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121-605: Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey , Conklin was educated at Dartmouth College and Harvard University , and graduated from Columbia University in 1927. He drifted through a series of jobs in the 1930s and 1940s, working for several government agencies during WWII . He was a book editor for Robert M. McBride & Co. and did public relations work for the Federal Home Loan Bank , the Office of Strategic Services ,

242-455: A Frankenstein plot in which they destroyed their creators. The Robot series has led to film adaptations. With Asimov's collaboration, in about 1977, Harlan Ellison wrote a screenplay of I, Robot that Asimov hoped would lead to "the first really adult, complex, worthwhile science fiction film ever made". The screenplay has never been filmed and was eventually published in book form in 1994. The 2004 movie I, Robot , starring Will Smith ,

363-495: A New York City Subway station, within which he could enclose himself and listen to the rumble of passing trains while reading. Asimov was afraid of flying , doing so only twice: once in the course of his work at the Naval Air Experimental Station and once returning home from Oʻahu in 1946. Consequently, he seldom traveled great distances. This phobia influenced several of his fiction works, such as

484-572: A sandstone quarry were located on the north side of the brook. In 1856, the Newark and Bloomfield Railroad arrived, with the construction of the Glen Ridge station . In 1872, the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway arrived, with the construction of the station at today's Benson Street . Glen Ridge began its transition to a suburban residential community. Stately homes slowly replaced orchards and wooded fields. In 1891, Mountainside Hospital ,

605-487: A Judah Asimov Scholarship Fund at Brandeis University . In 2006, he was named by Carnegie Corporation of New York to the inaugural class of winners of the Great Immigrants Award . In 1977, Asimov had a heart attack . In December 1983, he had triple bypass surgery at NYU Medical Center, during which he contracted HIV from a blood transfusion . His HIV status was kept secret out of concern that

726-552: A civilian chemist at the Philadelphia Navy Yard 's Naval Air Experimental Station and lived in the Walnut Hill section of West Philadelphia . In September 1945, he was conscripted into the post-war U.S. Army ; if he had not had his birth date corrected while at school, he would have been officially 26 years old and ineligible. In 1946, a bureaucratic error caused his military allotment to be stopped, and he

847-479: A college-level textbook called Biochemistry and Human Metabolism . Following the brief orbit of the first human-made satellite Sputnik I by the USSR in 1957, he wrote more nonfiction, particularly popular science books, and less science fiction. Over the next quarter-century, he wrote only four science fiction novels, and 120 nonfiction books. Starting in 1982, the second half of his science fiction career began with

968-609: A conversation with Campbell, Asimov wrote " Nightfall ", his 32nd story, in March and April 1941, and Astounding published it in September 1941. In 1968 the Science Fiction Writers of America voted "Nightfall" the best science fiction short story ever written. In Nightfall and Other Stories Asimov wrote, "The writing of 'Nightfall' was a watershed in my professional career ... I was suddenly taken seriously and

1089-538: A father image". Asimov believed his most enduring contributions would be his " Three Laws of Robotics " and the Foundation series . The Oxford English Dictionary credits his science fiction for introducing into the English language the words " robotics ", " positronic " (an entirely fictional technology), and " psychohistory " (which is also used for a different study on historical motivations). Asimov coined

1210-563: A fourth was convicted of third-degree conspiracy. Author Bernard Lefkowitz wrote about the incident in the 1997 book Our Guys: The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfect Suburb . Lefkowitz's book was adapted into the 1999 TV movie Our Guys: Outrage at Glen Ridge . Glen Ridge is a frequent location for film, television, and commercial shoots. Notable works include Winter Solstice and Mona Lisa Smile . In

1331-767: A full novel of 70,000 words. The book appeared under the Doubleday imprint in January 1950 with the title of Pebble in the Sky . Doubleday published five more original science fiction novels by Asimov in the 1950s, along with the six juvenile Lucky Starr novels , the latter under the pseudonym "Paul French". Doubleday also published collections of Asimov's short stories, beginning with The Martian Way and Other Stories in 1955. The early 1950s also saw Gnome Press publish one collection of Asimov's positronic robot stories as I, Robot and his Foundation stories and novelettes as

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1452-419: A full-time writer. He later said that unlike other Golden Age writers Heinlein and A. E. van Vogt —also first published in 1939, and whose talent and stardom were immediately obvious—Asimov "(this is not false modesty) came up only gradually". Through July 29, 1940, Asimov wrote 22 stories in 25 months, of which 13 were published; he wrote in 1972 that from that date he never wrote a science fiction story that

1573-425: A historical way, going as far back as possible to a time when the science in question was at its simplest stage. Examples include Guide to Science , the three-volume Understanding Physics , and Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery . He wrote on numerous other scientific and non-scientific topics, such as chemistry , astronomy , mathematics , history , biblical exegesis , and literary criticism . He

1694-527: A local hospital with more than 300 beds now known as HackensackUMC Mountainside, was founded. The Glen Ridge Country Club was founded in 1894, making it one of the state's oldest clubs. Residents "on the hill" became unhappy with their representation on the Bloomfield Council. In spite of repeated requests to Bloomfield officials, roads remained unpaved, water and sewer systems were nonexistent, and schools were miles away. Area residents marked out

1815-484: A paper to DARPA titled "On Creativity" containing ideas on how government-based science projects could encourage team members to think more creatively. Asimov met his first wife, Gertrude Blugerman (May 16, 1917, Toronto , Canada  – October 17, 1990, Boston , U.S. ), on a blind date on February 14, 1942, and married her on July 26. The couple lived in an apartment in West Philadelphia while Asimov

1936-412: A pseudonym. When it nevertheless appeared under his own name, Asimov grew concerned that his doctoral examiners might think he wasn't taking science seriously. At the end of the examination, one evaluator turned to him, smiling, and said, "What can you tell us, Mr. Asimov, about the thermodynamic properties of the compound known as thiotimoline". Laughing hysterically with relief, Asimov had to be led out of

2057-478: A referendum held the previous day. After becoming a borough, architects suggested buying gas lamps, they became a characteristic of the borough. Circa World War II, gas lamps were discarded, many by the City of New York, later salvaged, repaired, and brought to Glen Ridge. With only 3,000 gaslights remaining in operation in the entire United States, the 2,500 managed by Public Service Enterprise Group , succeeding

2178-407: A staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year in a three-year cycle. The borough form of government used by Glen Ridge is a " weak mayor / strong council" government in which council members act as the legislative body with the mayor presiding at meetings and voting only in the event of a tie. The mayor can veto ordinances subject to an override by a two-thirds majority vote of

2299-668: A story first published in The Smart Set (November 1913), reprinting "A Flood" by the Irish writer George Moore in a limited edition of 185 signed copies. In 1934, Conklin and Burton Rascoe published The Smart Set Anthology (reissued in 1944 as The Bachelor's Companion ), the first collection of stories from that literary magazine. Conklin's interest in short fiction continued with the 1936 publication of The New Republic Anthology: 1915-1935 , edited with Bruce Bliven. The following year, he married Lucy Tempkin on October 1. During

2420-516: A strong formative influence on Asimov and became a personal friend. By the end of the month, Asimov completed a second story, " Stowaway ". Campbell rejected it on July 22 but—in "the nicest possible letter you could imagine"—encouraged him to continue writing, promising that Asimov might sell his work after another year and a dozen stories of practice. On October 21, 1938, he sold the third story he finished, " Marooned Off Vesta ", to Amazing Stories , edited by Raymond A. Palmer , and it appeared in

2541-537: A total of 5,169 registered voters in Glen Ridge, of which 2,135 (41.3%) were registered as Democrats , 993 (19.2%) were registered as Republicans and 2,037 (39.4%) were registered as Unaffiliated . There were 4 voters registered as Libertarians or Greens . In the 2012 presidential election , Democrat Barack Obama received 62.6% of the vote (2,415 cast), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 36.2% (1,396 votes), and other candidates with 1.1% (44 votes), among

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2662-464: A used typewriter at age 16. His first published work was a humorous item on the birth of his brother for Boys High School's literary journal in 1934. In May 1937 he first thought of writing professionally, and began writing his first science fiction story, "Cosmic Corkscrew" (now lost), that year. On May 17, 1938, puzzled by a change in the schedule of Astounding Science Fiction , Asimov visited its publisher Street & Smith Publications . Inspired by

2783-604: A year before her death. Four years later, he married Florence Alexander Wohlken. His book review column, "Galaxy's Five-Star Shelf", was a key feature in Galaxy Science Fiction from its premiere issue (October 1950) until October 1955. During that period, he also edited Grosset & Dunlap 's Science Fiction Classics series, which he conceived as an inexpensive alternative to hard-to-find small-press editions of such titles as Robert A. Heinlein 's Beyond This Horizon and Isaac Asimov 's I, Robot , although

2904-518: A year. He expected to make chemistry his career, and was paid $ 2,600 annually at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, enough to marry his girlfriend; he did not expect to make much more from writing than the $ 1,788.50 he had earned from the 28 stories he had already sold over four years. Asimov left science fiction fandom and no longer read new magazines, and might have left the writing profession had not Heinlein and de Camp been his coworkers at

3025-601: Is 07028. Glen Ridge is located on a ridge on the east side of the First Mountain of the Watchung Mountains . The town stretches 2 miles (3.2 km) from north to south and a maximum of six blocks wide from east to west, and it is only three or two blocks wide in "the Panhandle" north of Bay Avenue. Glen Ridge has a temperate climate, with warm / hot humid summers and cool / cold winters, according to

3146-648: Is governed by a directly elected county executive , with legislative functions performed by the Board of County Commissioners . As of 2024 , the County Executive is Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. ( D , Roseland ), whose four-year term of office ends December 31, 2026. The county's Board of County Commissioners is composed of nine members, five of whom are elected from districts and four of whom are elected on an at-large basis. They are elected for three-year concurrent terms and may be re-elected to successive terms at

3267-654: Is made up of delegates from the community and from local civic organizations, provides a non-partisan method of candidate selection for Borough elections. The CCC endorsement is very significant; in most elections, the CCC's candidates are unopposed. The eight organizations currently sending delegates to the CCC are: The Democratic Club, Freeman Gardens Association, Friends of the Glen Ridge Library, The Glen Ridge Historical Society, The Northside Association, The Republican Club, The Golden Circle, The South End Association and

3388-520: Is my compulsion to write ... That means that my idea of a pleasant time is to go up to my attic, sit at my electric typewriter (as I am doing right now), and bang away, watching the words take shape like magic before my eyes. Asimov's career can be divided into several periods. His early career, dominated by science fiction, began with short stories in 1939 and novels in 1950. This lasted until about 1958, all but ending after publication of The Naked Sun (1957). He began publishing nonfiction as co-author of

3509-784: Is represented in the United States Senate by Democrats Cory Booker ( Newark , term ends 2027) and George Helmy ( Mountain Lakes , term ends 2024). For the 2024-2025 session , the 34th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Britnee Timberlake ( D , East Orange ) and in the General Assembly by Carmen Morales (D, Belleville ) and Michael Venezia (D, Bloomfield ). Essex County

3630-585: Is the Foundation series, the first three books of which won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. His other major series are the Galactic Empire series and the Robot series. The Galactic Empire novels are set in the much earlier history of the same fictional universe as the Foundation series. Later, with Foundation and Earth (1986), he linked this distant future to

3751-554: Is used in 218 municipalities (of the 564) statewide, making it the most common form of government in New Jersey. The governing body is comprised of the mayor and the borough council, with all positions elected at-large on a partisan basis as part of the November general election. The mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The borough council includes six members elected to serve three-year terms on

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3872-527: The Humanist Manifesto . From 1985 until his death in 1992, he served as honorary president of the AHA, and was succeeded by his friend and fellow writer Kurt Vonnegut . He was also a close friend of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry , and earned a screen credit as "special science consultant" on Star Trek: The Motion Picture for his advice during production. Asimov was a founding member of

3993-628: The 11 , 28 and 29 via Bloomfield Avenue. Commuters can also take trains from the Glen Ridge station (formerly named Ridgewood Avenue station), where NJ Transit provides service to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan and to Hoboken Terminal via the Montclair-Boonton Line . There are many other train stations near Glen Ridge. Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( / ˈ æ z ɪ m ɒ v / AZ -ih-mov ; c.  January 2, 1920  – April 6, 1992)

4114-518: The 2000 United States census there were 7,271 people, 2,458 households, and 1,978 families residing in the borough. The population density was 5,695.0 inhabitants per square mile (2,198.9/km ). There were 2,490 housing units at an average density of 1,950.3 per square mile (753.0/km ). The racial makeup of the borough was 89.18% White , 4.98% African American , 0.15% Native American , 3.34% Asian , 0.99% from other races , and 1.36% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.45% of

4235-403: The 2004 presidential election , Democrat John Kerry received 59.1% of the vote (2,381 ballots cast), outpolling Republican George W. Bush with 39.9% (1,608 votes) and other candidates with 0.7% (35 votes), among the 4,031 ballots cast by the borough's 4,967 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 81.2. In the 2013 gubernatorial election , Republican Chris Christie received 53.2% of

4356-549: The 2010 census count of 7,527, which in turn reflected an increase of 256 (+3.5%) from the 7,271 counted in the 2000 census . The borough is notable for being one of a few in New Jersey preserving the use of gas lamps for street lighting. In 1666, 64 Connecticut families led by Robert Treat bought land from the Lenni Lenape Native Americans and named it New Ark to reflect a covenant to worship freely without persecution. The territory included

4477-508: The Boston University School of Medicine . This was in large part due to his years-long correspondence with William Boyd , a former associate professor of biochemistry at Boston University, who initially contacted Asimov to compliment him on his story Nightfall . Upon receiving a promotion to professor of immunochemistry , Boyd reached out to Asimov, requesting him to be his replacement. The initial offer of professorship

4598-640: The Columbia University School of General Studies ) in 1939. After two rounds of rejections by medical schools, Asimov applied to the graduate program in chemistry at Columbia in 1939; initially he was rejected and then only accepted on a probationary basis. He completed his Master of Arts degree in chemistry in 1941 and earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in chemistry in 1948. During his chemistry studies, he also learned French and German. From 1942 to 1945 during World War II , between his masters and doctoral studies, Asimov worked as

4719-644: The Department of Commerce , the National Cancer Institute and the American Diabetes Association . He was also a former scientific researcher for the N.W. Ayer & Son advertising agency. It was as an editor of fiction that Conklin found his niche, beginning as early as 1930. At the age of 26, while employed as an assistant manager at New York's Doubleday Bookstore , he arranged for the hardcover publication of

4840-529: The Köppen climate classification humid subtropical climate. The town gets an average of 49 inches (1,200 mm) of rain per year and 20 inches (510 mm) of snowfall, compared to the US averages of 37 inches (940 mm) and 25 inches (640 mm) inches. Glen Ridge has 124 days of measurable precipitation a year. During the winter, it is highly recommended to wear warm clothing because it can get very cold, while

4961-542: The Latin alphabet , Asimov's father spelled it with an S, believing this letter to be pronounced like Z (as in German), and so it became Asimov. This later inspired one of Asimov's short stories, " Spell My Name with an S ". Asimov refused early suggestions of using a more common name as a pseudonym, believing that its recognizability helped his career. After becoming famous, he often met readers who believed that "Isaac Asimov"

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5082-580: The Robot series, creating a unified " future history " for his works. He also wrote more than 380 short stories , including the social science fiction novelette " Nightfall ", which in 1964 was voted the best short science fiction story of all time by the Science Fiction Writers of America . Asimov wrote the Lucky Starr series of juvenile science-fiction novels using the pen name Paul French. Most of his popular science books explain concepts in

5203-608: The SS ; France for a trip mostly devoted to lectures in London and Birmingham, though he also found time to visit Stonehenge and Shakespeare's birthplace. Asimov was a teetotaler . He was an able public speaker and was regularly invited to give talks about science in his distinct New York accent . He participated in many science fiction conventions , where he was friendly and approachable. He patiently answered tens of thousands of questions and other mail with postcards and

5324-841: The Trap Door Spiders , which served as the basis of his fictional group of mystery solvers, the Black Widowers . He later used his essay on Moriarty's work as the basis for a Black Widowers story, " The Ultimate Crime ", which appeared in More Tales of the Black Widowers . In 1984, the American Humanist Association (AHA) named him the Humanist of the Year. He was one of the signers of

5445-479: The United States Census Bureau , the borough had a total area of 1.28 square miles (3.31 km ), including 1.28 square miles (3.30 km ) of land and 0.01 square miles (0.01 km ) of water (0.39%). It is bounded by Bloomfield to its east, Montclair to its west, East Orange to its south, and shares a short border with Orange to its southwest. The borough's US mail ZIP code

5566-470: The Upper West Side of Manhattan where he lived for the rest of his life. He began seeing Janet O. Jeppson , a psychiatrist and science-fiction writer, and married her on November 30, 1973, two weeks after his divorce from Gertrude. Asimov was a claustrophile : he enjoyed small, enclosed spaces. In the third volume of his autobiography, he recalls a childhood desire to own a magazine stand in

5687-728: The Welsbach Company, include 1,400 lamps in South Orange, 667 in Glen Ridge, some in Trenton and dozens of other towns, lighting their streets. The Gaslamp is the Glen Ridge Historical Society's quarterly newsletter. Along streets with gas lamps, utility poles for electric lines are not permitted along the street, and are instead are rounted behind homes. The borough also features extensive use of slate sidewalks. In 1924, Glen Ridge became

5808-636: The Wendell Urth mystery stories and the Robot novels featuring Elijah Baley . In his later years, Asimov found enjoyment traveling on cruise ships , beginning in 1972 when he viewed the Apollo 17 launch from a cruise ship . On several cruises, he was part of the entertainment program, giving science-themed talks aboard ships such as the Queen Elizabeth 2 . He sailed to England in June 1974 on

5929-592: The anti-AIDS prejudice might extend to his family members. He died in Manhattan on April 6, 1992, and was cremated. The cause of death was reported as heart and kidney failure . Ten years following Asimov's death, Janet and Robyn Asimov agreed that the HIV story should be made public; Janet revealed it in her edition of his autobiography, It's Been a Good Life . [T]he only thing about myself that I consider to be severe enough to warrant psychoanalytic treatment

6050-437: The comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan . Many of his short stories mention or quote Gilbert and Sullivan. He was a prominent member of The Baker Street Irregulars , the leading Sherlock Holmes society, for whom he wrote an essay arguing that Professor Moriarty's work "The Dynamics of An Asteroid" involved the willful destruction of an ancient, civilized planet. He was also a member of the male-only literary banqueting club

6171-575: The pulp magazines sold in his family's candy store. At first his father forbade reading pulps until Asimov persuaded him that because the science fiction magazines had "Science" in the title, they must be educational. At age 18 he joined the Futurians science fiction fan club , where he made friends who went on to become science fiction writers or editors. Asimov began writing at the age of 11, imitating The Rover Boys with eight chapters of The Greenville Chums at College . His father bought him

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6292-411: The second grade ). His mother got him into first grade a year early by claiming he was born on September 7, 1919. In third grade he learned about the "error" and insisted on an official correction of the date to January 2. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1928 at the age of eight. After becoming established in the U.S., his parents owned a succession of candy stores in which everyone in

6413-418: The 100s category, but none of his own books were classified in that category. According to UNESCO 's Index Translationum database , Asimov is the world's 24th-most-translated author. No matter how various the subject matter I write on, I was a science-fiction writer first and it is as a science-fiction writer that I want to be identified. Asimov became a science fiction fan in 1929, when he began reading

6534-436: The 1980s, it was discovered that a section of the borough near Carteret Park was built on top of hazardous waste. Waste contaminated with radium from the old U.S. Radium watch dial plant had been used to fill in low-lying areas of Glen Ridge covering 90 acres (36 ha), as well as portions of Montclair and West Orange . It was not until the year 2000 that the area was completely cleaned of any contamination. According to

6655-399: The 2,722 ballots cast by the borough's 5,144 registered voters, yielding a 52.9% turnout. The Glen Ridge Public Schools serve students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade . As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprised of four schools, had an enrollment of 1,899 students and 148.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.8:1. Schools in

6776-419: The 3,871 ballots cast by the borough's 5,380 registered voters (16 ballots were spoiled ), for a turnout of 72.0%. In the 2008 presidential election , Democrat Barack Obama received 62.9% of the vote (2,583 cast), ahead of Republican John McCain with 35.2% (1,444 votes) and other candidates with 0.8% (33 votes), among the 4,104 ballots cast by the borough's 5,185 registered voters, for a turnout of 79.2%. In

6897-404: The CCC candidate Steven Plate. When Plate was selected as the CCC candidate again in 2003 (contradicting the committee's precedent of one term per mayor), Bergmanson ran again, and won, gaining the majority in all but one of the town's districts. However, the CCC is still firmly in control of the town's political structure—all 16 of the elected officials currently serving Glen Ridge were nominated by

7018-423: The CCC. Generally, when non-CCC candidates run, they run as independents. The Democratic and Republican parties are not forces in local elections. Glen Ridge is located in the 11th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 34th state legislative district. For the 118th United States Congress , New Jersey's 11th congressional district is represented by Mikie Sherrill ( D , Montclair ). New Jersey

7139-711: The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, CSICOP (now the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry ) and is listed in its Pantheon of Skeptics. In a discussion with James Randi at CSICon 2016 regarding the founding of CSICOP, Kendrick Frazier said that Asimov was "a key figure in the Skeptical movement who is less well known and appreciated today, but was very much in

7260-712: The English Language . He lived in New York at 150 West 96th Street. At the age of 63, he died of emphysema in his summer home at Pawling, New York . A major survey of Conklin's contribution to science fiction is contained in Bud Webster 's 41 Above the Rest: An Index and Checklist for the Anthologies of Groff Conklin . Webster's study prompted this comment from Barry N. Malzberg : Groff Conklin

7381-630: The High Victorian Period, the Queen Anne Cottage, American Georgian, Shingle Style, and the Prairie Home Style. Notable architects that have left their legacy in the town include Frank Lloyd Wright, Stanford White, and John Russell Pope. To maintain the historical feel of the town and protect the architectural features, the town has created a Historic Preservation Commission which reviews construction on houses in

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7502-755: The March 1939 issue. Asimov was paid $ 64 (equivalent to $ 1,385 in 2023), or one cent a word. Two more stories appeared that year, " The Weapon Too Dreadful to Use " in the May Amazing and " Trends " in the July Astounding , the issue fans later selected as the start of the Golden Age of Science Fiction . For 1940, ISFDB catalogs seven stories in four different pulp magazines, including one in Astounding . His earnings became enough to pay for his education, but not yet enough for him to become

7623-460: The Navy Yard and previously sold stories continued to appear. In 1942, Asimov published the first of his Foundation stories—later collected in the Foundation trilogy : Foundation (1951), Foundation and Empire (1952), and Second Foundation (1953). The books describe the fall of a vast interstellar empire and the establishment of its eventual successor. They feature his fictional science of psychohistory , whose theories could predict

7744-483: The United States via Liverpool on the RMS Baltic , arriving on February 3, 1923 when he was three years old. His parents spoke Yiddish and English to him; he never learned Russian , his parents using it as a secret language "when they wanted to discuss something privately that my big ears were not to hear". Growing up in Brooklyn , New York , Asimov taught himself to read at the age of five (and later taught his sister to read as well, enabling her to enter school in

7865-442: The Women's Club of Glen Ridge. In recent years, the CCC has been weakened both by changing attitudes in the borough, the actions of a number of community residents, and internal conflicts within the CCC itself. Mayor Carl Bergmanson was the first mayor since the establishment of the CCC to be elected without seeking (or receiving) the Committee's endorsement. A member of the council for three terms, he ran for mayor in 1999, losing to

7986-487: The academically qualified Jewish and Italian-American students who applied to the more prestigious Columbia College , but exceeded the unwritten ethnic admission quotas which were common at the time. Originally a zoology major, Asimov switched to chemistry after his first semester because he disapproved of "dissecting an alley cat". After Seth Low Junior College closed in 1936, Asimov finished his Bachelor of Science degree at Columbia's Morningside Heights campus (later

8107-1317: The annual election in November. Essex County's Commissioners are: Robert Mercado (D, District 1 – Newark 's North and East Wards, parts of Central and West Wards; Newark, 2026), A'Dorian Murray-Thomas (D, District 2 – Irvington , Maplewood and parts of Newark's South and West Wards; Newark, 2026), Vice President Tyshammie L. Cooper (D, District 3 - Newark: West and Central Wards; East Orange , Orange and South Orange ; East Orange, 2026), Leonard M. Luciano (D, District 4 – Caldwell , Cedar Grove , Essex Fells , Fairfield , Livingston , Millburn , North Caldwell , Roseland , Verona , West Caldwell and West Orange ; West Caldwell, 2026), President Carlos M. Pomares (D, District 5 – Belleville , Bloomfield , Glen Ridge , Montclair and Nutley ; Bloomfield, 2026), Brendan W. Gill (D, at large; Montclair, 2026), Romaine Graham (D, at large; Irvington, 2026), Wayne Richardson (D, at large; Newark, 2026), Patricia Sebold (D, at-large ; Livingston, 2026). Constitutional officers elected countywide are: Clerk Christopher J. Durkin (D, West Caldwell, 2025), Register of Deeds Juan M. Rivera Jr. (D, Newark, 2025), Sheriff Armando B. Fontoura (D, Fairfield, 2024), and Surrogate Alturrick Kenney (D, Newark, 2028). As of March 2011, there were

8228-401: The average family size was 3.33. In the borough, the population was spread out, with 30.7% under the age of 18, 4.5% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.3 males. The median income for a household in

8349-445: The blessing of, or at the request of, Asimov's widow, Janet Asimov . In 1948, he also wrote a spoof chemistry article , " The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline ". At the time, Asimov was preparing his own doctoral dissertation , which would include an oral examination. Fearing a prejudicial reaction from his graduate school evaluation board at Columbia University , Asimov asked his editor that it be released under

8470-461: The borough council chose former mayor Peter Hughes to fill the council seat expiring in December 2016 that was vacated by Stuart K. Patrick, who resigned from the council to take his seat as mayor. Murphy was selected by the borough council in November 2013 to serve the unexpired term of Elizabeth K. Baker. Ann Marie Morrow was elected in November 2014 to fill a one-year unexpired term. The Glen Ridge Civic Conference Committee, established in 1913,

8591-438: The borough was $ 105,638, and the median income for a family was $ 120,650. Males had a median income of $ 91,161 versus $ 51,444 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $ 48,456. About 1.9% of families and 3.0% of the population were below the poverty line , including 3.3% of those under age 18 and 4.1% of those age 65 or over. Glen Ridge is governed under the borough form of New Jersey municipal government, which

8712-427: The borough's original name of "Glen Ridge Borough" was restored. The borough's name comes from the ridge formed by Toney's Brook . In 2010, Glen Ridge was ranked as the 38th Best Place to live by New Jersey Monthly magazine. In 1989, athletes from the high school were involved in the sexual assault of a mentally handicapped student . Three teenagers were found guilty of first-degree aggravated sexual assault;

8833-409: The boundaries of a 1.45-square-mile (3.8 km ) area to secede from the adjoining town. At the election held on February 12, 1895, the decision to secede passed by only 23 votes. Robert Rudd was elected the first mayor of Glen Ridge. On February 13, 1895, Glen Ridge was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature from portions of Bloomfield Township , based on the results of

8954-530: The council. The mayor makes committee and liaison assignments for council members, and most appointments are made by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council. As of 2024 , the mayor of Glen Ridge is Independent Deborah Mans, whose term of office ends December 31, 2027. Members of the borough council are Council President Ann Marie Morrow (I, 2024), Peter A. Hughes (I, 2025), Richard P. Law (I, 2025), David Lefkovits (I, 2026), Rebecca Meyer (I, 2024) and LoriJean Moody (I, 2026). In January 2016,

9075-555: The cover— The Science Fiction Galaxy (1950), The Big Book of Science Fiction (1950) and Possible Worlds of Science Fiction (1951). The prominent display of Conklin's huge hardcover anthologies in the "New Titles" section of libraries led numerous American readers to discover science fiction during the genre's early 1950s boom. In the Grip of Terror ( Permabooks , 1951) was an offbeat collection of horror tales, and he collaborated with Lucy Conklin on The Supernatural Reader in 1953,

9196-642: The district (with 2018–19 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics ) are Forest Avenue School with 223 students in grades Pre-K–2, Linden Avenue School with 242 students in grades Pre-K–2, Ridgewood Avenue School with 575 students in grades 3–6 and Glen Ridge High School with 837 students in grades 7–12. The high school was the 12th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 328 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2012 cover story on

9317-400: The family was expected to work. The candy stores sold newspapers and magazines, which Asimov credited as a major influence in his lifelong love of the written word, as it presented him as a child with an unending supply of new reading material (including pulp science fiction magazines ) that he could not have otherwise afforded. Asimov began reading science fiction at age nine, at the time that

9438-428: The first municipality in New Jersey to establish a zoning ordinance. In 1982, the borough's official name was changed to "Township of Glen Ridge Borough". Glen Ridge was one of more than a dozen Essex County municipalities to reclassify themselves as townships to take advantage of federal revenue sharing policies that allocated townships a greater share of government aid on a per capita basis. Effective May 1993,

9559-437: The first title in the series ( Henry Kuttner 's Fury ) was that story's first book publication. The Weather-Conditioned House (1958) is not science fiction but a practical discussion of methods involved in weather-conditioning a house. The book was authoritative enough that it was reissued with an update in 1982. In the last three years of his life, Conklin was the staff science editor for The American Heritage Dictionary of

9680-520: The first-season episode " Datalore " called the positronic brain "Asimov's dream". Asimov was so prolific and diverse in his writing that his books span all major categories of the Dewey Decimal Classification except for category 100, philosophy and psychology . However, he wrote several essays about psychology, and forewords for the books The Humanist Way (1988) and In Pursuit of Truth (1982), which were classified in

9801-567: The future course of history according to dynamical laws regarding the statistical analysis of mass human actions. Campbell raised his rate per word, Orson Welles purchased rights to " Evidence ", and anthologies reprinted his stories. By the end of the war Asimov was earning as a writer an amount equal to half of his Navy Yard salary, even after a raise, but Asimov still did not believe that writing could support him, his wife, and future children. His "positronic" robot stories —many of which were collected in I, Robot (1950)—were begun at about

9922-421: The future towns of Bloomfield , Montclair , Belleville and Nutley . When Bloomfield was established in 1812, Glen Ridge was a section "on the hill" composed mostly of farms and woodlands with the exception of a thriving industrial area along Toney's Brook in the glen. For most of the nineteenth century, three water-powered mills produced lumber, calico, pasteboard boxes and brass fittings. A copper mine and

10043-738: The genre was becoming more science-centered. Asimov was also a frequent patron of the Brooklyn Public Library during his formative years. Asimov attended New York City public schools from age five, including Boys High School in Brooklyn . Graduating at 15, he attended the City College of New York for several days before accepting a scholarship at Seth Low Junior College . This was a branch of Columbia University in Downtown Brooklyn designed to absorb some of

10164-640: The historic district. Many homes are included in the Glen Ridge Historic District , which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1982 and later expanded in two boundary increases. It includes the Glen Ridge and the Benson Street train stations. As of May 2010 , the borough had a total of 23.29 miles (37.48 km) of roadways, of which 18.19 miles (29.27 km) were maintained by

10285-609: The majority of Glen Ridge consists of houses, many residents live in apartment complexes. One apartment complex is behind the Glen Ridge Community Pool, while the other apartment complex is not far from that. The architecture of the borough includes houses representing every major style from the mid-nineteenth century onward. Some of the architecture styles include the Carpenter Gothic, the Medieval ,

10406-703: The municipality and 5.10 miles (8.21 km) by Essex County. The primary roads directly serving Glen Ridge include County Route 506 (Bloomfield Avenue) and County Route 509 . Major highways near the borough include the New Jersey Turnpike , Interstate 80 , Interstate 280 , the Garden State Parkway , U.S. Route 46 , Route 3 and Route 21 . Glen Ridge is a little over 2-mile (3.2 km) long, north to south, via Ridgewood Avenue, making it accessible for residents by walking or biking. NJ Transit provides bus service to Newark on

10527-561: The next decade, he wrote books about subways, rental libraries and home construction, in addition to poetry and numerous magazine articles. Conklin did not grow up as a reader of science fiction, but came to it later in life. In his Galaxy Five-Star Shelf column of December, 1954, he states, "...I actually did not become an earnest devotee of the form until 1944, about a year before the Atomic Age actually opened....The first item I remember reading that could be classified as science fiction

10648-431: The population were under the age of 18, 4.7% from 18 to 24, 22.3% from 25 to 44, 31.2% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.2 years. For every 100 females, the population had 95.6 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 89.0 males. The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income

10769-409: The population. There were 2,458 households, out of which 46.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.9% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.5% were non-families. 16.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.95 and

10890-417: The population. Of the 2,476 households, 49.9% had children under the age of 18; 70.9% were married couples living together; 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present and 17.9% were non-families. Of all households, 14.9% were made up of individuals and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.03 and the average family size was 3.39. 32.2% of

11011-665: The public eye back then." He said that Asimov's being associated with CSICOP "gave it immense status and authority" in his eyes. Asimov described Carl Sagan as one of only two people he ever met whose intellect surpassed his own. The other, he claimed, was the computer scientist and artificial intelligence expert Marvin Minsky . Asimov was an on-and-off member and honorary vice president of Mensa International , albeit reluctantly; he described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs". After his father died in 1969, Asimov annually contributed to

11132-435: The publication of Foundation's Edge . From then until his death, Asimov published several more sequels and prequels to his existing novels, tying them together in a way he had not originally anticipated, making a unified series. There are many inconsistencies in this unification, especially in his earlier stories. Doubleday and Houghton Mifflin published about 60% of his work up to 1969, Asimov stating that "both represent

11253-412: The room. After a five-minute wait, he was summoned back into the room and congratulated as "Dr. Asimov". Demand for science fiction greatly increased during the 1950s, making it possible for a genre author to write full-time. In 1949, book publisher Doubleday 's science fiction editor Walter I. Bradbury accepted Asimov's unpublished "Grow Old with Me" (40,000 words), but requested that it be extended to

11374-401: The same time. They promulgated a set of rules of ethics for robots (see Three Laws of Robotics ) and intelligent machines that greatly influenced other writers and thinkers in their treatment of the subject. Asimov notes in his introduction to the short story collection The Complete Robot (1982) that he was largely inspired by the tendency of robots up to that time to fall consistently into

11495-432: The state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 4th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The median price for a house in Glen Ridge in 2014 was $ 580,000, which is double the national average. Out of the 2,549 houses in the borough, 84.7% of them were single units (detached) and had a median of 7.7 rooms. Glen Ridge is known for its old town charm, with 72.8% of its houses having been built before 1939. In 1895, when

11616-474: The summers can get extremely hot and humid. The majority of February and a bit of March is when there are the most snowfall. Due to the town's elevation and the topography of its river banks, it is not prone to significant flooding. There are typically about 205 sunny days per year in Glen Ridge. The temperature ranges from a high around 86 degrees in July and a low around 21 degrees in January. The comfort index for

11737-410: The term "robotics" without suspecting that it might be an original word; at the time, he believed it was simply the natural analogue of words such as mechanics and hydraulics , but for robots . Unlike his word "psychohistory", the word "robotics" continues in mainstream technical use with Asimov's original definition. Star Trek: The Next Generation featured androids with " positronic brains " and

11858-672: The town is 47 out of 100, compared to a national average of 44 (with higher numbers being more comfortable). The 2010 United States census counted 7,527 people, 2,476 households, and 2,033 families in the borough. The population density was 5,872.8 per square mile (2,267.5/km ). There were 2,541 housing units at an average density of 1,982.6 per square mile (765.5/km ). The racial makeup was 86.21% (6,489) White , 5.04% (379) Black or African American , 0.04% (3) Native American , 4.65% (350) Asian , 0.00% (0) Pacific Islander , 1.37% (103) from other races , and 2.70% (203) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.01% (377) of

11979-471: The town was chartered, Glen Ridge became one of the first communities to hire a town planner which resulted in many late Victorian and Edwardian elements. The condition of the town has been maintained due to the building codes that were established, the creation of the Building Department which included a Building Inspector, and a zoning ordinance (the first in the state of New Jersey). Although

12100-599: The two h's and say it again and you have Asimov. Asimov's family name derives from the first part of озимый хлеб ( ozímyj khleb ), meaning ' winter grain ' (specifically rye ) in which his great-great-great-grandfather dealt, with the Russian surname ending -ov added. Azimov is spelled Азимов in the Cyrillic alphabet . When the family arrived in the United States in 1923 and their name had to be spelled in

12221-497: The university's Mugar Memorial Library , to which he donated them at the request of curator Howard Gotlieb. In 1959, after a recommendation from Arthur Obermayer , Asimov's friend and a scientist on the U.S. missile defense project, Asimov was approached by DARPA to join Obermayer's team. Asimov declined on the grounds that his ability to write freely would be impaired should he receive classified information , but submitted

12342-431: The visit, he finished the story on June 19, 1938, and personally submitted it to Astounding editor John W. Campbell two days later. Campbell met with Asimov for more than an hour and promised to read the story himself. Two days later he received a detailed rejection letter. This was the first of what became almost weekly meetings with the editor while Asimov lived in New York, until moving to Boston in 1949; Campbell had

12463-518: The vote (1,450 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 45.5% (1,240 votes), and other candidates with 1.2% (34 votes), among the 2,772 ballots cast by the borough's 5,429 registered voters (48 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 51.1%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election , Democrat Jon Corzine received 51.0% of the vote (1,388 ballots cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 39.3% (1,071 votes), Independent Chris Daggett with 8.5% (231 votes) and other candidates with 0.7% (19 votes), among

12584-506: The world of science fiction became aware that I existed. As the years passed, in fact, it became evident that I had written a 'classic'." "Nightfall" is an archetypal example of social science fiction , a term he created to describe a new trend in the 1940s, led by authors including him and Heinlein, away from gadgets and space opera and toward speculation about the human condition . After writing " Victory Unintentional " in January and February 1942, Asimov did not write another story for

12705-400: Was H. G. Wells ' Men Like Gods , back in 1924 when I was a college sophomore. It had a tremendous effect on me...." A roommate from 1930 provided him with "bound volumes of tear-sheets of early weirds, fantastics and ' scientifictions ' from the old Argosy , All-Story and others...." He sent a proposal for his first science fiction anthology to Crown Publishers in 1944, and the book

12826-415: Was $ 160,511 (with a margin of error of ±$ 11,073) and the median family income was $ 173,466 (±$ 25,554). Males had a median income of $ 111,968 (±$ 11,975) versus $ 85,938 (±$ 24,626) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $ 64,222 (±$ 8,487). About 1.1% of families and 2.8% of the population were below the poverty line , including 1.9% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over. As of

12947-551: Was a distinctive pseudonym created by an author with a common name. Asimov was born in Petrovichi , Russian SFSR , on an unknown date between October 4, 1919, and January 2, 1920, inclusive. Asimov celebrated his birthday on January 2. Asimov's parents were Russian Jews , Anna Rachel (née Berman) and Judah Asimov, the son of a miller. He was named Isaac after his mother's father, Isaac Berman. Asimov wrote of his father, "My father, for all his education as an Orthodox Jew ,

13068-717: Was adapted into the 1999 movie Bicentennial Man , starring Robin Williams . In 1966 the Foundation trilogy won the Hugo Award for the all-time best series of science fiction and fantasy novels, and they along with the Robot series are his most famous science fiction. Besides movies, his Foundation and Robot stories have inspired other derivative works of science fiction literature, many by well-known and established authors such as Roger MacBride Allen , Greg Bear , Gregory Benford , David Brin , and Donald Kingsbury . At least some of these appear to have been done with

13189-548: Was also a contributor of definitions to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. He can be found listed under the heading of Definitions, along with others. Glen Ridge, New Jersey Glen Ridge is a borough in Essex County , in the U.S. state of New Jersey . As of the 2020 United States census , the borough's population was 7,802, an increase of 275 (+3.7%) from

13310-517: Was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University . During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke . A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards . Best known for his hard science fiction , Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy , as well as popular science and other non-fiction . Asimov's most famous work

13431-422: Was based on an unrelated script by Jeff Vintar titled Hardwired , with Asimov's ideas incorporated later after the rights to Asimov's title were acquired. (The title was not original to Asimov but had previously been used for a story by Eando Binder .) Also, one of Asimov's robot short stories, " The Bicentennial Man ", was expanded into a novel The Positronic Man by Asimov and Robert Silverberg , and this

13552-622: Was employed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard (where two of his co-workers were L. Sprague de Camp and Robert A. Heinlein ). Gertrude returned to Brooklyn while he was in the army, and they both lived there from July 1946 before moving to Stuyvesant Town , Manhattan , in July 1948. They moved to Boston in May 1949, then to nearby suburbs Somerville in July 1949, Waltham in May 1951, and, finally, West Newton in 1956. They had two children, David (born 1951) and Robyn Joan (born 1955). In 1970, they separated and Asimov moved back to New York, this time to

13673-477: Was issued in 1946, several months ahead of the other great sf anthology of that year, Adventures in Time and Space edited by Raymond J. Healy and J. Francis McComas . After his first science fiction anthology, The Best of Science Fiction (1946), weighing in at 785 pages, he followed with A Treasury of Science Fiction (1948). Readers soon began to seek out books with his strikingly unusual and exotic name on

13794-574: Was not Orthodox in his heart", noting that "he didn't recite the myriad prayers prescribed for every action , and he never made any attempt to teach them to me." In 1921, Asimov and 16 other children in Petrovichi developed double pneumonia . Only Asimov survived. He had two younger siblings: a sister, Marcia (born Manya; June 17, 1922 – April 2, 2011), and a brother, Stanley (July 25, 1929 – August 16, 1995), who would become vice-president of Newsday . Asimov's family travelled to

13915-544: Was not published (except for two "special cases" ). By 1941 Asimov was famous enough that Donald Wollheim told him that he purchased " The Secret Sense " for a new magazine only because of his name, and the December 1940 issue of Astonishing —featuring Asimov's name in bold—was the first magazine to base cover art on his work, but Asimov later said that neither he nor anyone else—except perhaps Campbell—considered him better than an often published "third rater". Based on

14036-566: Was pleased to give autographs. He was of medium height, 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) and stocky build. In his later years, he adopted a signature style of "mutton-chop" sideburns . He took to wearing bolo ties after his wife Janet objected to his clip-on bow ties. He never learned to swim or ride a bicycle, but did learn to drive a car after he moved to Boston. In his humor book Asimov Laughs Again , he describes Boston driving as "anarchy on wheels". Asimov's wide interests included his participation in later years in organizations devoted to

14157-510: Was promoted to tenured associate professor. In December 1957, Asimov was dismissed from his teaching post, with effect from June 30, 1958, due to his lack of research. After a struggle over two years, he reached an agreement with the university that he would keep his title and give the opening lecture each year for a biochemistry class. On October 18, 1979, the university honored his writing by promoting him to full professor of biochemistry. Asimov's personal papers from 1965 onward are archived at

14278-473: Was removed from a task force days before it sailed to participate in Operation Crossroads nuclear weapons tests at Bikini Atoll . He was promoted to corporal on July 11 before receiving an honorable discharge on July 26, 1946. After completing his doctorate and a postdoctoral year with Robert Elderfield , Asimov was offered the position of associate professor of biochemistry at

14399-493: Was the most important science fiction anthologist through the years of the genre's true second generation, that point at which its previously magazine-bound masterpieces were being systematically located, aligned and placed into permanent format. His contribution over the period of two decades was irreplaceable and all of our postwar history exists in the penumbra of his work. Bud Webster has in this index granted an act of scholarship and homage of equal irreplaceability. Groff Conklin

14520-427: Was the president of the American Humanist Association . Several entities have been named in his honor, including the asteroid (5020) Asimov , a crater on Mars , a Brooklyn elementary school, Honda 's humanoid robot ASIMO , and four literary awards . There are three very simple English words: 'Has', 'him' and 'of'. Put them together like this—'has-him-of'—and say it in the ordinary fashion. Now leave out

14641-424: Was withdrawn and Asimov was offered the position of instructor of biochemistry instead, which he accepted. He began work in 1949 with a $ 5,000 salary (equivalent to $ 64,000 in 2023), maintaining this position for several years. By 1952, however, he was making more money as a writer than from the university, and he eventually stopped doing research, confining his university role to lecturing students. In 1955, he

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