Robert A. Heinlein
![Heinlein in 1976](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Heinlein-face.jpg)
Heinlein became one of the first American science-fiction writers to break into mainstream magazines such as ''The Saturday Evening Post'' in the late 1940s. He was one of the best-selling science-fiction novelists for many decades, and he, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke are often considered the "Big Three" of English-language science fiction authors. Notable Heinlein works include ''Stranger in a Strange Land'', ''Starship Troopers'' (which helped mold the space marine and mecha archetypes) and ''The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress''. His work sometimes had controversial aspects, such as plural marriage in ''The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress'', militarism in ''Starship Troopers'' and technologically competent women characters who were formidable, yet often stereotypically feminine—such as ''Friday''.
Heinlein used his science fiction as a way to explore provocative social and political ideas and to speculate how progress in science and engineering might shape the future of politics, race, religion, and sex. Within the framework of his science-fiction stories, Heinlein repeatedly addressed certain social themes: the importance of individual liberty and self-reliance, the nature of sexual relationships, the obligation individuals owe to their societies, the influence of organized religion on culture and government, and the tendency of society to repress nonconformist thought. He also speculated on the influence of space travel on human cultural practices. His writing was influenced by his political leanings, with many of his early writings being socialist and his later, and more well known works, being libertarian.
Heinlein was heavily influenced by the visionary writers and philosophers of his day. William H. Patterson Jr, writing in ''Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with his Century,'' states that by 1930, Heinlein was a progressive liberal who had spent some time in the open sexuality climate of New York’s Jazz Age Greenwich Village. Heinlein believed that some level of socialism was inevitable and was already occurring in America. He was absorbing the social concepts of writers such as H.G. Wells and Upton Sinclair. He adopted many of the progressive social beliefs of his day and projected them forward.
Heinlein was named the first Science Fiction Writers Grand Master in 1974. Four of his novels won Hugo Awards. In addition, fifty years after publication, seven of his works were awarded "Retro Hugos"—awards given retrospectively for works that were published before the Hugo Awards came into existence. In his fiction, Heinlein coined terms that have become part of the English language, including grok, waldo and speculative fiction, as well as popularizing existing terms like "TANSTAAFL", "pay it forward", and "space marine". He also anticipated mechanical computer-aided design with "Drafting Dan" and described a modern version of a waterbed in his novel ''Beyond This Horizon''. Provided by Wikipedia