Isaac Asimov short biography. Isaac Asimov: fantasy worlds in his books

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Isaac Asimov (January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American science fiction writer. Jewish origin, a popularizer of science, a biochemist by profession. 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 assertions 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 a few years later opened Candy store.

At the age of 5, Isaac Asimov went to school. (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 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 took a job as a teacher at Faculty of Medicine Boston University, 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.

Isaac Asimov (Isaac Asimov, birth name Isaac Yudovich Ozimov; January 2, 1920, Petrovichi, RSFSR - April 6, 1992, New York, USA) is an American science fiction writer, science popularizer, 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 his addresses to readers, Asimov formulated the humanistic role of science fiction in the following way: modern world: “History has reached a point where humanity is no longer allowed to feud. 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 are becoming the pressing problems of all mankind... The science fiction writer, the science fiction reader, science fiction itself serves humanity.”

Fantastic fortune-tellers - Isaac Asimov

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 assertions 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 6, but his mother changed his birthday to September 7, 1919, to send him to school a year earlier. After graduating from the tenth grade in 1935, the 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.

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.

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 friends with Janet Opal Jeppson, 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 found 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. According to the will, the body was cremated and the ashes scattered.

Biography of Isaac Asimov

The most famous fantastic works Asimov:

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;
A cycle of 3 novels about the galactic empire: "Pebble in the Sky" ("Pebble in the sky"), "The Stars, Like Dust" ("Stars like dust") and "The Currents of Space" ("Cosmic currents");
The Foundation series of novels is about the collapse of a 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;
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.

The series "Detective Elijah Bailey and the robot Daniel Olivo" is a 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 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.

An American science fiction writer of Russian origin, popularized science in his books. Isaac Asimov wrote about 500 fiction and non-fiction books. Terms from his books are rooted in English language. He has received the Hugo and Nebula Awards multiple times.

Asimov together with Arthur Clark And Robert Heinlein refers to the "big three" science fiction writers of England and America.

Isaac Asimov was born in the Smolensk region in 1920 into a Jewish family. His parents were millers, the family spoke only Yiddish. When Isaac was three years old, they moved to Brooklyn, where they opened their candy store. Isaac was taught to work hard from childhood and after school was forced to work behind the counter of a store.

Isaac went to school at the age of five, went to college at 15, and then to Columbia University in New York. In 1941, Isaac Asimov received his master's degree in chemistry.

Creative activity of Isaac Asimov / Isaac Asimov

At 11 years old Isaac Asimov has already started writing a book about the adventures of two boys. His first story "Captured by Vesta" published in 1939. This was followed by the publication of the story "The Coming of the Night", which after 27 years was recognized by the American Science Fiction Writers Association as the best of all written in literature. The story became decisive in the career of the young Isaac Asimov.

My first stories about robots Asimov started writing in 1939. He introduced the concept of robotics as a science, formulated its three laws. Storybook "I am a robot" brought Isaac Asimov unprecedented success. In his stories, robots are absolutely not evil creatures - they are people's helpers, sometimes more humane than their owners.

In 1942 Isaac Asimov conceived a series "Base", which was later combined with the world of robots.

Isaac Asimov was the founder of an organization of skeptics in the United States.

In 1945, Isaac served in the army, after which he went to graduate school, received a doctorate in biochemistry and began working as a teacher. As a writer Asimov moved away from the world of fantasy and began to engage more in non-fiction literature. Most of his books are written in this genre. It covered chemistry, astronomy, religion, physics and other sciences.

Asimov successfully wrote science fiction detective stories. One of his best detective novels was recognized as the book "Steel Caverns". At the peak of his writing career Isaac Asimov published a non-fiction book for teenagers "Chemistry of Life".

In 1958, when the writer and professor were fired from the university, leaving him with only a title, Isaac Asimov began to write an author's scientific column in the journal.

By the end of the 70s Asimov became so popular and recognizable in society that he was the first of the writers to appear in commercials on television. He helped many aspiring authors and their projects.

The American science fiction magazine Asimov's Science Fiction and Fantasy is named after Isaac Asimov.

Isaac Asimov died at 72 of heart and kidney failure. Nine years earlier, during a heart operation, he was infected with HIV infection, which developed into AIDS.

Personal life of Isaac Asimov / Isaac Asimov

In 1942 on Valentine's Day Isaac Asimov met his first wife Gertrude Blugerman. They got married and had a son David and daughter Robin Joan.

In 1970, the marriage broke up, and Asimov immediately began to live with a psychiatrist. Janet Opal Jeppson whom he met at a banquet in 1959. But the first time they met in 1956, when the writer was signing autographs. In 1973, Asimov and Jeppson signed, the couple had no children.

Screen adaptations of works by Isaac Asimov / Isaac Asimov

• 1977 - The Ugly Little Boy
• 1987 - End of Forever
• 1988 - Probe
• 1988 - Gandahar
• 1988 - Robots
• 1995 - Android Love

When Isaac Asimov was born, he was surprised to find that he had been born in the territory Soviet Russia in the town of Petrovichi near Smolensk. He tried to correct this mistake, and three years later, in 1923, his parents moved to New York Brooklyn (USA), where they opened a candy store and lived happily ever after, with sufficient income to finance their son's education. Isaac became a US citizen in 1928.

It's scary to think what would have happened if Isaac had stayed in the homeland of his ancestors! Of course, it is possible that he would take the place of Ivan Efremov in our fantastic literature, but this is unlikely. Rather, things would have turned out much more gloomy. And so he trained as a biochemist, graduating in chemistry from Columbia University in 1939, and taught biochemistry at the Boston University School of Medicine. Since 1979 he has been a professor at the same university. Professional interests were never forgotten by him: he is the author of many scientific and popular science books on biochemistry. But this is not what made him famous all over the world.

In his graduation year (1939), he made his debut in Amazing Stories with the short story Captured by Vesta. A brilliant scientific mind was combined in Asimov with daydreaming, and therefore he could not be either a pure scientist or a pure writer. He started writing science fiction. And he especially succeeded in books in which one could theorize, build intricate logical chains that involve many hypotheses, but only one correct solution. These are fantastic detectives. IN best books Asimov somehow has a detective element, and his favorite characters - Elijah Bailey and R. Daniel Olivo - detectives by profession. But even novels that cannot be called 100% detective stories are devoted to solving secrets, collecting information and brilliant logical calculations of unusually smart and endowed with true intuition characters.

Asimov's books are set in the future. This future stretched out over many millennia. Here and the adventures of "Lucky" David Starr in the first decades of development solar system, and the settlement of distant planets, starting with the Tau Ceti system, and the formation of a mighty Galactic Empire, and its collapse, and the work of a handful of scientists, united under the name of the Academy, to create a new, better Galactic Empire, and the development of the human mind into the universal mind of Galaxia. Asimov essentially created his own universe, extended in space and time, with its own coordinates, history and morality. And like any creator of the world, he showed a clear desire for epic. Most likely, he did not plan in advance to turn his fantastic detective story "Steel Caves" into an epic cycle. But then a sequel appeared - "Robots of the Dawn" - it is already becoming clear that the chain of individual crimes and accidents that Elijah Bailey and R. Daniel Olivo are investigating is connected with the fate of mankind.

And yet, even then, Asimov was hardly going to connect the Caves of Steel story cycle with the Academy trilogy. It happened by itself, as it always happens with the epic. It is known, after all, that at first the novels about King Arthur and the knights Round Table were not connected with each other, and even more so with the story of Tristan and Isolde. But over time, they united into something in common. It's the same with Asimov's novels.

And if an epic cycle is created, then it cannot fail to have a central epic hero. And such a hero appears. R. Daniel Olivo becomes them. Robot Daniel Olivo. In the fifth part of the "Academy" - the novel "Academy and the Earth" - he already takes the place of the Lord God, the creator of the Universe and the arbiter of human destinies.

Asimov's robots are the most amazing of all created by the writer. Asimov wrote pure science fiction, in which there is no place for magic and mysticism. And yet, not being an engineer by profession, he does not really strike the reader's imagination with technical innovations. And his only invention is more philosophical than technical. Asimov's robots, the problems of their relationship with people is a subject of special interest. It is felt that the author thought a lot before writing about it. It is no coincidence that even his science fiction rivals, including those who spoke unflatteringly about his literary talent, recognized his greatness as the author of the Three Laws of Robotics. These laws are also expressed philosophically, and not technically: robots should not harm a person or, by their inaction, allow harm to be done to him; robots must obey the orders of a person, if this does not contradict the first law; robots must protect their existence, if it does not contradict the first and second law. Asimov does not explain how this happens, but says that no robot can be created without observing the Three Laws. They are laid down in the very basis, in technical basis the possibility of building a robot.

But already from these Three Laws a lot of problems follow: for example, a robot will be ordered to jump into a fire. And he will be forced to do this, because the second law is initially stronger than the third. But Asimov's robots - in any case, Daniel and others like him - are essentially people, only artificially created. They have a unique and inimitable personality, an individuality that can be destroyed at the whim of any fool. Asimov was a smart man. He himself noticed this contradiction and resolved it. And many other problems and contradictions that arise in his books were brilliantly resolved by him. It seems that he enjoyed posing problems and finding solutions.

The world of Asimov's novels is a world of bizarre interweaving of surprise and logic. You will never guess what power is behind this or that event in the Universe, who opposes the heroes in their search for truth, who helps them. The endings of Asimov's novels are as unexpected as the endings of O'Henry's stories. Nevertheless, any surprise here is carefully motivated and justified. Asimov has no mistakes and cannot be.

The freedom of the individual and its dependence on higher powers. According to Asimov, many powerful forces operate in the Galaxy, much more powerful than people. And yet, in the end, everything is decided by people, concrete people, like the brilliant Golan Trevize from the fourth and fifth books of the Academy. What happens in the end, however, is not known. Asimov's world is open and ever-changing. Who knows where Asimov's humanity would have gone if the author had lived a little longer...

The reader, having entered another disturbing, huge and full of confrontation Asimov's Universe, gets used to it as to his own home. When Golan Trevize visits the long forgotten and desolate planets of Aurora and Solaria, where Elijah Bailey and R. Daniel Olivo lived and operated many thousands of years ago, we feel sad and devastated, as if we are standing on the ashes. This is the deep humanity and emotionality of such a seemingly personal-speculative world created by Asimov.

He lived by Western standards for a short time - only seventy-two years and died on April 6, 1992 at the New York University clinic. But over the years he wrote not twenty, not fifty, not one hundred or four hundred, but four hundred and sixty-seven books, both fiction and scientific and popular science. His work has received five Hugo Awards (1963, 1966, 1973, 1977, 1983), two Nebula Awards (1972, 1976), and many other prizes and awards. One of the most popular American SF magazines, Asimov's Science Fiction and Fantasy, is named after Isaac Asimov. There is something to envy.

American biochemist and science fiction writer Isaac Asimov (Isaac Yudovich Ozimov / Isaac Asimov) was born on January 2, 1920 in the village of Petrovichi, Shumyachsky district, Smolensk region.

In 1923 his family moved to the USA. In 1928, Asimov received American citizenship.

At the age of five, he went to school, where he amazed everyone with his abilities: he skipped classes and graduated primary school at 11 years old, and the main school course at 15 years old.

Then Asimov entered the Junior College (Seth Low Junior College) in Brooklyn, but a year later the college closed. Asimov became a student at the chemistry department of Columbia University in New York, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1939, and in 1941 a master's degree in chemistry.

From 1942-1945 he worked as a chemist at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard's Naval Air.

In 1945-1946 Azimov served in the army. Then he returned to New York and continued his education.

In 1948 he graduated from graduate school, received a doctorate in chemistry.

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 1979 he was awarded the title of professor (full professor).

Among his main works of a scientific nature are the textbook "Biochemistry and Metabolism in Man" (1952, 1957), "Life and Energy" (1962), " Biographical Encyclopedia science and technology" (1964), a book on evolutionary theory"Sources of Life" (1960), " Human body"(1963), "Universe" (1966).

Asimov wrote popular science books about the achievements of science and technology, revealing and popularizing the problems of chemistry, physics, biology, astronomy, history, among them "Blood is the river of life" (1961), "The world of carbon" (1978), "The world of nitrogen" (1981) and others. He also wrote the Science Guide for Intellectuals (1960).

World popularity came to Asimov thanks to his science fiction novels and short stories. He is considered one of the greatest science fiction writers of the second half of the 20th century. His science fiction works have been translated into many languages.

His famous works are the novel "The Gods Themselves" (1972), a collection of short stories different years"I am a robot", the novel "The End of Eternity" (1955), the collection "The Way of the Martians" (1955), the novels "Foundation and Empire" (1952), "Edge of Foundation" (1982), "Foundation and Earth" (1986) "Forward to the Foundation" (was published in 1993, after the death of the writer).

In 1979, the autobiographical book "Memory is still fresh" was published, followed by a sequel - "Unlost Joy". In 1993, under the title "A. Azimov", the third volume of his autobiography (posthumous) was published.

In total, he published more than 400 books, both fiction and scientific and popular science.

Isaac Asimov also worked in periodicals. The magazine Fantasy and Science Fiction (now Asimov's Science Fiction and Fantasy) has published monthly his popularizing articles on the latest achievements of science for over 30 years. For several years he led a weekly scientific column for the Los Angeles Times Syndycate.

Isaac Asimov - winner of many awards, both scientific and in the field of literature: Thomas Alva Edison Foundation Prize (1957), Howard Blacksley Prize of the Association of American Cardiologists (1960), James Grady Prize of the American Chemical Society (1965), Westinghouse Prize for the Popularization of Science American Association for the Support of Science (1967), winner of six Hugo Awards (1963, 1966, 1973, 1977, 1983, 1995), two Nebula Awards (1973, 1977).

In 1983, Isaac Asimov underwent heart surgery, in which he was infected with HIV through donated blood. The diagnosis came to light a few years later. On the background of AIDS, heart and kidney failure developed.

Isaac Asimov was married twice. In 1945-1970 his wife was Gertrud Blagerman. From this marriage a son and a daughter were born. Asimov's second wife was Janet Opile Jepson, a psychiatrist.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources