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Edward Elmer SmithAmerican science fiction writer
Date of Birth: 02.05.1890
Country:  USA |
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Biography of Edward Elmer Smith
Edward Elmer Smith, an American science fiction writer, was born on May 2, 1890, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He spent his childhood and youth in Spokane, Washington. In 1908, he enrolled in preparatory courses at the University of Idaho but soon decided to pursue a career as a civil engineer. In 1909, he worked for a few months on the construction of a railway from Belton, Montana, to Canada. However, he found the job unappealing and decided to return to university. To fund his education, he took a job in a mine. One night, a fire broke out in the dormitory where he lived, forcing Smith to jump from a fourth-floor window. He suffered multiple injuries and was unable to continue physical labor, leading him to return home. With the help of his siblings, he managed to pay for his education and secured a position at the Bureau of Standards in Washington. In 1919, Smith defended his dissertation and earned a doctoral degree.
Writing Career
Smith's writing career began after a conversation with his former classmate, Carl D. Garby. They had a debate about measuring the temperature of outer space, and Garby's wife, Lee Hawkins Garby, suggested that Smith write a novel about it. She agreed to assist him with the romantic aspects of the story if he handled the scientific elements. Together, they wrote about a third of the novel by the end of 1916. However, the project lost its momentum, and the manuscript was abandoned. By the end of World War I, Smith had obtained a senior engineering position at F. W. Stock Company in Hillsdale, Michigan. He worked there until 1936 and became renowned for his expertise in doughnut recipes. In Michigan, he continued writing the novel on his own, and in 1920, the manuscript was completed. Despite being rejected by all publishers, Smith received encouraging feedback from Bob Davis, the editor of the magazine "Argosy," who found the novel appealing but "too abstract." In April 1927, Smith sent the manuscript to "Amazing Stories," and it was published in August-October 1928 under the title "The Skylark of Space," co-authored by Lee Hawkins Garby. The novel quickly gained popularity among science fiction enthusiasts and established Smith, along with Edmond Hamilton, as a founder of the "space opera" genre. He became known among fans as "Doc" Smith due to the inclusion of his scientific degree (E. E. Smith, Ph.D.) in the publication of his works.
In the early 1930s, Smith published novels such as "Skylark Three" (1930), "The Spacehounds of IPC" (1931), "Triplanetary" (1934), and "The Skylark of Valeron" (1934) in various magazines. In January 1936, Smith joined Dawn Doughnut Company in Jackson, Michigan, which was facing financial difficulties. Through tremendous effort and hard work, he saved the company from bankruptcy. During this time, he conceived the "Lensman" series, which began with the publication of "Galactic Patrol" (1937-1938), followed by "The Gray Lensman" (1939) and "Second Stage Lensmen" (1941). After the United States entered World War II, Smith worked as an engineer at a defense plant in Kingsbury, Indiana. In 1944, he was fired for refusing to pass a shipment of defective munitions, a incident later included in the expanded edition of his novel "Triplanetary." Until the end of the war, he worked at the Allis-Chalmers metallurgical plant.
In 1945, Smith returned to his work on doughnut recipes at J.W. Allen Company in Chicago, where he remained until his retirement in 1957. While there, he resumed his literary endeavors and wrote the final novel in the "Lensman" series, "The Children of the Lens" (1947). In 1946, Smith's first book, "The Skylark of Space," was published by Thomas B. Hedley in a limited edition of 1000 copies, which sold out quickly through mail orders from science fiction enthusiasts. Over the following years, most of Smith's novels were reissued by book publishers, primarily by Fantasy Press. In 1959, he published "The Galaxy Primes," followed by a separate edition of "Subspace Explorers" in 1965.
In 1963, Smith was inducted into the First Fandom Hall of Fame during Worldcon. In the final years of his life, he completed "Skylark DuQuesne," the concluding book of the "Skylark" series, which became his last literary work. Edward Elmer Smith passed away from a heart attack on the night of August 31 to September 1, 1965, while on vacation in Florida.
