Robert Forward
Encyclopedia
Robert Lull Forward — known as Robert L. Forward — was an American physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

 and science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 writer. His literary work was noted for its scientific credibility and use of ideas developed from his career as an aerospace engineer.

Education

He earned his doctorate from the University of Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...

 in 1965, with a thesis entitled Detectors for Dynamic Gravitational Fields, for the development of a bar antenna for the detection of gravitational radiation.

Career

He then went to work at the research labs of Hughes Aircraft
Hughes Aircraft
Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Culver City, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company...

, where he continued his research on gravity measurement and received 18 patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

s. He took early retirement in 1987, to focus on his fiction writing and consulting for such clients as NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

 and the U.S. Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

. In 1994, he co-founded the company Tethers Unlimited, Inc. with Robert P. Hoyt
Robert P. Hoyt
Dr. Robert P. Hoyt is a physicist and engineer who is famous for his invention of the Hoytether. He also originated the MXER Tether concept, which combines momentum-exchange techniques with electrodynamic reboost propulsion to enable a bolo tether system to serve as a fully reusable in-space upper...

, where he served as Chief Scientist and Chairman until 2002.

Research

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 tether
Space tether
Space tethers are cables, usually long and very strong, which can be used for propulsion, stabilization, or maintaining the formation of space systems by determining the trajectory of spacecraft and payloads...

s and space fountain
Space fountain
A space fountain is a proposed form of space elevator that does not require the structure to be in geostationary orbit, and does not rely on tensile strength for support. In contrast to the original space elevator design , a space fountain is a tremendously tall tower extending up from the ground...

s, solar sail
Solar sail
Solar sails are a form of spacecraft propulsion using the radiation pressure of light from a star or laser to push enormous ultra-thin mirrors to high speeds....

s (including Starwisp
Starwisp
Starwisp is a hypothetical unmanned interstellar probe design proposed by Robert L. Forward. It is propelled by a microwave sail, similar to a solar sail in concept, but powered by microwaves from a man-made source.- Description :...

), antimatter propulsion, and other spacecraft propulsion
Spacecraft propulsion
Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. There are many different methods. Each method has drawbacks and advantages, and spacecraft propulsion is an active area of research. However, most spacecraft today are propelled by forcing a gas from the...

 technologies, and did further research on more esoteric possibilities such as time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...

 and negative matter. He was issued a patent for the statite
Statite
A statite is a hypothetical type of artificial satellite that employs a solar sail to continuously modify its orbit in ways that gravity alone would not allow. Typically, a statite would use the solar sail to "hover" in a location that would not otherwise be available as a stable geosynchronous...

, and contributed to a concept to drain the Van Allen Belts
HiVOLT
HiVOLT is a concept proposed by Robert P. Hoyt and Robert L. Forward for removing the radiation fields of the Van Allen radiation belts that surround the Earth. A proposed configuration consists of a system of five 100 km long conducting tethers deployed from satellites, and charged to a...

.

Forward Mass Detector

Forward's extensive work in the field of gravitational radiation detection included the invention of the rotating cruciform gravity gradiometer or 'Forward Mass Detector', for Lunar Mascon (mass concentration) measurements. Misner, Wheeler & Thorne
(Gravitation ISBN 0-7167-0344-0) point out that it can detect the curvature of spacetime produced by a fist. The principle behind it is quite simple - getting the implementation right is tricky. Essentially, two beams are crossed over and connected with an axle through their crossing point. They are held at right angles to each other by springs. They have heavy masses at the ends of the beams, and the whole assembly spun around the common axle at high speed. The angle between the beams is measured continuously, and if it varies with a period half that of the rotation period, it means that the detector is experiencing a measurable gravitational field gradient.

Fiction

In addition to more than 200 papers and articles, he published 11 novels. Critics' reviews were mixed, always praising the science concepts and the aliens he created, but often finding the plots thin and the humans shallow.
His treatment of hard-science topics in fictional form is highly reminiscent of the work of Hal Clement
Hal Clement
Harry Clement Stubbs better known by the pen name Hal Clement, was an American science fiction writer and a leader of the hard science fiction subgenre.-Biography:...

. He described his first novel, Dragon's Egg
Dragon's Egg
Dragon's Egg is a hard science fiction novel written by Robert L. Forward and published in 1980. In the story, Dragon's Egg is a neutron star with a surface gravity 67 billion times that of Earth, and inhabited by cheela, intelligent creatures that have the volume of sesame seeds and live a...

, as "a textbook on neutron star physics disguised as a novel." His novel Rocheworld
Rocheworld
Rocheworld is a science fiction novel by Robert Forward in which he uses a light sail propulsion system to set the crew on an interstellar mission. The spaceship and crew of 20 have to travel 5.9 light-years Rocheworld (first published in serial form in 1982; first book publication, under the...

describes a double-planet system with a single shared atmosphere and ocean, and a beam-powered propulsion
Beam-powered propulsion
Beam-powered propulsion is a class of aircraft or spacecraft propulsion mechanisms that use energy beamed to the spacecraft from a remote power plant to provide energy...

 interstellar space ship to get there. Forward co-authored two Rocheworld novels with his wife, Margaret Dodson Forward, and two additional Rocheworld novels with his second daughter Julie Fuller. Forward also helped Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...

 calculate the parameters of the Smoke Ring for his novel The Integral Trees
The Integral Trees
The Integral Trees is a 1984 science fiction novel by Larry Niven . Like much of Niven's work, the story is heavily influenced by the setting: a gas torus, a ring of air around a neutron star...

.

Personal life

Forward's son, Bob Forward
Bob Forward
Robert D. Forward , commonly known as Bob Forward, is an American writer, director and producer. Forward is the production director and president of his independent company, Detonation Films. Forward has been the writer of many animated television series, as well as a film, The Owl, based on his...

, has led a successful career as a storyboard artist and writer in television animation, including in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is an American animated television series produced by Filmation based on Mattel's successful toy line Masters of the Universe...

, Legend of Zelda, the Animated Series, and most famously, Beast Wars
Beast Wars
Transformers: Beast Wars is a Transformers toyline released by Hasbro between 1995 and 2000, and a Daytime Emmy Award winning full-CG animated television series spawned by it that debuted in 1996...

. He is also the author of two novels, The Owl and The Owl 2: Scarlet Serenade.

Forward's youngest, Eve Forward
Eve Forward
Eve Forward is an author and television screenwriter. She is the daughter of the late American physicist and popular science fiction author Robert L...

, has written two novels: Villains by Necessity
Villains by Necessity
Villains by Necessity is fantasy novel written by Eve Forward, daughter of Robert L. Forward. It is currently out of print and a rare find among booksellers.-Book Summary:...

and Animist.

Death

In 2001, Forward received a diagnosis of terminal cancer which gave him enough time remaining to make his farewells and settle any unfinished projects. He died on September 21, 2002.

Rocheworld Series

  • Rocheworld
    Rocheworld
    Rocheworld is a science fiction novel by Robert Forward in which he uses a light sail propulsion system to set the crew on an interstellar mission. The spaceship and crew of 20 have to travel 5.9 light-years Rocheworld (first published in serial form in 1982; first book publication, under the...

    (Baen
    Baen Books
    Baen Books is an American publishing company established in 1983 by long time science fiction publisher and editor Jim Baen. It is a science fiction and fantasy publishing house that emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, military science fiction, and fantasy...

    , 1990) (155,000 words)
    • Rocheworld (Original Manuscript, 1981) (150,000 words)
    • Rocheworld (Analog
      Analog Science Fiction and Fact
      Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...

      , 1982) (60,000 words)
    • The Flight of the Dragonfly (Hardcover, Timescape
      Timescape Books
      Timescape Books was a science fiction line from Pocket Books operating from 1981 to 1985. Pocket Books is an imprint of Simon and SchusterIt was named after the Gregory Benford novel Timescape, which was not published by the Timescape imprint. The imprint was founded by David G. Hartwell. It...

      , 1984) (approx 100,000 words)
    • The Flight of the Dragonfly (Paperback, Baen, 1985) (110,000 words)
  • Return to Rocheworld
    Return to Rocheworld
    Return to Rocheworld is a 1993 science fiction novel by Robert L. Forward and Julie Forward Fuller. It is the sequel to Forward's Rocheworld Return to Rocheworld is a 1993 science fiction novel by Robert L. Forward and Julie Forward Fuller. It is the sequel to Forward's Rocheworld Return to...

    (February 1993) (with Julie Forward Fuller)
  • Marooned on Eden
    Marooned on Eden
    Marooned on Eden , is a science fiction novel by Robert L. Forward and Margaret Dodson Forward. It is part of the Rocheworld series, about an expedition to explore planets found in orbit around Barnard's Star. It was written before Ocean Under the Ice, but is after it in the continuity...

    (August 1993) (with Margaret Dodson Forward)
  • Ocean Under the Ice (1994) (with Margaret Dodson Forward)
  • Rescued from Paradise (1995) (with Julie Forward Fuller)

Novels

  • Martian Rainbow (1991)
  • Timemaster (1992)
  • Camelot 30K
    Camelot 30K
    Camelot 30K is a hard science fiction novel written by the United States physicist Robert L. Forward. It was published in 1993 by Tor Books. The story mainly deals with the concept of human contact and interaction with a kingdom of intelligent alien life that dwells on a frozen world where the...

    (1993)
  • Saturn Rukh
    Saturn Rukh
    Saturn Rukh is a hard science fiction novel written by the United States physicist Robert L. Forward. It was first published in hardcover in March 1997 by Tor Books. Saturn Rukh is themed around human contact with alien organisms on the gaseous planet Saturn...

    (1997)

Non-fiction

  • Mirror Matter: Pioneering Antimatter Physics (1988, with Joel Davis)
  • Future Magic (1988)
Future Magic discusses possible future applications of Skyhook
Skyhook
Skyhook or sky hook may refer to:- Technology :* Skyhook , explanation of design complexity in the universe that does not build on lower, simpler layers* Skyhook , "hook" used to lift an object on a long cable hanging from the sky...

s and gravitational rings amongst other technologies, including a plan by Hughes aircraft for a potential flying saucer.
  • Indistinguishable from Magic (1995)


Forward also wrote many articles in scientific journals and filed many patents, mainly while working for Hughes Aircraft
Hughes Aircraft
Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Culver City, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company...

.

External links

with details of the last months of his life
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