Gregory Benford

Gregory Benford (born January 30, 1941) is a science fiction author and physicist who is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine.

Biographical timeline

• 30 January 1941 - born in Mobile, Alabama
• 1963 - received Bachelor of Science in physics from University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma
• 1965 - received Master of Science from University of California, San Diego
• 1967 - received doctorate from University of California, San Diego
• 1967 - married Joan Abbe

Benford has an identical twin brother, Jim Benford, with whom he has collaborated on science fiction stories and projects. Both got their start in science fiction fandom. Benford was the co-editor of the fanzine Void.

Related Topics:
Science fiction - Void

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His first professional sale was the story "Stand-In", which appeared in the June 1965 issue of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. In 1969, he began writing a regular science column for Amazing Stories.

Related Topics:
June - 1965 - Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction - 1969 - Amazing Stories

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Benford tends to write hard science fiction which incorporates the research he is doing as a practical scientist. He has worked on several collaborations with authors including William Rotsler, David Brin and Gordon Eklund, but has really made a name for him self with the Galactic Center Saga beginning with In the Ocean of Night (1977). This series postulates a galaxy in which sentient organic life is in constant warfare with sentient mechanical life.

Related Topics:
Hard science fiction - David Brin - Galactic Center Saga - 1977 - Galaxy

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His breakthrough novel may have been the time travel classic Timescape (1980), co-authored with his brother's wife Hilary Foister Benford, which won the Nebula Award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. A scientific procedural, the novel eventually loaned its title to a line of science fiction published by Pocket Books.

Related Topics:
Timescape - 1980 - Nebula Award - John W. Campbell Memorial Award

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Benford has also served as an editor of numerous alternate history anthologies as well as collections of the Hugo Winners. In the 1990s, he wrote Foundation's Fear, one of an authorized sequel trilogy to Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, the other two books being written by Brin and Greg Bear. Other novels published in the 1990s include several near-future science thrillers: Cosm (1998), The Martian Race (1999) and Eater (2000).

Related Topics:
Alternate history - 1990s - Foundation's Fear - Isaac Asimov - Foundation series - Greg Bear - Cosm - The Martian Race - Eater

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Benford has been nominated for four Hugo Awards (for two short stories & two novellas) and 12 Nebula Awards (in all categories). He won the Nebula for his novel Timescape and the novelette "If the Stars Are Gods" (with Gordon Eklund).

Related Topics:
Hugo Awards - Nebula Awards - Gordon Eklund

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He also proposed a corollary to Clarke's third law: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced".

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