Foundation (Foundation, #1) 3.88 avg rating — 101,423 ratings — published 1951 — 85 editions	My rating:
	I, Robot 4.02 avg rating — 46,256 ratings — published 1950 — 107 editions	My rating:
	Foundation and Empire (Foundation, #2) 4.10 avg rating — 29,158 ratings — published 1952 — 69 editions	My rating:
	Second Foundation (Foundation, #3) 4.10 avg rating — 25,261 ratings — published 1953 — 63 editions	My rating:
	The Foundation Trilogy (Foundation, #1-3) 4.27 avg rating — 14,676 ratings — published 1953 — 32 editions	My rating:
	The Caves of Steel (Robot, #2) 4.04 avg rating — 14,500 ratings — published 1954 — 59 editions	My rating:
	Foundation's Edge (Foundation, #4) 3.90 avg rating — 13,738 ratings — published 1982 — 51 editions	My rating:
	Foundation and Earth (Foundation, #5) 3.86 avg rating — 11,909 ratings — published 1984 — 45 editions	My rating:
	Prelude to Foundation (Foundation: Prequel, #1) 3.85 avg rating — 11,354 ratings — published 1988 — 50 editions	My rating:
	The Robots of Dawn (Robot, #4) 3.98 avg rating — 8,592 ratings — published 1983 — 39 editions	My rating:

More books by Isaac Asimov…

Series by Isaac Asimov

Foundation (7 books)
by Isaac Asimov

3.94 avg rating — 200,464 ratings

Asimov's Robot (5 books)
by Isaac Asimov

4.02 avg rating — 93,385 ratings

Asimov's Robot Novels (4 books)
by Isaac Asimov

4.01 avg rating — 39,447 ratings

Foundation: Prequel (2 books)
by Isaac Asimov

3.88 avg rating — 18,945 ratings

Galactic Empire (3 books)
by Isaac Asimov

3.73 avg rating — 9,455 ratings

More series by Isaac Asimov…

Quotes by Isaac Asimov

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”
― Isaac Asimov

tags: life , science , wisdom

4,109 people liked it

“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.”
― Isaac Asimov

tags: humor , writing

1,039 people liked it

“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but 'That's funny...”
― Isaac Asimov

tags: science

704 people liked it

See all Isaac Asimov's quotes »

Polls

This is a great list ... it's the Nominations for the July Science Fiction Theme: Classic SF.

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

11 votes 35.5%

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

7 votes 22.6%

The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov

5 votes 16.1%

Midnight at the Well of Souls by Jack L. Chalker

5 votes 16.1%

Martian Time-Slip by Philip K. Dick

2 votes 6.5%

Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin

1 vote 3.2%

31 total votes

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Isaac Asimov

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Books by Isaac Asimov