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Robert Heinlein is the most enduring and influential American writer of speculative fiction.
Heinlein published over one hundred novels, short stories, and articles. He won six Hugo awards, and has had his work adapted into four movies and five television series.
Fifteen years after his death, most of his books are still in print in many languages, and his influence can be clearly seen in the writings of many important authors writing today.
The most prevalent theme underlying all his works is the practical benefit of man's activities in space. Though he never turned a blind eye to the terrible costs or the negative aspects of technological growth, he had a clear vision of its importance to human progress and human survivability.
A large portion of his writings were published long before Neil Armstrong first set foot upon the Moon. He wrote against prevailing opinions of the time that declared such an endeavor was both impractical and impossible.
Many of those who grew up reading his stories have gone on to make significant progress in man's expansion into space. They're scattered throughout the aerospace industry worldwide. Many testify today that they were first inspired by Robert Heinlein and his writings to pursue careers connected to space.
Today, in the Southern Hemisphere of Mars, is a small terrain feature called the Heinlein Crater, named in honor of this man who became a much beloved writer, and who dreamed that humans would some day make their home there, and thrive.
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Virginia Heinlein graduated from New York University in 1937 and worked as a Chemist until the outbreak of World War II. She enlisted as a lieutenant in the US Navy serving first at the Bureau of Aeronautics, then at the Naval Air Experimental Station in Philadelphia. There she met Robert Heinlein and worked as his assistant on several classified developmental projects.
After World War II, she came to Los Angeles to study biochemistry. She married Robert Heinlein in 1948. Thereafter, the two were inseparable. Those who knew them spoke often of their intense and abiding love for each other. She became his closest companion and advisor, aiding him in his writing.
In 2001, she endowed the Robert Anson Heinlein Chair in Aerospace Engineering at the US Naval Academy.
She also endowed the public library in Robert Heinlein's birthplace of Butler, Missouri, and helped to found the Heinlein Society, an educational charity dedicated to paying forward to generations to come the many Heinlein legacies.
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