Some authors feel compelled to reinvent the past while others choose to create futuristic landscapes in their stories. Isaac Asimov had a passion for the possibilities of futuristic technology and authored many science fiction works that in a way became true. Many of his books featured high-speed super computers, robots, and other automated devices not yet in existence.

Asimov was not only a science fiction writer, he was a biochemist with a Ph.D and a member and vice president of Mensa International. Asimov was called a "twentieth-century Renaissance man" and the "Great Explainer."

However, his achievements did not come without hard work. He took a creative writing class while in college, and it almost convinced him to give up writing all together!

Fortunately, Asimov did not give up. In fact his works have been published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System (all but Philosophy). The diversity of information covered in Asimov's writings once prompted fellow author Kurt Vonnegut to ask, "How does it feel to know everything?" Asimov replied that he only knew how it felt to have the reputation of omniscience -- "Uneasy."

During his 50-year writing career, Asimov wrote over 500 books, essays and short stories. He won four Hugo Awards and one Nebular Award along with many other awards. Aside from fiction, he also wrote many popular science books and even textbooks that were known to explain scientific concepts in simplistic ways using historical data.

Although he wrote in many different genres including history books, memoir, and even limericks, Asimov is most widely known for his science fiction.

He was first exposed to science fiction magazines while working in his parent's store in 1929. A few years later he submitted his own stories to the magazine, but was rejected. Finally a few years and stories later, Asimov's first science fiction story was published in 1939. This started his prolific career as a writer.

Asimov revealed in his memoir that he thought his greatest contribution to society was his writings dealing with robot ethics and his "Three Laws of Robotics." His laws of robots were a theme unifying many of his science fiction works and are also referenced by many other science fiction authors.

Also, when scientists use the term "robotics" it is because of Asimov's writings. The Oxford English Dictionary credits his science fiction for introducing this word as well as positronic and psychohistory into the English language. He created these terms in his writings that often revealed interstellar empires, robots, futuristic computers, and much more.

A truly original great mind of our time, Asimov dared to created fictional worlds thought impossible, however we are soon finding out they may not be so far-reaching. His blend of science fact and science fiction are gradually blurring together.