Background

John Wood Campbell, Jr. , was born on June 8, 1910 in Newark, New Jersey, United States. His father, an electrical engineer for Bell Telephone Laboratories, influenced and encouraged his son's early interest in the sciences.

Education

After receiving his secondary education at Blair Academy, a boys' school in Blairstown, New Jersey, Campbell entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There he met Norbert Wiener, one of the pioneers in computer science. The knowledge of computers he gained from this association added authenticity to Campbell's writing and helped make him second only to E. E. ("Doc") Smith in the popularity of his work during the early 1930's.

Campbell's first published science fiction story, "When the Atoms Failed, " appeared in 1930 in Amazing Stories, the world's first science fiction magazine, while he was still an undergraduate at M. I. T. Encouraged by this early success, he published seven short stories and three novels in the next two years.

Although he did well in most of his classes, he did not graduate from M. I. T. because he failed to complete the foreign language requirement. He then transferred to Duke University, where he earned his B. S. in 1932 in the midst of the Great Depression. Quickly discovering that there was no demand for his physics degree, he supported his family working for the research laboratory of Mack Trucks, for Hoboken Pioneer Instruments, and also selling cars, electric fans, and gas heaters while continuing to write science fiction.

Career

Campbell began writing science fiction at age 18 while attending MIT. He published six short stories, one novel, and six letters in the science fiction magazine Amazing Stories from 1930 to 1931.

His first published story, “When the Atoms Failed” (1930), contained one of the earliest depictions of computers in science fiction.

Through the early 1930s Campbell wrote stories of outer space but also began writing a different kind of science fiction under the pseudonym of “Don A. Stuart” (derived from his wife’s name, Dona Stuart). In these stories, technology was secondary to the development of characterization and mood. One such story is “Twilight” (1934), in which machines work on incessantly, long after man is gone. These popular works prompted much imitation.

Campbell’s influence on other science fiction writers continued when he turned his attention in 1937 to editing Astounding Stories, later titled Astounding Science Fiction, then Analog. The magazine’s contributors, including Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein, dominated the field in the mid-20th century. It was partly because of Campbell’s influence that science fiction came to address major social issues.

Campbell died in 1971 at the age of 61 in Mountainside, New Jersey.

Achievements

• Although critics are divided concerning Campbell's abilities as a writer, he was one of the most important and influential editors of the century. In his thirty-four years of editing magazines, Campbell discovered and launched the careers of more budding young authors than any other science fiction editor. Campbell and Astounding shared one of the inaugural Hugo Awards with H. L. Gold and Galaxy at the 1953 World Science Fiction Convention. Subsequently, he won the Hugo Award for Best Professional Magazine seven times to 1965. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted Campbell in 1996, in its inaugural class of two deceased and two living persons. After his death two awards were founded bearing his name and a number of memorial anthologies were published. In 1970, Campbell was elected to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Shortly after Campbell's death, the University of Kansas science fiction program – now the Center for the Study of Science Fiction – established the annual John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and also renamed after him its annual Campbell Conference. The World Science Fiction Society established the annual John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. All three memorials became effective in 1973.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Who Goes There?: The Novella That Formed the Basis of the Thing

    ("Who Goes There?": The novella that formed the basis of "...)

  • The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology

    (A great collection of stories orginally published in Asto...)

  • The Ultimate Weapon

    (The star Mira was unpredictably variable. Sometimes it wa...)

  • The Last Evolution

    (John Wood Campbell, Jr. (June 8, 1910 - July 11, 1971) wa...)

  • Islands of Space

    (John Wood Campbell, Jr. (June 8, 1910 – July 11, 1971) wa...)

  • Invaders from the Infinite

    (John Wood Campbell, Jr. (June 8, 1910 – July 11, 1971) wa...)

  • The Black Star Passes

    (John Wood Campbell, Jr. (June 8, 1910 – July 11, 1971) wa...)

Connections

John met Dona Stuart while attending M. I. T. and the two were married in 1931. They had four children before they were divorced in the late 1940's. In 1950 Campbell married Margaret ("Peg") Winter, the widow of J. A. Winter who, with L. Ron Hubbard, was one of the founders of dianetics, a movement that Campbell embraced for a time.

1st wife:

Dona Stuart

2nd wife:

Margaret ("Peg") Winter

References

• The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
• Asimov on Science Fiction