Robert A. Heinlein(1907-1988)
- Writer
- Additional Crew
At the age of 17, Heinlein graduated from Central High School in Kansas
City, Missouri. He spent one year at the University of Missouri before
he entered the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, from which he
graduated as the 20th best among the 243 cadets. He spent five years in
the Pacific Ocean until he had to retire because of tuberculosis in
1934. After his retirement he had different kinds of jobs: silver
mining in Colorado, land-agent, political speech-writer and a failed
attempt to become an elected politician. He also married his first
wife, Leslyn McDonald.
His first story "Lifeline" was written as an entry for a magazine
contest offering $50 for the best sf story by a new writer, but he sold
it instead for $70 to the magazine "Astounding Stories" where it was
published in August 1939. During WWII he worked as a research engineer
for the navy in Philadelphia but he also wrote 25 novels and short
stories. He also met his second wife Virginia Gerstenfeld whom he
married in 1948. Not much is known about his personal life. He once
said that he wrote seven days a week, six months a year. The other six
months he traveled or was lazy. At the end of the 1960s his health
became weaker and he had to undergo several treatments. His health
improved after a major operation in 1982 but his novel, "To Sail Beyond
the Sunset," published in 1987, became his last.
City, Missouri. He spent one year at the University of Missouri before
he entered the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, from which he
graduated as the 20th best among the 243 cadets. He spent five years in
the Pacific Ocean until he had to retire because of tuberculosis in
1934. After his retirement he had different kinds of jobs: silver
mining in Colorado, land-agent, political speech-writer and a failed
attempt to become an elected politician. He also married his first
wife, Leslyn McDonald.
His first story "Lifeline" was written as an entry for a magazine
contest offering $50 for the best sf story by a new writer, but he sold
it instead for $70 to the magazine "Astounding Stories" where it was
published in August 1939. During WWII he worked as a research engineer
for the navy in Philadelphia but he also wrote 25 novels and short
stories. He also met his second wife Virginia Gerstenfeld whom he
married in 1948. Not much is known about his personal life. He once
said that he wrote seven days a week, six months a year. The other six
months he traveled or was lazy. At the end of the 1960s his health
became weaker and he had to undergo several treatments. His health
improved after a major operation in 1982 but his novel, "To Sail Beyond
the Sunset," published in 1987, became his last.