Profile
Isaac Asimov: The Visionary of Robots and Galaxies
Russian-born American author and biochemist, born around 2 January 1920
Isaac Asimov was born in Petrovichi, Russia, around 2 January 1920, and moved to New York with his family as a small child. He grew up working in his parents' sweet shops, reading the science fiction magazines on their shelves.
He earned a PhD in chemistry and taught biochemistry at Boston University. His Foundation stories and robot stories, including the collection I, Robot, made him one of the 'Big Three' of science fiction.
He wrote on almost every subject, from physics to limericks, and his books appear in nearly every main category of library classification. He died in New York in 1992.
Career highlights
- 1920Born in Petrovichi, Russia
- 1923Moves to New York: with his family
- 1939First published story: in Amazing Stories
- 1941Nightfall: famous short story
- 1942Three Laws of Robotics: first set out in Runaround
- 1950I, Robot: collection of robot stories
- 1951Foundation: first book of his famous series
- 1992Dies in New York: after writing hundreds of books
Did you know?He never knew his exact date of birth, because of differences between calendars and missing records, so he chose to celebrate on 2 January.
