Vernor Vinge, author of many influential hard science fiction works, died March 20 at the age of 79.
Vinge sold his first science-fiction story in 1964, “Apartness”, which appeared in the June 1965 issue of New Worlds.
In 1971, he received a PhD (Math) from UCSD, and the next year began teaching at San Diego State University. It wasn’t until almost thirty years later, in August 2000, that he retired from teaching to write science-fiction full time.
His 1981 novella True Names is often credited as the first story to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace.
He won Hugo Awards for his novels A Fire Upon the Deep (1993 — tie), A Deepness in the Sky (2000), Rainbows End (2007), and novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High (2002), and The Cookie Monster (2004). A Deepness in the Sky also won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and in translation won Spain’s Ignotus Award, Germany’s Kurd Lasswitz Preis, and Italy’s Italia Award.
Vinge was the guest of honor at ConJosé, the 2002 Worldcon. He won the Prometheus Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2014. He won the Heinlein Award presented by The Heinlein Society in 2020.
He was married to Joan D. Vinge from 1972 to 1979.
David Brin has posted a heartfelt tribute on Facebook which says in part:
It is with sadness – and deep appreciation of my friend and colleague – that I must report the passing of Vernor Vinge. A titan in the literary genre that explores a limitless range of potential destinies, Vernor enthralled millions with tales of plausible tomorrows, made all the more vivid by his polymath masteries of language, drama, characters and the implications of science.
Accused by some of a grievous sin – that of ‘optimism’ – Vernor gave us peerless legends that often depicted human success at overcoming problems… those right in front of us… while posing new ones! New dilemmas that may lie just ahead of our myopic gaze. He would often ask: “What if we succeed? Do you think that will be the end of it?”…
…We spanned a pretty wide spectrum – politically! Yet, we KBs [Killer B’s] (Vernor was a full member! And Octavia Butler once guffawed happily when we inducted her) always shared a deep love of our high art – that of gedankenexperimentation, extrapolation into the undiscovered country ahead.
