Robert L. Forward
| Robert L. Forward | |
|---|---|
| Born |
August 15, 1932 Geneva, New York, U.S. |
| Died | September 21, 2002 (aged 70) Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Physicist |
| Institutions |
Hughes Aircraft Tethers Unlimited, Inc. |
| Alma mater |
University of Maryland UCLA |
| Doctoral advisor |
Joseph Weber David Mandeen Zipoy |
| Known for | Statite |
| Spouse | Martha Dodson (1954-2002; his death) |
| Children |
Robert Dodson Forward Mary Lois Mattlin Julie Elizabeth Fuller Eve Lauren Forward |
Robert Lull Forward (August 15, 1932 – September 21, 2002) was an American physicist and science fiction writer. His literary work was noted for its scientific credibility and use of ideas developed from his career as an aerospace engineer.
Forward earned his doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1965, with a thesis entitled Detectors for Dynamic Gravitational Fields, for the development of a bar antenna for the detection of gravitational radiation.
He then went to work at the research labs of Hughes Aircraft, where he continued his research on gravity measurement and received 18 patents. He took early retirement in 1987, to focus on his fiction writing and consulting for such clients as NASA and the U.S. Air Force. In 1994, he co-founded the company Tethers Unlimited, Inc. with Robert P. Hoyt, where he served as Chief Scientist and Chairman until 2002.
Much of his research focused on the leading edges of speculative physics but was always grounded in what he believed humans could accomplish. He worked on such projects as space tethers and space fountains, solar sails (including Starwisp), antimatter propulsion, and other spacecraft propulsion technologies, and did further research on more esoteric possibilities such as time travel and negative matter. He was issued a patent for the statite, and contributed to a concept to drain the Van Allen Belts.
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