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Gregory Benford (born January 30, 1941) is a science fiction author and physicist who is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine.

Biographical timeline

Benford has an identical twin brother, Jim Benford, with whom he has collaborated on science fiction stories and projects. Both got their start in science fiction fandom. Benford was the co-editor of the fanzine Void. His first professional sale was the story "Stand-In", which appeared in the June 1965 issue of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. In 1969, he began writing a regular science column for Amazing Stories.

Benford tends to write hard science fiction which incorporates the research he is doing as a practical scientist. He has worked on several collaborations with authors including William Rotsler, David Brin and Gordon Eklund, but has really made a name for himself with the Galactic Center Saga beginning with In the Ocean of Night (1977). This series postulates a galaxy in which sentient organic life is in constant warfare with sentient mechanical life.

His breakthrough novel may have been the time-travel classic Timescape (1980), which won the Nebula Award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. A scientific procedural, the novel eventually loaned its title to a line of science fiction published by Pocket Books.

Benford has also served as an editor of numerous alternate history anthologies as well as collections of the Hugo Winners. In the late1990s, he wrote Foundation's Fear, one of an authorized sequel trilogy to Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. The other two books in the series were written by David Brin and Greg Bear. Other novels published in that period include several near-future science thrillers: Cosm (1998), The Martian Race (1999) and Eater (2000). Benford has been nominated for four Hugo Awards (for two short stories & two novellas) and 12 Nebula Awards (in all categories). He won the Nebula for his novel Timescape and the novelette "If the Stars Are Gods" (with Gordon Eklund).

In addition to establishing Benford's Law of Controversy, Benford has proposed a corollary to Clarke's third law: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced," and claims to have created and written about the first computer virus in the late 1960s.

In 2004, Benford proposed that the harmful effects of global warming could be reduced by the construction of a rotating Fresnel lens 1000 kilometres across, floating in space at the Lagrangian point L1. According to Benford, this lens would diffuse the light from the Sun and reduce the solar energy reaching the Earth by approximately 0.5% to 1%. He estimated that this would cost around States dollar|$" target="_blank" >*10 billion.

Benford serves on the board of directors and the steering committee of the Mars Society.

Bibliography

Galactic Center Saga

The Galactic Center Saga is a series of books detailing a galactic war between mechanical and biological life.
  • In the Ocean of Night (1976)
  • Across the Sea of Suns (1984)
  • Great Sky River (1987)
  • Tides of Light (1989)
  • Furious Gulf (1994)
  • Sailing Bright Eternity (1995)

Jupiter Project

  • Jupiter Project (1975)
  • Against Infinity (1983)

Man-Kzin Wars (with Larry Niven)

  • Man-Kzin Wars VI (1994)

Second Foundation

Anthologies edited

  • Hitler Victorious: Eleven Stories of the German Victory in World War II (1986), with Martin H. Greenberg
  • Nuclear War (1988), with Martin H Greenberg
  • Far Futures (1995)
  • The New Hugo Winners Volume IV (1997), with Martin H Greenberg
  • Nebula Awards Showcase 2000 (2000)
  • Microcosms (2004)

What Might Have Been?
  • Alternate Empires (1989) (with Martin H Greenberg)
  • Alternate Heroes (1989)
  • Alternate Wars (1991)
  • Alternate Americas (1992) (with Martin H Greenberg)

Non-fiction

  • Habitats in Space (1998)
  • Deep Time: How Humanity Communicates Across Millennia (1999)
  • Skylife: Visions of Our Homes in Space (2000), with George Zebrowsk
  • Skylife: Space Habitats in Story and Science (2000), with George Zebrowski
  • Beyond Human: The New World of Cyborgs and Androids (2001)

Non-series Novels

  • Deeper Than the Darkness (aka The Stars in Shroud) (1970)
  • If the Stars Are Gods (1977), with Gordon Eklund
  • Timescape (1980)
  • Find the Changeling (1980), with Gordon Eklund
  • Shiva Descending (1980), with William Rotsler
  • Time's Rub (1984)
  • Artifact (1985)
  • The Heart of the Comet (1986), with David Brin
  • Under the Wheel (1987)
  • Iceborn (1989), with Paul A. Carter
  • Beyond the Fall of Night (1990), with Arthur C. Clarke
  • Chiller (1993), as Sterling Blake
  • A Darker Geometry (1996), with Mark O. Martin
  • Cosm (1998)
  • The Martian Race (1999)
  • Eater (2000)
  • Beyond Infinity (2003)
  • Human Being (2003)
  • The Sunborn (2005)

Short Story Collections

  • In Alien Flesh (1986)
  • Matter's End (1990)
  • Amazing Stories No 7 (1992), with J. R. Dunn and James Alan Gardner and Kim Mohan
  • ''Worlds Vast and various' (1999)
  • Immersion and other Short Novels (2002)
  • Merlin (2004)

Short Stories

List of short stories and the publications they appear in.

  • Stand-In
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (June 1965)

  • Representative From Earth
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (January 1966)

  • Flattop
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (May 1966)

  • Deeper Than the Darkness
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (April 1969)
Sociology Through Science Fiction (1974)

  • Sons of Man
Amazing Stories (November 1969)

  • Nobody Lives on Burton Street
Amazing Science Fiction (May 1970)
World's Best Science Fiction (1971)
Sociology Through Science Fiction (1974)
Inside Information (1977)

  • The Prince of New York
Fantastic (June 1970)

  • 3:02 p.m., Oxford
If (September/October 1970)

  • The Movement
Fantastic (October 1970)

  • Inalienable Rite
Quark 1 (1970)

  • But the Secret Sits
Galaxy Science Fiction (March 1971)

  • Star Crossing, with Donald Franson
If (March/April 1971)

  • Battleground, with Jim Benford
If (May/June 1971)
Guns of Darkness (1987)

  • West Wind, Falling, with Gordon Eklund
Universe 1 (1971)

  • And the Sea Like Mirrors
Again, Dangerous Visions (1972)
Again, Dangerous Visions, Book 2 (1977)
Masterpieces of Science Fiction (1978)

  • In the Ocean of Night
Worlds of If Science Fiction (May/Jun 1972)
In the Ocean of Night (1977)

  • Jupiter Project
Amazing Stories (September 1972)

  • Icarus Descending
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (April 1973)
In the Ocean of Night (1977)

  • Man in a Vice
Amazing Science Fiction (February 1974)

  • Nobody Lives Around Here
Vertex: The Magazine of Science Fiction (February 1974))

  • If the Stars Are Gods, with Gordon Eklund
Universe 4 (1974)
Best SF of the Year 4 (1975)
Nebula Award Stories 10 (1975)
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume IV (1986)
The Science Fiction Century (1997)

  • Threads of Time
Threads of Time (1974)
In the Ocean of Night (1977)

  • Doing Lennon
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (April 1975)
Best SF of the Year 5 (1976)
The Arbor House Treasury of Science Fiction Masterpieces (1983)
Light Years and Dark (1984)
In Alien Flesh (1986)

  • Beyond Grayworld
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (September 1975)

  • Cambridge, 1:58 A.M
Epoch (1975)

  • John of the Apocalypse
Tomorrow Today (1975)

  • White Creatures
New Dimensions 5 (1975)
In Alien Flesh (1986)

  • How It All Went
Amazing Stories (March 1976)
100 Great Science Fiction Short Short Stories (1978)

  • The Anvil of Jove, with Gordon Eklund
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (July 1976)

  • Marauder!
Alien Worlds (1976)

  • Seascape (aka Pebble Among the Stars)
Faster Than Light (1976)
The Crash of Empire (1989)

  • What Did You Do Last Year?, with Gordon Eklund
Universe 6 (1976)

  • Hellas is Florida, with Gordon Eklund
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (January 1977)

  • Homemaker
Cosmos Science Fiction And Fantasy Magazine (May 1977)

  • A Snark in the Night
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (August 1977)

  • Knowing Her
New Dimensions 7 (1977)
Time of Passage (1978)

  • Starswarmer
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (June 1978)
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (September 1978)

  • In Alien Flesh
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (September 1978)
Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year (1979)
1979 Annual World's Best SF (1979)
Best SF Stories of the Year: Eighth Annual Collection (1979)
The 1979 Annual World's Best SF (1979)
In Alien Flesh (1986)

  • Old Woman By the Road
Destinies (November/December 1978)
Thor's Hammer (1979)
The Best of Destinies (1980)

  • A Hiss of Dragon, with Marc Laidlaw
Omni, (December 1978)
Best SF of the Year 8 (1979)
Dragon Tales (1982)
The Best of Omni Science Fiction, No. 3 (1982)

  • Nooncoming
Universe 8 (1978)
In Alien Flesh (1986)

  • Time Guide
Destinies (January/February 1979)

  • Dark Sanctuary
Omni (May 1979)
The Endless Frontier (1979)
The Best of Omni Science Fiction, No. 4 (1982)

  • Redeemer
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (April 1979)
Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year (1979)
Best SF Stories of the Year: Ninth Annual Collection (1980)
The Endless Frontier Vol. II (1982)
In Alien Flesh (1986)

  • Calibrations and Exercises
New Dimensions 9 (1979)
The Best of New Dimensions (1979)

  • Time Shards
Universe 9 (1979)
Best SF of the Year 9 (1980)
In Alien Flesh (1986)

  • Titan Falling
Amazing Stories (August 1980)

  • Pick an Orifice
Destinies (Fall 1980)

  • Slices
Destinies (Spring 1981)

  • Exposures
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (July 1981)
The Road to Science Fiction #4 (1982)
Isaac Asimov's Wonders of the World (Anthology #6) (1982)
Creations: The Quest for Origins in Story and Science (1983)
In Alien Flesh (1986)
Norton Book of SF (1993)
The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF (1994)

  • Shall We Take a Little Walk?
Destinies (Winter 1981)

  • Cadenza
New Dimensions 12 (1981)

  • Valhalla
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (April 1982)

  • Lazarus Rising
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (July 1982)

  • Relativistic Effects
Perpetual Light (1982)
Best SF of the Year 12 (1983)
In Alien Flesh (1986)
The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF (1994)

  • Sandy Lust
The Berkley Showcase Volume 5 (1982)

  • Swarmer, Skimmer
Best SF of the Year 11 (1982)

  • The Touch
The Best of Omni Science Fiction, No. 5 (1983)
R-A-M Random Access Messages of the Computer Age (1984)

  • Me/Days
Universe 14 (1984)
In Alien Flesh (1986)

  • Time's Rub
Time's Rub (1984)
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (April 1985)
In Alien Flesh (1986)
Mathenauts: Tales of Mathematical Wonder (1987)
Future on Ice (1998)

  • To the Storming Gulf
Afterwar (1985)
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (April 1985)
In Alien Flesh (1986)
Armageddon! (1989)

  • Newton Sleep
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (January 1986)
Heroes in Hell (1986)
Nebula Awards 22 (1988)

  • Of Space-Time and the River
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (February 1986)
Best SF of the Year 15 (1986)
In Alien Flesh (1986)

  • Freezeframe
Interzone (Autumn 1986)
Amazing Stories (May 1987)
Nebula Awards 23 (1989)

  • As Big as the Ritz
Interzone, Winter 1986 (1986)
Alien Stars III: Under The Wheel (1987)

  • Snatching the Bot
In Alien Flesh (1986)

  • Effing the Ineffable
Nebula Awards 21 (1987)

  • The Gods of the Gaps
Crusaders in Hell (1987)

  • What Are You Going to Be When You Grow Up?
Spaceships & Spells (1987)

  • Proselytes
Full Spectrum (1988)

  • All the Beer on Mars
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (January 1989)

  • Alphas
Amazing Stories (March 1989)
The 1990 Annual World's Best SF (1990)
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Seventh Annual Collection (1990)

  • We Could Do Worse
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (April 1989)
What Might Have Been? Vol I: Alternate Empires (1989)
Roads Not Taken: Tales of Alternate History (1998)

  • Mozart on Morphine
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (October 1989)

  • Leviathan
Omni (1989)

  • Proserpina's Daughter with Paul A. Carter
Synergy: New Science Fiction, Vol. 3 (1989)

  • The Rose and the Scalpel
Time Gate (1989)
Amazing Stories (January 1990)

  • Warstory
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (January 1990)

  • Latter-Day Matian Chronicles
Omni (July 1990)

  • The Eagle and the Cross
Dangerous Interfaces (1990)

  • Manassas, Again
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (October 1991)

  • Centigrade 233
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (December 1991)

  • Touches
Amazing Stories (December 1991)

  • Matter's End
Full Spectrum 3 (1991)
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Ninth Annual Collection (1992)
Nebula Awards 28 (1994)

  • Down the River Road
''Aboriginal Science Fiction' (Summer 1992)

  • Rumbling Earth
Aboriginal Science Fiction (Summer 1992)

  • World Vast, World Various
Murasaki (1992)

  • The Dark Backward
Amazing Stories (February 1993)
More Amazing Stories (1998)

  • Doing Alien
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (March 1994)
100 Astounding Little Alien Stories (1996)

  • The Bigger One
Science Fiction Age (May 1994)

  • Soon Comes the Night
Asimov's Science Fiction (August 1994)

  • Not of an Age
Weird Tales from Shakespeare (1994)

  • Strong Instinct with Mark O. Martin
South From Midnight (1994)

  • The Trojan Cat with Mark O. Martin
Man-Kzin Wars VI (1994)

  • Deep Eyes
Analog Science Fiction and Fact (April 1995)

  • Kollapse
Interzone Science Fiction and Fantasy (April 1995)
Science Fiction Age (May 1995)

  • A Worm in the Well
Analog Science Fiction and Fact (November 1995)
Year's Best SF (1996)

  • A Tapestry of Thought
Amazing Stories (Winter 1995)

  • A Desperate Calculus as Sterling Blake
New Legends (1995)

  • High Abyss
New Legends (1995)

  • Immersion
Science Fiction Age (March 1996)
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourteenth Annual Collection (1997)

  • Paris Conquers All with David Brin
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (March 1996)
War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches (1996)

  • Afterword: Retrospective with David Brin
War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches (1996)

  • Zoomers
Future Net (1996)
Year's Best SF 2 (1997)

  • The Voice
Science Fiction Age (May 1997)
Year's Best SF 3 (1998)

  • Galaxia
Science Fiction Age (July 1997)

  • A Cold Dry Cradle with Elisabeth Malartrez
Science Fiction Age (November 1997)
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifteenth Annual Collection (1998)

  • Early Bird
Free Space (1997)

  • A Dance to Strange Musics
Science Fiction Age (November 1998)

  • Ordinary Aliens
Science Fiction Age (November 1998)

  • Three Gods
Interzone (September 2001)

  • Menage a Trois
Interzone (November 2001)

  • Around the Curve of a Cosmos
Published at scifi.com (2001)

  • Brink
Published at scifi.com (2001)

  • The Clear Blue Seas of Luna
Asimov's Science Fiction (October/November 2002)

  • The Hydrogen Wall
Asimov's Science Fiction (October/November 2003)

  • Anomalies

  • At the Double Solstice

  • A Hunger for the Infinite

  • Immortal Night

  • Mammoth Dawn with Kevin J. Anderson

  • Mandikini

  • Side Effect

  • Shakers of the Earth

  • Sleepstory

External links

1941 births | American science fiction writers | American physicists | Science fiction fans | Mobilians | California writers | University of California, Irvine | Living people | Nebula Award winning authors | Mars Society

Грегъри Бенфорд | Gregory Benford | Gregory Benford | Gregory Benford | Gregory Benford | グレゴリー・ベンフォード | Gregory Benford | Gregory Benford | เกรกกอรี่ เบนฟอร์ด

 

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