Isaac Asimov
Born 2 January 1920 · Died 6 April 1992
From Petrovichi, Smolensk Oblast, Russia · Nationality: United States, Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic · Writes fiction and nonfiction
Asimov was born sometime between October 4, 1919 and January 2, 1920 in Petrovichi in Smolensk Oblast, RSFSR (now Russia), the son of a Jewish family of millers. Although his exact date of birth is uncertain, Asimov himself celebrated it on January 2. His family emigrated to Brooklyn, New York and opened a candy store when he was three years old. He taught himself to read at the age of five. He began reading the science fiction pulp magazines that his family's store carried. Around the age of eleven, he began to write his own stories, and by age nineteen, he was selling them to the science fiction magazines. He graduated from Columbia University in 1939. He married Gertrude Blugerman in 1942. During World War II he worked as a civilian at the Philadelphia Navy Yard's Naval Air Experimental Station. After the war, he returned to Columbia University and earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1948. He then joined the faculty of the Boston University School of Medicine until 1958, when he became a full-time writer. His first novel, Pebble in the Sky, was published in 1950. He and his wife divorced in 1973, and he married Janet O. Jeppson the same year. He was a highly prolific writer, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 9,000 letters and postcards.
Quotes
“The dullness of fact is the mother of fiction.”
1957–1970, p. 11 “There is no way of being almost funny or mildly funny or fairly funny or tolerably funny. You are either funny or not funny and there is nothing in between.”
1971–1980, p. 33 “The end of a story is only the end to the reader. To the writer, it’s the beginning.”
1971–1980, p. 177 “The purpose of aphorisms is to keep fools who have memorised them from having nothing to say.”
1971–1980, p. 188 “The best way to describe anyone is to give an example of the kind of thing he would do.”
1971–1980, p. 499
Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Books by Isaac Asimov in order
Books by Isaac Asimov in the order they were published, from I, Robot (1950) to Forward the Foundation (1993).
- 1I, Robot
I, Robot1950 - 2Pebble in the Sky
Pebble in the Sky1950 - 3The Foundation Trilogy
The Foundation Trilogy1950 - 4Foundation
Foundation1951 - 5The Stars, Like Dust
The Stars, Like Dust1951 - 6Foundation and Empire
Foundation and Empire1952 - 7The Currents of Space
The Currents of Space1952 - 8Second Foundation
Second Foundation1953 - 9The Caves of Steel
The Caves of Steel1954 - 10The End of Eternity
The End of Eternity1955 - 11The Naked Sun
The Naked Sun1957 - 12Asimov's Guide to Science
Asimov's Guide to Science1960 - 13Understanding Physics
Understanding Physics1966 - 14Understanding Physics, Volume II
Understanding Physics, Volume II1966 - 15Nightfall
Nightfall1969 - 16The Gods Themselves
The Gods Themselves1972 - 17Foundation's Edge
Foundation's Edge1982 - 18The Complete Robot
The Complete Robot1982 - 19The Robots of Dawn
The Robots of Dawn1983 - 20Robots and Empire
Robots and Empire1985 - 21Foundation and Earth
Foundation and Earth1986 - 22Robot Dreams
Robot Dreams1986 - 23Prelude to Foundation
Prelude to Foundation1988 - 24Forward the Foundation
Forward the Foundation1993