Isaac Asimov
English
Isaac Asimov (/ˈæzɪmɒv/;[b] c. January 2,[a] 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. He was known for his works of science fiction and popular science. Asimov was a prolific writer, and wrote or edited more than 500 books. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards.[c]
Asimov wrote hard science fiction. Along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers during his lifetime.[2] Asimov's most famous work is the Foundation series,[3] the first three books of which won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966.[4] His other major series are the Galactic Empire series and the Robot series. The Galactic Empire novels are set in the much earlier history of the same fictional universe as the Foundation series. Later, with Foundation and Earth (1986), he linked this distant future to the Robot stories, creating a unified "future history" for his stories much like those pioneered by Robert A. Heinlein and previously produced by Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson.[5] He also wrote over 380 short stories, including the social science fiction novelette "Nightfall," which in 1964 was voted the best short science fiction story of all time by the Science Fiction Writers of America. Asimov wrote the Lucky Starr series of juvenile science-fiction novels using the pen name Paul French.[6]
Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as much nonfiction. Most of his popular science books explain concepts in a historical way, going as far back as possible to a time when the science in question was at its simplest stage. Examples include Guide to Science, the three-volume set Understanding Physics, and Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery. He wrote on numerous other scientific and non-scientific topics, such as chemistry, astronomy, mathematics, history, biblical exegesis, and literary criticism.
He was president of the American Humanist Association.[7] Several entities have been named in his honor, including the asteroid (5020) Asimov,[8] a crater on the planet Mars,[9][10] a Brooklyn elementary school,[11] Honda's humanoid robot, ASIMO,[12] and four literary awards.
Dansk
Isaac Asimov (russisk: Исаак Юдович Озимов, tr. Isaak Judovitj Ozimov; født 2. januar 1920 i Petrovitji, Smolensk oblast, Russiske SFSR, død 6. april 1992 i New York, USA) var en russiskfødt amerikansk forfatter og biokemiker. Isaac Asimov blev kendt for sine science fiction-bøger og for sine videnskabelige bøger for lægmand, som han begyndte at udgive som 18-årig. Han udgav cirka 500 bind i sin levetid og var i en lang periode medlem af Mensa. Asimov gav navn til begrebet "robotics".
Isaac Asimov døde i 1992 af hjerte- og nyresvigt som følge af AIDS. HIV-smitten havde han havde pådraget sig ved en blodtransfusion, han modtog under en bypass-operation. At dødsårsagen var AIDS blev dog først offentligt kendt i 2002, da hans selvbiografi It's Been a Good Life udkom.