E. E. Smith

Edward Elmer Smith (May 2, 1890 – August 31, 1965) was an American food engineer and science-fiction author, best known for the Lensman and Skylark series.

He is sometimes called the father of space opera. He was born in Wisconsin, attended the University of Idaho and then George Washington University and earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 1918. Like his The Skylark of Space protagonist, Dick Seaton, Smith was a chemist at the Bureau of Standards (but unlike, Seaton, he did not discover any marvelous new elements). During this period, he began Skylark, a seminal and highly influential novel of super science. After graduation, he worked as a chemist in the food industry in Battle Creek, MI, developing new doughnut mixes, while continuing his writing. He was unable to get Skylark published until Amazing Stories was launched and it was published in the August–October 1928 issues. It was an immediate success, and sequels quickly followed. In the late ’30s, F. Orlin Tremaine bought his new, Lensman series for Astounding.