Gregory Benford
Gregory Benford (born 30 January 1941 in Mobile, Alabama) is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. He is also a contributing editor of Reason magazine.[1]
As a science fiction author, Benford is perhaps best known for the Galactic Center Saga novels, beginning with In the Ocean of Night (1977).[2] This series postulates a galaxy in which sentient organic life is in constant warfare with sentient mechanical life.
Biography
Benford received a Bachelor of Science in physics in 1963 from University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, followed by a Master of Science from the University of California, San Diego in 1965, and a doctorate there in 1967. That same year he married Joan Abbe. Benford modeled characters in several of his novels after her, most prominently the heroine of Artifact. She died in 2002.[3]
Benford has an identical twin brother, Jim Benford, with whom he has collaborated on science fiction stories. Both got their start in science fiction fandom, with Gregory co-editor of the science fiction fanzine Void. Benford is an atheist.[4]
Writing career
Gregory Benford's first professional sale was the story "Stand-In" in Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (June 1965). In 1969, he began writing a regular science column for Amazing Stories.
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. His time-travel novel Timescape (1980) won both 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. In the late 1990s, he wrote Foundation's Fear, one of an authorized sequel trilogy to Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. Other novels published in that period include several near-future science thrillers: Cosm (1998), The Martian Race (1999) and Eater (2000).
Benford has also served as an editor of numerous alternate history anthologies as well as collections of Hugo Award winners.
He has been nominated for four Hugo Awards (for two short stories and two novellas) and 12 Nebula Awards (in all categories). In addition to Timescape, he won the Nebula for the novelette "If the Stars Are Gods" (with Eklund).
Benford was a guest of honour at Aussiecon Three, the 1999 Worldcon. He remains a regular contributor to science fiction fanzines, such as Apparatchik.
Contributions to science and speculative science
In addition to establishing Benford's law of controversy, Benford claims to have created and written about the first computer virus in the late 1960s.
In 2004, Benford proposed that the harmful effects of global warming could be reduced by the construction of a rotating Fresnel lens 1,000 kilometres across, floating in space at the Lagrangian point L1. According to Benford, this lens would diffuse the light from the Sun and reduce the solar energy reaching the Earth by approximately 0.5% to 1%. He estimated that this would cost around US$10 billion. His plan has been commented on in a variety of forums.[5] A similar plan was proposed in 1989 by J. T. Early,[6] and again in 1997 by Edward Teller, Lowell Wood, and Roderick Hyde.[7] In 2006, Benford pointed out one possible danger in this approach: if this lens were built and global warming were avoided, there would be less incentive to reduce greenhouse gases, and humans might continue to produce too much carbon dioxide until it caused some other environmental catastrophe, such as a chemical change in ocean water that could be disastrous to ocean life.[8]
Benford serves on the board of directors and the steering committee of the Mars Society.
Benford's law of controversy
Benford's law of controversy[9][10] is an adage from the 1980 novel Timescape,[11] stating:
- Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available.[9][10]
The adage was quoted in an international drug policy article in a peer-reviewed social science journal.[12]
Bibliography
Galactic Center Saga
Name |
Published |
ISBN |
Notes |
In the Ocean of Night |
Dial Press, 1976 |
|
Nebula Award nominee, 1977;[13]
Locus Award nominee, 1978[14] |
Across the Sea of Suns |
Simon & Schuster, 1/1984 |
ISBN 978-0-671-44668-0 |
|
Great Sky River |
Bantam Books, 12/1987 |
ISBN 978-0-553-05238-1 |
reviewed by the LA Times[15]
Nebula Award nominee, 1988[16] |
Tides of Light |
Bantam Books, 1/1989 |
ISBN 978-0-553-05322-7 |
reviewed by the LA Times[17]
Locus Award nominee, 1990[18] |
Furious Gulf |
Bantam Spectra, 7/1994 |
ISBN 978-0-553-09661-3 |
reviewed by the LA Times[19] |
Sailing Bright Eternity |
Bantam Spectra, 8/1995 |
ISBN 978-0-553-08655-3 |
|
Jupiter Projects
Name |
Published |
ISBN |
Notes |
Jupiter Project |
Thomas Nelson, 1975 |
ISBN 978-0-8407-6456-0 |
|
Against Infinity |
Ultramarine Press, March 1983 |
ISBN 978-0-671-46491-2 |
Nebula Award nominee, 1983[20] |
Other series contributions
Man-Kzin Wars (with Larry Niven)
Name |
Published |
ISBN |
Notes |
Man-Kzin Wars VI |
Baen Books, 1994 |
ISBN 978-0-671-87607-4 |
|
A Darker Geometry: A Man-Kzin Novel |
Baen Books, 8/1996 |
ISBN 978-0-671-87740-8 |
co-authored with Mark O. Martin |
Second Foundation
Non-series novels
Name |
Published |
ISBN |
Notes |
Deeper Than the Darkness (a.k.a. The Stars in Shroud) |
Ace Books, 1970 |
|
|
Timescape |
Simon & Schuster, 1980 |
ISBN 978-0-671-25327-1 |
Nebula winner, 1980;[21]
British SF Award winner, 1980;[21]
Campbell Award winner, 1981;[22]
Locus Award nominee, 1981[22] |
Time's Rub |
Cheap Street, 1984 |
|
|
Artifact |
St. Martin's Press, 6/1985 |
ISBN 978-0-312-93048-6 |
|
Under the Wheel |
Baen Books, 1987 |
ISBN 978-0-671-65611-9 |
Alien Stars, volume 3 |
Iceborn |
Tor Double Novels, 11/1989 |
ISBN 0-812-50277-9 |
with Paul A. Carter |
Beyond the Fall of Night |
Putnam Publishing, 7/1990 |
ISBN 978-0-399-13499-9 |
with Arthur C. Clarke |
Cosm |
Warner Aspect, 2/1998 |
ISBN 978-0-380-97435-1 |
|
The Martian Race |
Warner Aspect, 12/1999 |
ISBN 978-0-446-52633-3 |
|
Eater |
Eos, 5/2000 |
ISBN 978-0-380-97436-8 |
Locus Award nominee, 2001[23] |
Beyond Infinity |
Warner Aspect, March 2004 |
ISBN 978-0-446-53059-0 |
|
Human Being |
William Morrow and Company, 2003 |
ISBN 978-0-380-97716-1 |
|
The Sunborn |
Warner Aspect, 3/2005 |
ISBN 978-0-446-53058-3 |
|
Collaborations
Anthologies edited
- Hitler Victorious: Eleven Stories of the German Victory in World War II (1986), with Martin H. Greenberg
- Nuclear War (1988), with Martin H Greenberg
- Far Futures (1995)
- The New Hugo Winners Volume IV (1997), with Martin H. Greenberg
- Nebula Awards Showcase 2000 (2000)
- Microcosms (2004)
Alternate histories
- Alternate Empires (1989) (with Martin H. Greenberg)
- Alternate Heroes (1989)
- Alternate Wars (1991)
- Alternate Americas (1992) (with Martin H. Greenberg)
Non-fiction
- Habitats in Space (1998)
- Deep Time: How Humanity Communicates Across Millennia (1999)
- Skylife: Visions of Our Homes in Space (2000, with George Zebrowsk)
- Skylife: Space Habitats in Story and Science (2000, with George Zebrowski)
- Beyond Human: The New World of Cyborgs and Androids (2001)
- The Wonderful Future That Never Was (2010, with the Editors of Popular Mechanics)
Short-story collections
- In Alien Flesh (1986)
- Matter's End (1990)
- Amazing Stories No 7 (1992, with J. R. Dunn, James Alan Gardner and Kim Mohan
- Worlds Vast and various' (1999)
- Immersion and other Short Novels (2002)
- Merlin (2004)
Short stories
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (June 1965)
- "Representative From Earth"
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (January 1966)
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (May 1966)
- "Deeper Than the Darkness"
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (April 1969)
- Sociology Through Science Fiction (1974)
- Amazing Stories (November 1969)
- "Nobody Lives on Burton Street"
- Amazing Science Fiction (May 1970)
- World's Best Science Fiction (1971)
- Sociology Through Science Fiction (1974)
- Inside Information (1977)
- Venture (May 1970)
- Fantastic (June 1970)
- If (September/October 1970)
- Fantastic (October 1970)
- Quark 1 (1970)
- Galaxy Science Fiction (March 1971)
- "Star Crossing", with Donald Franson
- If (March/April 1971)
- "Battleground", with Jim Benford
- If (May/June 1971)
- Guns of Darkness (1987)
- "West Wind, Falling", with Gordon Eklund
- Universe 1 (1971)
- "And the Sea Like Mirrors"
- Again, Dangerous Visions (1972)
- Again, Dangerous Visions, Book 2 (1977)
- Masterpieces of Science Fiction (1978)
- Worlds of If Science Fiction (May/Jun 1972)
- In the Ocean of Night (1977)
- Amazing Stories (September 1972)
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (April 1973)
- In the Ocean of Night (1977)
- Amazing Science Fiction (February 1974)
- "Nobody Lives Around Here"
- Vertex: The Magazine of Science Fiction (February 1974)
- "If the Stars Are Gods", with Gordon Eklund
- Universe 4 (1974)
- Best SF of the Year 4 (1975)
- Nebula Award Stories 10 (1975)
- The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume IV (1986)
- The Science Fiction Century (1997)
- Threads of Time (1974)
- In the Ocean of Night (1977)
- Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (April 1975)
- Best SF of the Year 5 (1976)
- The Arbor House Treasury of Science Fiction Masterpieces (1983)
- Light Years and Dark (1984)
- In Alien Flesh (1986)
- Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (September 1975)
- Epoch (1975)
- Tomorrow Today (1975)
- New Dimensions 5 (1975)
- In Alien Flesh (1986)
- Amazing Stories (March 1976)
- 100 Great Science Fiction Short Short Stories (1978)
- The Anvil of Jove, with Gordon Eklund
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (July 1976)
- Alien Worlds (1976)
- Seascape (aka Pebble Among the Stars)
- Faster Than Light (1976)
- The Crash of Empire (1989)
- What Did You Do Last Year?, with Gordon Eklund
- Universe 6 (1976)
- Hellas is Florida, with Gordon Eklund
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (January 1977)
- Cosmos Science Fiction And Fantasy Magazine (May 1977)
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (August 1977)
- New Dimensions 7 (1977)
- Time of Passage (1978)
- Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (June 1978)
- Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (September 1978)
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (September 1978)
- Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year (1979)
- 1979 Annual World's Best SF (1979)
- Best SF Stories of the Year: Eighth Annual Collection (1979)
- The 1979 Annual World's Best SF (1979)
- In Alien Flesh (1986)
- Destinies (November/December 1978)
- Thor's Hammer (1979)
- The Best of Destinies (1980)
- A Hiss of Dragon, with Marc Laidlaw
- Omni, (December 1978)
- Best SF of the Year 8 (1979)
- Dragon Tales (1982)
- The Best of Omni Science Fiction, No. 3 (1982)
- Universe 8 (1978)
- In Alien Flesh (1986)
- Destinies (January/February 1979)
- Omni (May 1979)
- The Endless Frontier (1979)
- The Best of Omni Science Fiction, No. 4 (1982)
- Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (April 1979)
- Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year (1979)
- Best SF Stories of the Year: Ninth Annual Collection (1980)
- The Endless Frontier Vol. II (1982)
- In Alien Flesh (1986)
- Calibrations and Exercises
- New Dimensions 9 (1979)
- The Best of New Dimensions (1979)
- Universe 9 (1979)
- Best SF of the Year 9 (1980)
- In Alien Flesh (1986)
- Amazing Stories (August 1980)
- Destinies (Fall 1980)
- Destinies (Spring 1981)
- Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (July 1981)
- The Road to Science Fiction #4 (1982)
- Isaac Asimov's Wonders of the World (Anthology #6) (1982)
- Creations: The Quest for Origins in Story and Science (1983)
- In Alien Flesh (1986)
- Norton Book of SF (1993)
- The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF (1994)
- Shall We Take a Little Walk?
- Destinies (Winter 1981)
- New Dimensions 12 (1981)
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (April 1982)
- Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (July 1982)
- Perpetual Light (1982)
- Best SF of the Year 12 (1983)
- In Alien Flesh (1986)
- The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF (1994)
- The Berkley Showcase Volume 5 (1982)
- Best SF of the Year 11 (1982)
- The Best of Omni Science Fiction, No. 5 (1983)
- R-A-M Random Access Messages of the Computer Age (1984)
- Universe 14 (1984)
- In Alien Flesh (1986)
- Time's Rub (1984)
- Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (April 1985)
- In Alien Flesh (1986)
- Mathenauts: Tales of Mathematical Wonder (1987)
- Future on Ice (1998)
- Afterwar (1985)
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (April 1985)
- In Alien Flesh (1986)
- Armageddon! (1989)
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (January 1986)
- Heroes in Hell (1986)
- Nebula Awards 22 (1988)
- Of Space-Time and the River
- Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (February 1986)
- Best SF of the Year 15 (1986)
- In Alien Flesh (1986)
- Interzone (Autumn 1986)
- Amazing Stories (May 1987)
- Nebula Awards 23 (1989)
- Interzone, Winter 1986 (1986)
- Alien Stars III: Under The Wheel (1987)
- In Alien Flesh (1986)
- Nebula Awards 21 (1987)
- Crusaders in Hell (1987)
- What Are You Going to Be When You Grow Up?
- Spaceships & Spells (1987)
- Full Spectrum (1988)
- Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (January 1989)
- Amazing Stories (March 1989)
- The 1990 Annual World's Best SF (1990)
- The Year's Best Science Fiction: Seventh Annual Collection (1990)
- Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (April 1989)
- What Might Have Been? Vol I: Alternate Empires (1989)
- Roads Not Taken: Tales of Alternate History (1998)
- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (October 1989)
- Omni (1989)
- Proserpina's Daughter with Paul A. Carter
- Synergy: New Science Fiction, Vol. 3 (1989)
- Time Gate (1989)
- Amazing Stories (January 1990)
- Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (January 1990)
- Latter-Day Martian Chronicles
- Omni (July 1990)
- Dangerous Interfaces (1990)
- Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (October 1991)
- Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (December 1991)
- Amazing Stories (December 1991)
- Full Spectrum 3 (1991)
- The Year's Best Science Fiction: Ninth Annual Collection (1992)
- Nebula Awards 28 (1994)
- Aboriginal Science Fiction' (Summer 1992)
- Aboriginal Science Fiction (Summer 1992)
- World Vast, World Various
- Murasaki (1992)
- Amazing Stories (February 1993)
- More Amazing Stories (1998)
- The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (March 1994)
- 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories (1996)
- Science Fiction Age (May 1994)
- Asimov's Science Fiction (August 1994)
- Weird Tales from Shakespeare (1994)
- Strong Instinct with Mark O. Martin
- South From Midnight (1994)
- The Trojan Cat with Mark O. Martin
- Man-Kzin Wars VI (1994)
- Analog Science Fiction and Fact (April 1995)
- Interzone Science Fiction and Fantasy (April 1995)
- Science Fiction Age (May 1995)
- Analog Science Fiction and Fact (November 1995)
- Year's Best SF (1996)
- Amazing Stories (Winter 1995)
- A Desperate Calculus as Sterling Blake
- New Legends (1995)
- New Legends (1995)
- Science Fiction Age (March 1996)
- The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourteenth Annual Collection (1997)
- Paris Conquers All with David Brin
- The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (March 1996)
- War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches (1996)
- Afterword: Retrospective with David Brin
- War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches (1996)
- Future Net (1996)
- Year's Best SF 2 (1997)
- Science Fiction Age (May 1997)
- Year's Best SF 3 (1998)
- Science Fiction Age (July 1997)
- A Cold Dry Cradle with Elisabeth Malartrez
- Science Fiction Age (November 1997)
- The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifteenth Annual Collection (1998)
- Free Space (1997)
- A Dance to Strange Musics
- Science Fiction Age (November 1998)
- Science Fiction Age (November 1998)
- Interzone (September 2001)
- Interzone (November 2001)
- Around the Curve of a Cosmos
- Published at scifi.com (2001)
- Published at scifi.com (2001)
- The Clear Blue Seas of Luna
- Asimov's Science Fiction (October/November 2002)
- Asimov's Science Fiction (October/November 2003)
- Year's Best SF9
- Anomalies
- At the Double Solstice
- A Hunger for the Infinite
- Immortal Night
- Mammoth Dawn with Kevin J. Anderson
- Mandikini
- Side Effect
- Shakers of the Earth
- Sleepstory
References
- ^ Who's Getting Your Vote?, Reason
- ^ Witcover, Paul (2000-03-20). "Mean, stupid, ugly, and the terror of all other species". Sci Fi Weekly. http://www.scifi.com/sfw/interviews/sfw5466.html.
- ^ "Other Obituaries," Locus, May 2002, p.70
- ^ "Evil and Me", Benford; in 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists
- ^ See Russell Dovey, "Supervillainy: Astroengineering Global Warming and Bill Christensen, "Reduce Global Warming by Blocking Sunlight". Also see Screening out sunlight in the Wikipedia article Mitigation of global warming.
- ^ See footnote 23 in E. Teller, L. Wood, and R. Hyde, "Global Warming and Ice Ages: Prospects for Physics-Based Modulation of Global Change".
- ^ E. Teller, L. Wood, and R. Hyde, "Global Warming and Ice Ages: Prospects for Physics-Based Modulation of Global Change".
- ^ Comments at the 64th World Science Fiction Convention, August 2006.
- ^ a b "EFF Quotes Collection 19.6". Electronic Frontier Foundation. 2001-04-09. http://www.eff.org/Misc/EFF/?f=quotes.eff.txt.
- ^ a b "Quotations: Computer Laws". SysProg. Archived from the original on 2008-08-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20080822143815/http://www.sysprog.net/quotlaws.html. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
- ^ Benford, Gregory (2000) [1980]. Timescape. Gollancz. ISBN 1-8579-8935-X.
- ^ "American Distortion of Dutch Drug Statistics", by MacCoun, Robert J., Prof. of Public Policy and of Law at the University of California at Berkeley; Society, Vol. 38, No. 3, Pp. 23-26; March 1, 2001; official archival copy requires site registration; a copy of the article is also available at DrugText. The article is a followup to pieces the author already published in Science (1997) and the Annual Review of Psychology (1998)
- ^ "1977 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1977. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
- ^ "1978 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1978. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
- ^ Cramer, John G. (1987-12-27). "If Homer Were to Write Science Fiction: Great Sky River by Gregory Benford". Los Angeles Times: p. B11.
- ^ "1988 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1988. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
- ^ White, Ted (1989-02-26). "Of Machines And Men". The Washington Post: p. BW09. "Gregory Benford's Tides of Light is a sequel to his Great Sky River, and part of a loosely-linked series that includes In the Ocean of Night and Across the Sea of Suns."
- ^ "1990 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1990. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
- ^ McLellan, Dennis (1994-08-28). "The Science of Fiction; UCI Astrophysicist Gregory Benford Puts Reality Into His Novels". Los Angeles Times: p. E1. "Benford's latest book, "Furious Gulf", (Bantam Spectra) is about an expedition exploring the black hole at the center of the galaxy. It's the fifth in his "Galactic Center" series, which began in 1976 with "In the Ocean of the Night.""
- ^ "1983 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1983. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
- ^ a b "1980 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1980. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
- ^ a b "1981 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1981. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
- ^ "2001 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2001. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
- ^ "1987 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1987. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
External links
-
Persondata |
Name |
Benford, Gregory |
Alternative names |
|
Short description |
Novelist, astrophysicist, professor |
Date of birth |
January 30, 1941 |
Place of birth |
Mobile, Alabama, United States |
Date of death |
|
Place of death |
|