Rudy Rucker

Rudolf von Bitter Rucker (born March 22, 1946 in Louisville, Kentucky) is an American computer scientist and science fiction author, often included in lists of cyberpunk authors. He is best known for the novels in the Ware Tetralogy (the first two of which Software and Wetware both won Philip K. Dick Awards) as well as non-fiction books such as Geometry, Relativity and the Fourth Dimension and Infinity and the Mind. He is the great-great-great-grandson of Georg Hegel.

Related Topics:
March 22 - 1946 - Louisville, Kentucky - Computer scientist - Science fiction - Cyberpunk - Ware Tetralogy - Philip K. Dick Award - Georg Hegel

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Rucker attended Swarthmore College as an undergraduate student (Bachelor's in mathematics) and Rutgers University as a graduate student (Master's and Ph.D. in mathematics). He was a professor at various universities before settling at San Jose State University until his retirement in 2004.

Related Topics:
Swarthmore College - Mathematics - Rutgers University - Master's - Ph.D. - Professor - San Jose State University - 2004

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Although generally recognized as one of the early figures in cyberpunk, Rucker espoused an approach to writing he termed Transrealism. The essence of this is science fiction based on his own life and immediate perceptions mixed with fantastic elements to symbolize psychological change. Rucker outlined these ideas in "The Transrealist Manifesto," an essay he wrote in 1983. Many of Rucker's novels and short stories apply these ideas. Perhaps the most interesting example is Saucer Wisdom (a novel about alien abduction), which Rucker and his publisher marketed (in a tongue-in-cheek manner) as non-fiction.

Related Topics:
Transrealism - 1983 - Alien abduction

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His earliest transrealist novel White Light was written while living in Heidelberg, Germany. Rucker had received a grant from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and taught math at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg. The novel is based (in a Transrealist manner) on his experiences at State University of New York at Geneseo, where he taught from 1972 to 1978.

Related Topics:
White Light - Heidelberg, Germany - Alexander von Humboldt Foundation - Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg - State University of New York at Geneseo - 1972 - 1978

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He also wrote his breakthrough novel Software and the non-fiction book Infinity and the Mind in Heidelberg.

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