Vernor Vinge (1944-2024)
Author and professor of mathematics Vernor Vinge, 79, died from Parkinson’s disease on March 20, 2024. He was noted for introducing the technological singularity concept (AKA the Singularity) and known for his gripping hard science fiction.
Vernor Vinge was born in Waukesha Wisconsin on October 2, 1944. He was married to fellow science fiction author Joan D. Vinge from 1972 to 1979.
His first published work of science fiction was “Apartness” in 1965. Other notable short fiction includes “Bookworm, Run!” (1966) and “The Peddler’s Apprentice” written with Joan D. Vinge (1975), He had two Hugo Award-winning novellas: “Fast Times at Fairmont High” (2001) and “The Cookie Monster” (2003).
Vinge’s debut novel Grimm’s World was published in 1969. A Fire Upon the Deep (1992), the first book in the Zones of Thought series, won the Hugo Award; the second book in that series, A Deepness In the Sky (1999) won the Hugo Award, the John W Campbell Memorial Award, and the Prometheus Award; it was followed by a third novel in the series, The Children of the Sky (2011); other notable novels include Hugo Award winner Rainbows End (2006).
His nonfiction work includes the notable 1993 paper, “The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era,” which introduced the concept and greatly influenced post-singularity SF.
For more, see his entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
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