Biography

Isaac Asimov - American science fiction writer, popularizer of science, biochemist. He is the author of about 500 books, mostly fiction (primarily in the science fiction genre, but also in other genres: fantasy, detective story, humor) and popular science (in various fields - from astronomy and genetics to history and literary criticism). Multiple Hugo and Nebula Award winner. Some terms from his works - robotics (robotics, robotics), positronic (positron), psychohistory (psychohistory, the science of the behavior of large groups of people) - have become firmly established in English and other languages. In the Anglo-American literary tradition, Asimov, along with Arthur Clarke and Robert Heinlein, is referred to as the "Big Three" science fiction writers.

In one of the addresses to readers Asimov formulated the humanistic role of science fiction in the modern world as follows: “History has reached a point where humanity is no longer allowed to quarrel. People on Earth should be friends. I have always tried to emphasize this in my works... I don't think that it is possible to make all people love each other, but I would like to destroy the hatred between people. And I seriously believe that science fiction is one of the links that help connect humanity. The problems that we raise in science fiction become the pressing problems of all mankind ... The science fiction writer, the science fiction reader, science fiction itself serves humanity.

Azimov was born (according to documents) on January 2, 1920 in the town of Petrovichi, Klimovichi district, Mogilev province, RSFSR (since 1929 - Shumyachsky district, Smolensk region) into a Jewish family. His parents, Anna Rachel Isaakovna Berman (Anna Rachel Berman-Asimov, 1895-1973) and Yuda Aronovich Azimov (Judah Asimov, 1896-1969), were millers by profession. He was named after his late maternal grandfather, Isaac Berman (1850-1901). Contrary to Isaac Asimov's later claims that the original family surname was "Ozimov", all relatives remaining in the USSR bear the surname "Azimov".

As a child, Asimov spoke Yiddish and English. From fiction, in his early years, he grew up mainly on the stories of Sholom Aleichem. In 1923, his parents took him to the United States (“in a suitcase”, as he himself put it), where they settled in Brooklyn and opened a candy store a few years later.

At the age of 5, Isaac Asimov went to school in the Brooklyn district of Bedford - Stuyvesant. (He was supposed to go to school at age 6, but his mother changed his birthday to September 7, 1919, to send him to school a year earlier.) After finishing tenth grade in 1935, 15-year-old Asimov entered Seth Low Junior College, but a year later this college closed. Asimov entered the chemistry department of Columbia University in New York, where he received a bachelor's degree (B. S.) in 1939, and a master's degree (M. Sc.) in chemistry in 1941 and entered graduate school. However, in 1942 he left for Philadelphia to work as a chemist at the Philadelphia Shipyard for the Army. Another science fiction writer Robert Heinlein also worked with him there.

In February 1942, on Valentine's Day, Asimov met on a "blind date" with Gertrud Blugerman (Gerthrude Blugerman). On July 26 they got married. From this marriage was born a son, David (David) (1951) and a daughter, Robin Joan (Robyn Joan) (1955).

From October 1945 to July 1946 Azimov served in the army. Then he returned to New York and continued his education. In 1948 he completed graduate school, received a PhD (doctor) degree in biochemistry, and entered the postdoctoral program as a biochemist. In 1949, he took a job as a lecturer at the Boston University School of Medicine, where in December 1951 he became an assistant professor, and in 1955 an associate professor. In 1958, the university stopped paying him a salary, but formally left him in his former position. By this point, Asimov's income as a writer already exceeded his university salary. In 1979 he was awarded the title of full professor.

During the 1960s, Asimov was under investigation by the FBI for possible links to the Communists. The reason was the denunciation of Azimov's respectful review of Russia as the first country to build a nuclear power plant. Suspicions were finally removed from the writer in 1967.

In 1970, Asimov separated from his wife and almost immediately became involved with Janet Opal Jeppson (English) Russian, whom he met at a banquet on May 1, 1959. (They had met before in 1956, when he gave her an autograph. Asimov did not remember that meeting, and Jeppson considered him then an unpleasant person.) The divorce took effect on November 16, 1973, and on November 30, Asimov and Jeppson were married. There were no children from this marriage.

He died on April 6, 1992 from heart and kidney failure due to HIV infection (leading to AIDS), which he contracted during heart surgery in 1983. The fact that Asimov suffered from HIV did not become known until 10 years later from a biography written by Janet Opal Jeppson. According to the will, the body was cremated and the ashes scattered.

Literary activity

Asimov began writing at the age of 11. He began writing a book about the adventures of boys living in a small town. He wrote 8 chapters, after which he abandoned the book. But at the same time, an interesting thing happened. After writing 2 chapters, Isaac retold them to his friend. He demanded a continuation. When Isaac explained that this was all he had written so far, his friend asked for a book where Isaac had read this story. From that moment, Isaac realized that he had a gift for writing, and began to take his literary work seriously.

In 1941, the story Nightfall was published, about a planet orbiting in a system of six stars, where night falls once every 2049 years. The story received huge publicity (according to Bewildering Stories, it was one of the most famous stories ever published). In 1968, the Science Fiction Writers' Association of America declared Nightfall to be the best fantasy story ever written. The story was anthologised more than 20 times, was filmed twice, and Asimov himself later called it "a watershed in my professional career." The hitherto little-known science fiction writer, who published about 10 stories (and about the same number were rejected), became a famous writer. Interestingly, Asimov himself did not consider The Coming of Night to be his favorite story.

On May 10, 1939, Asimov began writing the first of his robot stories, Robbie. In 1941, Asimov wrote the story "Liar" (Eng. Liar!) About a robot that could read minds. In this story, the famous Three Laws of Robotics begin to appear. Asimov attributed the authorship of these laws to John W. Campbell, who formulated them in a conversation with Asimov on December 23, 1940. Campbell, however, said that the idea belonged to Asimov, he only gave her a formulation. In the same story, Asimov coined the word "robotics" (robotics, the science of robots), which entered the English language. In Asimov's translations into Russian, robotics is also translated as "robotics", "robotics".

In the short story collection I, Robot, which brought the writer worldwide fame, Asimov dispels widespread fears associated with the creation of artificial sentient beings. Before Asimov, most stories about robots involved rebelling or killing their creators. Asimov's robots are not mechanical villains plotting to destroy the human race, but helpers of people, often smarter and more humane than their masters. Since the early 1940s, robots in science fiction have been subject to the Three Laws of Robotics, although traditionally no science fiction writer other than Asimov explicitly cites these laws.

In 1942, Asimov began the Foundation series of novels. Initially, "Foundation" and stories about robots belonged to different worlds, and only in 1980 Asimov decided to combine them.

From 1958, Asimov began to write much less science fiction and much more non-fiction. Since 1980, he has resumed writing science fiction with the continuation of the Foundation series.

Asimov's three favorite stories were The Last Question, The Bicentennial Man, and The Ugly Little Boy, in that order. Favorite novel was The Gods Themselves.

Publicistic activity

Most of the books written by Asimov are popular science, and in various fields: chemistry, astronomy, religious studies, and a number of others. In his publications, Asimov shared the position of scientific skepticism and criticized pseudoscience and superstition. In the 1970s, he was one of the founders of the Committee of Skeptical Inquiry, a non-profit organization opposed to pseudoscience.

Main awards

Hugo Award

1963 for popular science articles;
1966 for the series "Foundation" (as "Best SF Series of All Time");
1973 for the novel The Gods Themselves;

1983 for the novel from the "Foundation" series "The Edge of the Foundation";
1994 for the autobiography "A. Asimov: Memoirs»

Nebula Award

1972 for the novel The Gods Themselves;
1976 for the story "The Bicentennial Man";

Locus magazine award

1977 for the story "The Bicentennial Man";
1981 (non-art. lit.);
1983

The most famous fantasy works

The short story collection "I, Robot" ("I, Robot"), in which Asimov developed a code of ethics for robots. It is his pen that belongs to the Three Laws of Robotics;
Galactic empire series: Pebble in the Sky, The Stars, Like Dust and The Currents of Space;
The Foundation series of novels is about the collapse of the galactic empire and the birth of a new social order;
The novel "The Gods Themselves" ("The Gods Themselves"), the central theme of which is rationalism without morality leads to evil;
The novel "The End of Eternity" ("The End of Eternity"), which describes Eternity (an organization that controls time travel and changes human history) and its downfall;
A cycle about the adventures of space ranger Lucky Starr (see Lucky Starr series).
The story "The Bicentennial Man" ("Bicentennial Man"), based on which the film of the same name was shot in 1999.
Series "Detective Elijah Bailey and robot Daniel Olivo" - the famous cycle of four novels and one story about the adventures of an earthly detective and his partner - a space robot: "Mother Earth", "Steel Caves", "Naked Sun", "Mirror reflection”, “Robots of the dawn”, “Robots and the Empire”.

Almost all the cycles of the writer, as well as individual works, form the "History of the Future".

Many of Asimov's works were filmed, the most famous films being Bicentennial Man and I, Robot.

The most famous journalistic works

Asimov's Guide to Science
two-volume Asimov’s Guide to the Bible

Years of life: from 01/02/1920 to 04/06/1992

Legendary American science fiction writer, one of the geniuses of the 20th century. He is the author of about 500 books, mostly fiction (primarily in the science fiction genre, but also in other genres: fantasy, detective story, humor) and popular science (in various fields - from astronomy and genetics to history and literary criticism).

Isaac Asimov (real name Isaac Ozimov) was born on January 2, 1920 in Russia, in Petrovichi, a place located very close to Smolensk. His parents, Judah and Anna, emigrated to the States in 1923, bringing Isaac and his younger sister with them. The family settled in Brooklyn, where his father bought a candy store in 1926. Religious education in the family was given quite a bit of time, and Isaac became an atheist early - which he never hid and did not impose on anyone. In 1928, Asimov's father obtained naturalization, which meant that Isaac also became a US citizen. Having received a secondary education, Azimov, at the request of his parents, tried to become a doctor. This turned out to be beyond his strength: at the sight of blood, he became ill. Then Isaac made an attempt to enter the most prestigious college of Columbia University, but did not go beyond the interview, writing in his autobiography that he was talkative, unstable and did not know how to make a good impression on people. He was accepted to Seth Low Junior College in Brooklyn. A year later, this college closed and Asimov ended up at Columbia University - however, as a simple student, and not a student at an elite college. On July 25, 1945, Isaac Asimov married Gertrud Blugerman, whom he had met a few months earlier.

Among the most famous works of the writer are the novels "Steel Caves" (1954), "The End of Eternity" (1955), "The Naked Sun" (1957), "The Gods Themselves" (1972), the grandiose cycle "Foundation" (or "Academy", 1963-1986), as well as a series of stories in which the famous three laws of robotics are formulated for the first time.

It is alleged that Isaac Asimov came up with the idea for the Foundation (Academy) cycle while sitting on the subway when his eye accidentally fell on a picture depicting a Roman legionnaire against the backdrop of starships. Allegedly, it was after this that Asimov decided to describe the galactic empire in terms of history, economics, psychology and sociology.

According to rumors, the novel The Foundation (Academy) made a huge impression on Osama bin Laden and even influenced his decision to create the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda. Bin Laden likened himself to Hari Seldon, who rules the society of the future through pre-planned crises. Moreover, the Arabic translation of the novel's title is Al Qaida and thus may have given rise to the name of bin Laden's organization.

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Isaac Asimov (eng. Isaac Asimov, name at birth - Isaac Asimov; January 2, 1920 - April 6, 1992) - American science fiction writer of Jewish origin, popularizer of science, by profession a biochemist. Author of about 500 books, mostly fiction (primarily in the science fiction genre, but also in other genres: fantasy, detective story, humor) and popular science (in a variety of fields - from astronomy and genetics to history and literary criticism). Multiple winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards. Some terms from his works - robotics (robotics, robotics), positronic (positron), psychohistory (psychohistory, the science of the behavior of large groups of people) - have become firmly established in English and other languages. In the Anglo-American literary tradition, Asimov, along with Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein, is referred to as the "Big Three" science fiction writers.

Azimov was born (according to documents) on January 2, 1920 in the town of Petrovichi, Mstislavsky district, Smolensk province (now the Shumyachsky district of the Smolensk region of Russia) into a Jewish family. His parents, Hana-Rakhil Isaakovna Berman (Anna Rachel Berman-Asimov, 1895-1973) and Yudl Aronovich Asimov (Judah Asimov, 1896-1969), were millers by profession. He was named after his late maternal grandfather, Isaac Berman (1850-1901). Contrary to Isaac Asimov's later claims that the original family surname was "Ozimov", all relatives remaining in the USSR bear the surname "Azimov".

First rule of diet: if it tastes good, it's bad for you.

Asimov Isaac

As Asimov himself points out in his autobiographies (“In Memory Yet Green”, “It’s Been A Good Life”), Yiddish was his native and only language in childhood; Russian was not spoken to him in the family. From fiction, in his early years, he grew up mainly on the stories of Sholom Aleichem. In 1923, his parents took him to the United States (“in a suitcase”, as he himself put it), where they settled in Brooklyn and opened a candy store a few years later.

At the age of 5, Isaac Asimov went to school. (He was supposed to start school at age 6, but his mother changed his birthday to September 7, 1919, to send him to school a year earlier.) After finishing tenth grade in 1935, 15-year-old Asimov entered Seth Low Junior College but the college closed a year later. Asimov entered the chemistry department of Columbia University in New York, where he received a bachelor's degree (B.S.) in 1939, and a master's degree (M.Sc.) in chemistry in 1941 and entered graduate school. However, in 1942 he left for Philadelphia to work as a chemist at the Philadelphia Shipyard for the Army. Another science fiction writer Robert Heinlein also worked with him there.

In February 1942, on Valentine's Day, Asimov met on a "blind date" with Gertrud Blugerman (born Gerthrude Blugerman). On July 26 they got married. From this marriage was born a son, David (eng. David) (1951) and a daughter, Robin Joan (eng. Robyn Joan) (1955).

From October 1945 to July 1946 Azimov served in the army. Then he returned to New York and continued his education. In 1948 he completed graduate school, received a PhD, and entered the postdoctoral program as a biochemist. In 1949, he became a lecturer at the Boston University School of Medicine, where he became an assistant professor in December 1951 and an associate professor in 1955. In 1958, the university stopped paying him a salary, but formally left him in his former position. By this point, Asimov's income as a writer already exceeded his university salary. In 1979 he was awarded the title of full professor.

Isaac Yudovich Azimov. Born on January 2, 1920 in the village of Petrovichi, Shumyachsky District, Smolensk Region, RSFSR (Russia). He died in New York on April 6, 1992.

Who it?

First of all, Isaac Asimov is an American science fiction writer. During his 72 years of life, he wrote almost 500 books. Agree, incredible performance. And it's not just science fiction books, he's also written about the Bible, Literature, and of course Science. The writer himself was a biochemist by education, and therefore, like any scientist, he loved science very much and, moreover, knew how to write about it in simple language. More than half of his books are non-fiction. So he can be called a successful popularizer of science.

But the writer not only productively wrote a large number of books, he wrote them very well, having perfectly mastered this skill. This is proved by numerous various awards in English literature. Asimov became a multiple winner of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards. And some of his works took 3 awards at once.

The author is also famous for the fact that in his works he came up with how a person and a robot should interact, introducing the so-called three laws of robotics into the basis of the work of the brain of robots, which almost everyone has heard of at least once. In those days, people were afraid of robots, and in various works they were evil. In Asimov, they are kind and "deeply decent", unlike people. Asimov generally had an extremely positive outlook on life.

In his works, there are also such new concepts as “robotics”, “positron” (about the brain of a robot) and “psychohistory" (the science of predicting the behavior of large masses from the Foundation cycle). These new words have become firmly established in many languages ​​of the world.

Birth story

According to Asimov himself, his real name is Isaak Yudovich Ozimov. However, all his relatives who remained in the USSR are the Asimovs.

The future writer was born near Smolensk on the territory of the USSR (then still the RSFSR) in a Jewish family in 1920. The exact date of birth is unknown due to the difference between the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars, but Asimov himself preferred to celebrate his birthday on January 2nd. He did not know Russian, his family spoke Yiddish (Jewish language of the Germanic group). In 1923, his parents emigrated with him to the United States, fleeing the revolution, where they settled in Brooklyn, New York.

Education

Talented since childhood

Isaac learned to read when he was not even 5 years old, and at the age of 7 he was already a regular visitor to the library. He read a lot. He went to school at the age of 5, and impressed everyone with his abilities so much that he was able to jump through the classes and finish the entire school course at the age of 15 with all kinds of distinctions.

Having received a secondary education, at the request of his parents, he tried to become a doctor. But Isaac realized that this was not for him, he was afraid of blood, he was getting sick. And instead, he tried to get into the most prestigious college at Columbia University. But he did not pass the interview, and entered the junior college in Brooklyn.

But a year later, this college was closed, and Asimov still ended up at Columbia University, but not as a student, but as a free listener. But already in 1939, at the age of 19, he received a bachelor's degree, and in 1941 he became a master in chemistry.

From 1942 to 1945 he worked as a chemist at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Then he served in the army until 1946.

After the army in 1948, he returned to his studies and completed his postgraduate studies with a doctorate in chemistry. And the following year, he got a job as a teacher at the Faculty of Medicine at Boston University, where he first became an assistant professor in 1951, then in 1955 an associate professor, and in 1979 received the title of professor.

Love for work

Even in his school years, Azimov was instilled with a love of work. When the second son, Stanley, was born in the family, Isaac had to help his father. Every day, at six in the morning, he got up and went to deliver newspapers. And after school he ran home and stood at the counter until late. The Azimovs then had their own confectionery shop, which was bought by their father. If he saw how Isaac was late from school or reading a book, he immediately accused him of being lazy. Thus, the habit of work remained with the writer for life. In his autobiography he wrote:

I worked ten hours, seven days a week, all this time I spent in the shop. Even when circumstances forced me to leave for a couple of minutes, the question began to torment me: Lord, how is it in the shop?

Because of this, the writer was deprived of communication with peers, did not make friends, including with girls, and this went on for quite a long time. But the lack of communication was later more than made up for. Later visiting at numerous conferences, he was fond of flirting with women, and was as good at it as he was at everything else.

By the way, it was then, in the shop, that the future science fiction writer got acquainted with science fiction (SF). He was 9 years old when SF magazines began to appear on the shelves in the shop. The father considered such reading inappropriate for his son, but later Isaac managed to convince his father that since Science Wonder Stories had the word “science” in it, then the content should be useful.

Career and path to worldwide fame

In 1938, his favorite SF magazine was Astounding, to which he often sent letters. And it was there that he sent his first story, and he appeared there personally, not entrusting this matter to the mail. The story was rejected, but the magazine's editor-in-chief, 28-year-old John W. Campbell, a living legend in the flesh for Isaac, spent an hour talking with the eighteen-year-old youth. And gave him some advice. The next two stories were also rejected, but four months later he sent his third story to another magazine, Amazing Stories, which was accepted and Asimov received his first fee - $64. Campbell accepted only Asimov's sixth story, which received a prize-winning third place in the magazine's readers' vote, beating even some generally recognized masters.

Later in 1940, everything Asimov wrote was published somewhere. Years later, he tried to thank Campbell for his help, but he did not accept it, saying that he had advised hundreds of young writers, but how many of them became Asimov?

Interestingly, because of Campbell, Asimov completely abandoned aliens in his works. The fact is that the editor's views were such that he did not believe in the equality of people and also believed that a person would beat all sorts of "aliens" there, and often the stories were rewritten by the editors after the purchase. And some were not accepted at all. As a consequence, in the "Foundation" universe, the entire galaxy is inhabited exclusively by humans. And in the stories about robots, it was about the relationship between man and machine, and the topic of the superiority of people over someone did not make sense.

By the way, it was Campbell who helped formulate the three laws of robotics, and Asimov conceded authorship to him, and even later dedicated the collection “I, Robot” to him. Campbell himself said that he only got them from Asimov's stories.

In 1941, the famous story “The Coming of the Night” was written, which many years later became a full-fledged novel. And it was in this year that Asimov came up with the idea of ​​stories about the Galactic Empire, by analogy with the Roman Empire, about its life and fall. The first story was called "Foundation" and was adopted with restraint, but the second and subsequent ones did not fall below the second place in the reader's vote.

In 1942, the war was on and Campbell introduced Asimov to another famous science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein, who was then serving in the army in the Navy in Philadelphia, where he received an invitation to the position of a chemist, where he received a good salary. But in 1946, Asimov was called up for regular service in the army, as a private. Where he was a clerk in a unit preparing a nuclear bomb test in the Pacific. And yet, before 1945, Isaac wrote several more stories in the Foundation universe, for which he received good fees.

When he returned to Columbia University, he continued to work on his dissertation and discovered good teaching skills. And in 1948, he first tried his hand at journalism and, to the surprise of the writer, the article was a great success, especially among chemists, which even helped him when passing for a doctorate.

In 1949, he wrote his last story in the Foundation cycle, ending the series (at 32 years). And then he received a contract for the publishing of the first book - the novel "Pebble in the Sky".

The publishing house liked the novel and the sequels were published next: “Stars like dust” and “Cosmic currents”. He was also approached to publish a series of teen fiction that could be the basis for a television series. Since Asimov did not like any TV show of this kind, he did not want something like that to be associated with him, and for the only time in his career he published under the pseudonym Paul French.

Other publishers also showed interest in Asimov, and a collection of his stories about robots was published in one book, “I, Robot”, and then the entire series “Foundation” in three volumes. This series has become the most popular of Asimov's books, and is still sold in the millions.

In 1952, a popular science book for teenagers, The Chemistry of Life, opened a new path in his career. Other books on the same subject followed. Here is what Asimov writes about this:

One day, when I came home, I admitted to myself that I like writing journalism ... Not just with knowledge of the matter, not just to earn money - but much more than that: with pleasure ...

In 1954, Asimov was offered to write a novel about robots, which he did not want to do, because he wrote only short stories about them, but he was given the idea to write a detective novel, knowing his love for this genre. So one of the best novels of the writer “Steel Caves” appeared, which became the beginning of a new series of novels about robots. Few people have managed to successfully combine a detective story with science fiction, and Asimov is one of the few who did it perfectly.

In 1958, Asimov retired from teaching and began to engage only in writing. At this point, he already had a bunch of publishers in stock who wanted to work with him. And he began to write journalism, which then brought him more money than science fiction. All because it was possible to write more for journalism, and use the already accumulated material. All this so captivated the writer that he decided to become the best popularizer of science in the world. In the same year, he was offered to write a permanent column in the journal "Fantasy and Science Fiction", which he led all his life, writing 399 articles there.

• "The Intelligent Man" s Guide to Science "(" A guide to science for an intelligent person ") 1960
• "Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology" ("Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology", 1964)

He was also interested in history, writing about ancient Greece, Egypt and the Roman Empire. And even, being an atheist, he wrote about the Bible.

By the early seventies, having written a hundred books, he was already considered the best popularizer of science in the world, he was well received everywhere, at all universities where he sometimes lectured, in any publishing houses, at conventions and parties. He was a womanizer and liked to flirt with pretty women at various events. He also used this reputation in his books: ("Lustful Old Man", 1971) and "Lecherous Limericks" ("Unbridled Limericks", 1975)

Asimov became a literary phenomenon, a very outstanding personality, recognized as a genius. He was sure that everyone should be interested in the same thing as him, in everything he says, writes and thinks. And perhaps he was right. Everyone knew about him. Any book or magazine bearing his name was doomed to success. Each new book by Asimov helped sell his other books, expanding the audience of fans. And he wrote very easily.

Including he did not abandon science fiction, he compiled numerous anthologies.

And in 1972, he began writing fantasy novels again. Beautifully returned, releasing the most critically acclaimed novel, The Gods Themselves, which won all possible awards.

Further, in honor of his name and with his consent, a new science fiction magazine “Asimov’s” was opened, which, by the way, is successfully published to this day. There he was not the chief editor, but wrote only a small column. But he promised that as soon as there is something sci-fi for the magazine format, they will have it.

By 1982, he returned to the Founding series with a follow-up to Founding Crisis, written specifically in a 30-year-old style, and the novel was received exceptionally well.

In 1984, a total of two hundred books were already published by the writer. And all his subsequent novels become bestsellers:

Asimov is turning into a very rich writer, if earlier he wrote a lot of journalism, including for financial reasons, now each of his new science fiction novels brings him more than ten popular science books. His face becomes recognizable, he is the first of the writers to appear on television and in commercials. He supports many aspiring authors with his name, gives away ideas, and by this time money and fame no longer interested him, and he had no mansions or yachts, but only a typewriter and a quiet room with curtained windows.

Towards the end of his life, in collaboration with Robert Silverberg, he reworks three of his famous stories into the novels Nightfall, Bicentennial Man and Ugly Boy.

And in the spring of 1993, after the death of the writer, his last book “I, Asimov” was published - the third volume of his autobiography, which he dictated to his wife already in the hospital.

Personal life

In 1942, on Valentine's Day, on a blind date, he met his future wife, Gertrude Blugerman. And a few months later, on July 26, they got married. At the time, Asimov was living in Philadelphia and working as a Navy chemist. Then, after the service, they went to live in Boston in 1949. They had two children, son David (1951) and daughter Robin Joan (1955). But it so happened that their marriage slowly fell apart over the decades. They eventually separated in 1970 and officially divorced three years later on November 16, 1973. The divorce was painful, including from a financial point of view - it cost the writer 50 thousand dollars (at that time it was a lot of money). In his autobiography, he fully took the blame, saying that he was not a good husband, that he was selfish and only focused on his books.

Almost immediately after the divorce, he marries Janet Opil Jeppson (November 30, 1973), a psychiatrist whom he met at the New York World Convention back in 1956. He will stay with her. Later, Janet Asimov would help publish several of his books after his death, including his latest autobiography.

How did the writer die?

Back in 1977, Asimov suffered a stroke, and in 1983 he underwent a successful heart operation. But later it turned out that the blood donor was HIV-infected. The writer hid about this disease, because it could have a negative impact on him and his family, then there was discrimination against HIV-infected people in society. After death, the family decided not to disclose the true cause of death, because at that time, one famous American tennis player spoke about his illness, which he also received after the operation, and this caused a lot of discussion in society. The doctors insisted on secrecy. Ten years later, when most of Asimov's doctors were no longer alive, Janet Asimov published the real cause of death in one of the editions of his last autobiography.

Asimov himself said that he hoped to die, falling face down on the keyboard of a typewriter. And in one of the interviews, when he was asked what he would do if he was told that he had six months left to live, he answered “I will type faster.” But he spent the last weeks in the hospital and was kept alive by medication. And on April 6, 1992, Isaac Asimov left us. According to his will, the body was cremated and the ashes scattered.

The front pages of many newspapers wrote about his death. And two weeks later, CNN released a retrospective about his career and life. Prior to this, this was done only for politicians and movie stars. National radio aired his 1988 interview and his own words became an obituary.

For the first time, the whole world mourned the death of a science fiction writer.

His last words are said to have been:

It's been a good life

It was interesting? Tell your friends about Asimov.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) - a true legend of the "golden age" of American fiction. He devoted almost his entire life to literature: over four hundred books, including special studies and popular science works, came out from under his pen. The point, of course, is not in quantity; there are more prolific writers among science fiction writers. But, unlike most of his colleagues, Asimov did not follow hackneyed clichés - he gushed with original ideas, each of which was capable of spawning a whole direction in science fiction.

And it's all about him

No matter how trite it sounds, already the biography of Asimov looks like a fascinating novel. He was born in Soviet Russia, in the town of Petrovichi near Smolensk. This fateful event took place on January 2, 1920, and already in 1923 the Ozimov family (as the name of his parents originally sounded) emigrated to the United States. Asimov's literary career began sixteen years later with the short story Lost at Vesta, published in Amazing Stories. Since then, publications have rained down one after another, and soon Isaac became one of the most active figures in the American fandom, a regular at forums and conventions, the soul of society, charming and courtly. Studies in literature did not interfere with a scientific career. Yesterday's emigrant, he managed to brilliantly graduate from high school, then - the chemistry department of Columbia University, quickly get a degree and by 1979 become a professor at his alma mater.

Michael Whelan, master of fantasy art, has illustrated many of Asimov's books. These works adorn our article.

However, the main achievements of Isaac Asimov undoubtedly lie in the field of literature. Here, however, not without a certain amount of luck. The first person from the world of science fiction, with whom young Isaac personally met, was John Wood Campbell. The legendary editor of Astouding SF magazine played an invaluable role in the development of American fiction "golden age", personally nurtured a whole generation of brilliant writers - from Robert Heinlein to Henry Kuttner and Catherine Moore. Campbell not only possessed an amazing nose for talent, but also bombarded his favorites with a whole hail of ideas, many of which were embodied in the novels and stories of those whom we today call the classics of SF. Of course, John Campbell could not pass by Asimov, although only the ninth of the stories proposed by Isaac saw the light on the pages of his magazine. Like many comrades in the workshop, the writer retained his gratitude to Campbell for life - the man thanks to whom American science fiction made a giant evolutionary leap in just a few years.

A lot of articles and books have been written about the work of Isaac Asimov - including a two-volume memoir of the writer himself. One listing of his literary awards would take up several pages in small type. Asimov has five "Hugo" (1963, 1966, 1973, 1977, 1983) and two "Nebula" (1972, 1976) - the most authoritative awards in world fiction. More importantly, however, his numerous books are still being translated and republished around the world, including works written more than half a century ago.

I am robot

The first thing that comes to mind when the name of Isaac Asimov sounds is the image of a robot in world fiction. No, of course, robots were not invented by Asimov. The word comes from the Czech language and was first used by Karel Capek in his famous play "R.U.R." The very image of an artificial man, alive, but devoid of a soul, came to us from stories about the Golem and Frankenstein's monster. However, it was Asimov who proposed the ideal way to once and for all protect humanity from the very possibility of a “revolt of machines”. If in the magazine fiction of the 1920s the crazed android was one of the main enemies of mankind (along with bug-eyed monsters and maniac scientists), then with the advent of "Saint Isaac", the robot turned from a crafty slave into an indispensable assistant and faithful confidant of a person. And all that was needed was to introduce the Three Laws, wired, so to speak, into the BIOS of the positronic brain of every intelligent machine!

I think it would not be superfluous to recall these Laws once again. According to the First, a robot cannot harm a person or by its inaction allow a person to be harmed. According to the Second - must obey all orders that a person gives, except in cases where these orders are contrary to the First Law. And, finally, according to the Third, the robot must take care of its safety to the extent that this does not contradict the First and Second Laws. The positronic brain is physically incapable of violating any of these principles - it is on them that its structure is based.

Isaac Asimov's first story about robots appeared in 1940 in a science fiction magazine. The story was called "Strange Buddy", or "Robbie", and told about the fate of an unusual robot - touching and very humane. This work was followed by the second, third, fourth ... And already in 1950, Isaac Asimov's cycle of stories "I, Robot" was published as a separate book, which determined the development of the theme of intelligent machines for many years to come.

Founding and founders

“If only you knew from what rubbish poetry grows, knowing no shame ...” - wrote Anna Akhmatova. Isaac Asimov's interest in robots was due to quite prosaic reasons. For all his merits, John Wood Campbell, who for a long time remained Asimov's main publisher, was distinguished by radical views and believed that a representative of the "higher" human race must certainly emerge victorious from any conflict with aliens. This framework was too narrow for Isaac, moreover, contrary to his beliefs. And the writer found a brilliant way out: from now on, in the works that he offered Campbell, there were no aliens at all, which means that there was no corresponding conflict. However, this does not mean that Asimov completely abandoned the space theme. On the contrary, works that took place on distant planets came out from under his pen one after another. Only now these worlds were inhabited not by “little green men”, but by all the same people, descendants of earthly settlers.

The most famous Asimov cycle, which began during this period, was the "Foundation" (also known in Russian translations as "Foundation" and "Academy"). Influenced by Edward Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, the novels depict perhaps the most impressive future story in 20th-century science fiction. The First Empire of the human race fell under its own weight. Science and arts wither, the army falls apart, the provinces declare themselves independent states, the connection between them is lost - in a word, new Dark Ages are coming. Of course, the optimist Asimov does not lose faith in progress: sooner or later the world will become united again and the standards of the Second Empire will rise above all the worlds. But is it possible to calculate how the situation will develop and reduce the Dark Ages to a minimum? This is done by the great mathematician Hari Seldon, the inventor of the science of psychohistory, the creator of the Foundation - a community that will become the embryo of the Second Empire of mankind.

The pictures of the death and collapse of the greatest Empire, skillfully drawn by the writer, are impressive. But Asimov's main finding in this cycle is, of course, psychohistory itself. “Without trying to predetermine the actions of individuals, she formulated certain mathematical laws according to which human society developed,” this is how the hero of the novel explains her essence. For thousands of years, the creation of such a science has remained the dream of those in power. Today, oracles and fortune-tellers, Pythia and augurs, Tarot cards and coffee grounds have been replaced by the eldest child of Progress - the almighty Science. Whatever they use to predict the approximate direction of the development of society - at least a few months in advance, until the next elections ... Alas, sociologists and political scientists have not learned to confidently predict the future ...
As for the "Foundation", the fate of this cycle has developed quite happily. At the 24th WorldCon in 1966, The Foundation won the Hugo Award for "best fantasy series of all time." In the voting, Asimov's novels bypassed both the most popular "History of the Future" by Robert Heinlein, and "The Lord of the Rings" by John R. R. Tolkien, whose name has already thundered in the English-speaking world.

steel caves

Fantastic detective is a very special genre. It combines the features of a traditional detective novel and science fiction, and therefore is often criticized from both sides. Connoisseurs of the detective genre are annoyed by fantastic assumptions, fans of science fiction are constrained by the rigid structure inevitable for a detective. However, writers stubbornly return to this direction, again and again forcing cohorts of elusive criminals and brilliant detectives to get down to business. And one of the universally recognized classics of the fantastic detective is again considered to be the unsurpassed and many-sided Isaac Asimov.

The novels Caverns of Steel, The Naked Sun, and Robots of Dawn, about police officer Elijah Bailey and his partner R. Daniel Olivo, are in some ways a continuation of the I, Robot series. The detective itself is akin to a tangled chess game, but Asimov added an additional unknown to this equation - robots. One of them, the level-headed and reserved detective Daniel Olivo, becomes the protagonist of all the novels in the trilogy. Other robots invariably fall under suspicion or become key witnesses in cases that a couple of investigators have to unravel. The move, it should be noted, is the most witty. The behavior of thinking machines is strictly defined by the Three Laws - and yet, robots are constantly involved in fatal crimes. Moreover, the difficult foreign policy situation requires finding the culprit in record time...

The list of Asimov's fantastic detective stories is not limited to the trilogy. However, it was she who entered the annals, became a constant role model. And not only in the USA and England, but also in Russia. For the first time "Steel Caves" was published in Russian in 1969, in one of the volumes of Detlit's "Adventure Library", with a preface by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky - and immediately in a three hundred thousandth edition. Not every modern bestselling author can boast of such success. And, in general, deservedly so: although over the past years hundreds of writers have tried their hand in the field of a fantastic detective, Asimov's works still remain an ideal example of the genre.

Beginning of eternity

Another direction in which the American writer left a distinct mark is chrono-opera, literature about time travel. The Time Machine has been a regular theme in SF since time immemorial. There are an astronomical number of variations on this theme in modern fiction, including many classics: Ray Bradbury's "Thunder Came...", Paul Anderson's "Time Patrol", Sprague De Camp's "Let No Darkness Fall"... But Isaac's "End of Eternity" Asimov occupies one of the most honorable places in this series. How easily a poet is guessed from the texts of Bradbury, just as easily a natural scientist is identified in the author of The End of Eternity. Having meticulously and ruthlessly logically examined the situation with time travel, Asimov constructed an organization that would inevitably arise in a world where traveling to the past or future is no more difficult than visiting an aunt in Saratov.

Eternity is a kind of totalitarian state that exists outside the main time stream and uses a time machine to correct history. Its main goal is to keep society unchanged, to insure the inhabitants from global catastrophes and upheavals. And at the same time, maintaining the status quo, Eternity has deprived humanity of the future, in fact, has frozen the progress of civilization for millennia. Alas, it is global upheavals, wars and catastrophes that make society move forward. Complete peace leads civilization to decay and death...

Not all writers share Isaac Asimov's skepticism. For more than half a century, Eternity has been revived again and again in the novels of other authors, under new names: the Time Patrol (in Paul Anderson), the Sand Center (in Keith Laumer's Dinosaur Coast), and so on and so forth. Most of these organizations, however, do not so much correct the history of mankind as monitor its integrity. Too great is the fear of anarchy that will reign in a time filled with travelers without visas. If one butterfly, crushed in the past, comes around in the present with a change in the political system in America, how is it capable of distorting the history of another Yankee who came to the court of King Arthur with a machine gun at the ready? .

Classics and contemporaries

Asimov Monument Design (Michael Whelan)

Undoubtedly, Isaac Asimov's contribution to the treasury of ideas and plots of science fiction is not limited to this. He came up with a planet whose inhabitants see stars only once every few millennia and was the first to send his heroes into the microcosm, he suggested that Neanderthals possessed telepathy and ironically described the development of computing systems, back in the 1950s he spoke about the threat of nuclear wars and contacts with the inhabitants of a parallel world...

Today, several thousand science fiction novels are published annually in the United States and England, and a good third of these works can be attributed to SF. But in order to figure out what science fiction writers prefer to write about, it is not at all necessary to read all these books. If you are interested in what ideas Western fiction writers are actively developing now, re-read Asimov's collected works. I assure you: all the diversity of modern science fiction is reflected in his works, like the ocean in a drop of water.