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Olaf Stapledon
Sign in to saveAlso known as William Olaf Stapledon, Stapledon
British novelist and philosopher (1886–1950)
OverviewAI-generated
Olaf William Stapledon was a British philosopher, writer, and science fiction author. Born in Wallasey in 1886, he was educated at Abbotsholme School, the University of Liverpool, and Balliol College. He worked as a paramedic and taught at the University of Liverpool. His writing career began in 1914, and he produced works in philosophy, poetry, and non-fiction literature.
Stapledon is noted for his science fiction novels, including *Star Maker* and *Last and First Men*. Other significant works include *Seven Pillars of Peace*, *Latter-Day Psalms*, *Sirius*, and *Odd John: A Story Between Jest and Earnest*. He was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Stapledon died of a myocardial infarction in Caldy in 1950.
Synthesized by Vinony from 27 facts across 2 sources: Wikidata, Open Library. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1886-05-10
- Died
- 1950-09-06
- Works
- 101
Top works
- Seven pillars of peace
- Antología de la literatura fantástica
- Latter-day psalms
- Sirius
- odd john a story between jest and ernest
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Born
- William Olaf Stapledon , ( 1886-05-10 ) 10 May 1886, Seacombe , Wallasey , Cheshire, England
- Died
- 6 September 1950 (1950-09-06) (aged 64), Caldy , Cheshire, England
- Occupation
- Novelist , philosopher
- Genre
- Science fiction , philosophy
- Notable works
- Last and First Men (1930), Odd John (1935), Star Maker (1937), Sirius (1944)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Olaf
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Place of birth
- Wallasey
- Place of death
- Caldy
- Occupation
- philosopher
- Educated at
- Abbotsholme School
- Employer
- University of Liverpool
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Native language
- English language
- Field of work
- science fiction literature
Show 10 more facts
- date of birth
- 1886-05-10
- date of death
- 1950-09-06
- cause of death
- myocardial infarction
- manner of death
- natural causes
- start of work period
- 1914-00-00
- Commons category
- Olaf Stapledon
- name in native language
- William Olaf Stapledon
- writing language
- English language
- ethnic group
- English people
- on focus list of Wikimedia project
- Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~12 min read
Encyclopedic overview
William Olaf Stapledon (10 May 1886 – 6 September 1950) was an English philosopher and author of science fiction. In 2014, he was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
Stapledon was born in Cheshire, but he lived in Port Said, Egypt throughout his early childhood. Following his college studies, he worked in shipping offices in Liverpool and Port Said from 1910 to 1912. During the First World War, he served as a conscientious objector. Stapledon became an ambulance driver with the Friends' Ambulance Unit in France and Belgium from July 1915 to January 1919; he was awarded the Croix de Guerre for bravery. His wartime experiences influenced his pacifist beliefs. Stapledon was awarded a PhD degree in philosophy from the University of Liverpool in 1925 and used his doctoral thesis as the basis for his first published prose book, A Modern Theory of Ethics (1929). However, he soon turned to fiction in the hope of presenting his ideas to a wider public.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Olaf Stapledon” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.