Robert A. Heinlein

Robert A. Heinlein was born on July 7, 1907, to Rex Ivar Heinlein (an accountant) and Bam Lyle Heinlein, in Butler, Missouri, and was the third of seven children. He was a sixth-generation German-American in a family that had sent one of their own to fight in every American war, starting with the Revolutionary War.

He grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. Naturally, the outlook and values of the time and place (in his own words, "The Bible Belt") had an influence on his fiction, especially in his later works, as he drew upon his childhood in establishing the setting and a cultural atmosphere in works like Time Enough for Love and To Sail Beyond the Sunset. The 1910 return of Halley's Comet inspired the young Robert Heinlein's life-long interest in astronomy.

In January 1924, sixteen-year-old Heinlein lied about his age in order to enlist in Company C, 110th Engineer Regiment, of the Missouri National Guard, in Kansas City. His family could not afford to send him to college, so he sought an appointment to a military academy. When Heinlein graduated from Kansas City Central High School in 1924, he was initially prevented from attending the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis because his older brother Rex was a student there, and at the time, regulations discouraged multiple family members from attending the academy simultaneously. He instead matriculated at Kansas City Community College and began vigorously petitioning Missouri Senator James A. Reed for an appointment to the Naval Academy. The Naval Academy admitted him in June 1925. Heinlein received his discharge from the Missouri National Guard as a staff sergeant. Reed later told Heinlein that he had received 100 letters of recommendation for nomination to the Naval Academy, 50 for other candidates and 50 for Heinlein.

Navy

Heinlein's experience in the US Navy exerted a strong influence on his character and writing. In 1929, he graduated from the Naval Academy with the equivalent of a bachelor of arts in engineering. (At that time, the Academy did not confer degrees.) He ranked fifth in his class academically but with a class standing of 20th of 243 due to disciplinary demerits. The US Navy commissioned him as an ensign shortly after his graduation. He advanced to lieutenant junior grade in 1931 while serving aboard the new aircraft carrier USS Lexington, where he worked in radio communications—a technology then still in its earlier stages. The captain of this carrier, Ernest J. King, later served as the Chief of Naval Operations and Commander-in-Chief, US Fleet during World War II. Military historians interviewed Heinlein during his later years and asked him about Captain King and his service as the commander of the US Navy's first modern aircraft carrier. Heinlein also served as gunnery officer aboard the destroyer USS Roper in 1933 and 1934, reaching the rank of lieutenant. His brother, Lawrence Heinlein, served in the US Army, the US Air Force, and the Missouri National Guard, reaching the rank of major general in the National Guard.

 

 

After serving five years, Heinlein was compelled to resign from service due to poor health and thus took the opportunity to pursue his graduate studies in physics and mathematics at the University of California in Los Angeles. Except for engineering service during World War II, he was an established professional writer from 1939.

“Life-Line,” was Heinlein’s first short story. It was published in the action-adventure pulp magazine Astounding Science Fiction. He continued to write for that publication—along with other notable science-fiction writers—until 1942, when he he reactivated his commission and worked as a military production engineer.

After WWII, Heinlein returned to writing full-time, with a focus on a more sophisticated audience. His first book, Rocket Ship Galileo (1947), was followed by a large number of novels and story collections, including works for children and young adults. After the 1940s, he largely avoided shorter fiction. His popularity grew over the years, probably reaching its peak after the publication of his best-known work, Stranger in a Strange Land (1961).

His diverse interests, concern for characterization, and technical details brought him a considerable number of admirers among general-interest readers. Among his more popular books are The Green Hills of Earth (1951), Double Star (1956), The Door into Summer (1957), Citizen of the Galaxy (1957), Methuselah’s Children (1958), Starship Troopers (1959), The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966), and Time Enough for Love (1973).

 

 

Heinlein used his fiction to explore provocative social and political ideas and to speculate how progress in science and engineering might shape the future of politics, race, religion, and sex. Within the framework of his science-fiction stories, Heinlein repeatedly addressed certain social themes such as the importance of individual liberty and self-reliance, the nature of sexual relationships, the obligation individuals owe to their societies, the influence of organized religion on culture and government, and the tendency of society to repress nonconformist thought. He also speculated on the influence of space travel on human cultural practices.

Heinlein was influenced by the visionary writers and philosophers of his day. William H. Patterson Jr., writing in Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century, states that by 1930, Heinlein was a progressive liberal who had spent time in the open sexuality climate of New York's Jazz Age Greenwich Village. Heinlein believed that some level of socialism was inevitable and was already occurring in America. He absorbed the social concepts of writers such as H. G. Wells and Upton Sinclair. He adopted many of the progressive social beliefs of his day and projected them forward. In later years,he backtracked somewhat and took on more conservative views, believe that a strong world government was the only way to avoid mutual nuclear annihilation.

Also, if you did not already know, Heinlein is the guy who came up with the line, “There ain’t no free lunch.”