Vernor Vinge
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American mathematician, computer scientist, and science fiction writer (1944–2024)
OverviewAI-generated
Vernor Steffen Vinge was an American mathematician, computer scientist, and novelist. Born in Waukesha on October 2, 1944, he was educated at Michigan State University, San Diego State University, and the University of California, San Diego. He served as a professor emeritus at San Diego State University. His professional work spanned mathematics, computer science, and science fiction literature, with a career beginning in 1966.
Vinge wrote notable works including *True Names* and *A Fire Upon the Deep*. He received several awards for his writing, such as the Prometheus Award, the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, and the Hugo Award for Best Novella. He was also recognized in the Hugo Award Best Novel collection. He died in La Jolla on March 20, 2024.
Synthesized by Vinony from 28 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 2 October 1944
- Died
- 20 March 2024
- Works
- 47
Top works
- Great Science Fiction
- Der Zeitläufer
- Histórias de Robôs - Volume 2
- Machines That Think
- Digital Rapture
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Born
- Vernor Steffen Vinge , ( 1944-10-02 ) October 2, 1944 , Waukesha, Wisconsin , U.S.
- Died
- March 20, 2024 (2024-03-20) (aged 79), La Jolla, California , U.S.
- Occupation
- Computer scientist
- Education
- Michigan State University ( B.S. ) University of California, San Diego ( M.A. , Ph.D. )
- Period
- 1966–2011
- Genre
- Science fiction
- Notable works
- True Names (1981) A Fire Upon the Deep (1992) The Coming Technological Singularity (1993) Fast Times at Fairmont High (2001)
- Notable awards
- Hugo Awards : , Best Novel : 1993, 2000, 2007; , Best Novella : 2003, 2005 , Prometheus Awards : , 1987, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2014 Special Award for Lifetime Achievement
- Spouse
- Joan D. Vinge ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1972 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 1979 )
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Waukesha
- Place of death
- La Jolla
- Spouse
- Joan D. Vinge
- Occupation
- university teacher
- Position held
- professor emeritus
- Educated at
- San Diego State University
- Employer
- San Diego State University
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Notable work
- A Fire Upon the Deep
- Field of work
- science fiction literature
- Genre
- science fiction
- Image
- Vernor Vinge small.jpg
- Significant event
- technological singularity
Show 9 more facts
- Commons category
- Vernor Vinge
- date of birth
- 1944-10-02
- birth name
- Vernor Steffen Vinge
- start of work period
- 1966-00-00
- name in native language
- Vernor Steffen Vinge
- maintained by WikiProject
- WikiProject Mathematics
- date of death
- 2024-03-20
- end of work period
- 2011-00-00
- influenced by
- Olaf Stapledon
Sources (9)
via Wikidata · CC0
~8 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Vernor Steffen Vinge (/ˈvɜːrnər ˈvɪndʒiː/ ; October 2, 1944 – March 20, 2024) was an American science fiction author and professor. He taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University. He was the first wide-scale popularizer of the technological singularity concept and among the first authors to present a fictional "cyberspace". He won the Hugo Award for his novels A Fire Upon the Deep (1992), A Deepness in the Sky (1999), and Rainbows End (2006), and novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High (2001) and The Cookie Monster (2004).
Writing career
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Vernor Vinge” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.