American science fiction writer (1908-2006). As a
child, he traveled with his family in a
covered wagon to
New Mexico, and he grew up on a
farm outside of
Portales, New Mexico, where he lived most of his life. He discovered science fiction through the pages of "
Amazing Stories" magazine and wrote his first
short story for the classic sci-fi mag in 1928 -- "
The Metal Man" was about a
pilot who is exposed to
gases that cause him to turn into a
metal statue. He said he didn't even know the story was going to be
published until he saw it on the front
cover of the magazine one month.
Williamson wrote almost constantly. He took breaks to serve as a
meteorologist during
World War II and to earn his
doctorate in
English, but he wrote more than 100 short stories and at least 50
books, including "
The Girl from Mars" (written all the way back in 1929!), "
The Legion of Space," "
Darker than You Think," "
The Humanoids," "
One Against the Legion," "
The Cometeers," "
The Moon Children," "
Silicon Dagger" (published in 1999), "
Terraforming Earth" (published in 2002), and many others. He is credited with
inventing the term "
genetic engineering" in his 1951
novel "
Dragon's Island." He also wrote an
autobiography called "
Wonder's Child: My Life in Science Fiction" in 1985. He actually won the
Hugo and
Nebula Awards during his last decade, making him by far the oldest winner of those awards.
Williamson taught courses in
science fiction and
creative writing almost every year at
Eastern New Mexico University in Portales. He died on
November 10, 2006 of natural causes.