History Creator / JohnWCampbell

There have been two significant awards established in his honour, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. The latter, which is not technically a UsefulNotes/HugoAward, but is presented at the same annual award ceremony, was subsequently renamed the UsefulNotes/AstoundingAwardForBestNewWriter by the sponsor, Analog Magazine, in recognition of the more problematic aspects of Campbell's personality and history, with the first award under the new name being presented in 2020. The sponsors of the former have also announced that they intend to rename the award, but have not yet decided on the new name. Interest in his work continues, considering that when the original manuscript for ''Frozen Hell'' was found, it was published after fans initiated a highly successful Website/{{Kickstarter}}.

His primary influence was that, as editor, he demanded good stories with good science. He inarguably did more to pull SF out of the age of pulp than anyone else. On the other hand, he was not known for his tolerance. Asimov himself testified that Campbell felt that Northern European men were the pinnacle of humanity, and Campbell accepted precious few stories where the hero was identifiably ''not'' a Northern European man. He accepted ''none'' where any alien race is superior to humanity in a meaningful way. His definition of "good science" was also pretty much limited to "good physics and chemistry"; when it was proven that smoking caused cancer, he pooh-poohed the results, and continued wielding his distinctive cigarette holder until he died of cancer. By the 1960s, he was also deeply into pseudoscience like the Dean Drive [[Creator/LRonHubbard Dianetics]]. He remains a controversial figure.

His primary influence was that, as editor, he demanded good stories with good science. He inarguably did more to pull SF out of the age of pulp than anyone else. On the other hand, he was not known for his tolerance. Asimov himself testified that Campbell felt that Northern European men were the pinnacle of humanity, and Campbell accepted precious few stories where the hero was identifiably ''not'' a Northern European man. He accepted ''none'' where any alien race is superior to humanity in a meaningful way. His definition of "good science" was also pretty much limited to "good physics and chemistry"; when it was proven that smoking caused cancer, he pooh-poohed the results, and continued wielding his distinctive cigarette holder until he died of cancer. By the 1960s, he was also deeply into pseudoscience like the Dean Drive and {{Literature/Dianetics}}. He remains a controversial figure.

There have been two significant awards established in his honour, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the UsefulNotes/JohnWCampbellAwardForBestNewWriter (which is not technically a UsefulNotes/HugoAward, but is presented at the same annual award ceremony). In September 2019, the latter was renamed the Astounding Award by the sponsor, Analog Magazine, in recognition of the more problematic aspects of Campbell's personality and history. The sponsors of the former have also announced that they intend to rename the award, but have not yet decided on the new name. Interest in his work continues, considering that when the original manuscript for ''Frozen Hell'' was found, it was published after fans initiated a highly successful Website/{{Kickstarter}}.

-->-- '''[[WebAnimation/ExtraCredits Extra Sci-Fi]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctpvd2VvukQ&list=PLhyKYa0YJ_5AuEhpcGAo4ngmSDKuFgZZx "John W. Campbell reshapes science fiction]]

There have been two significant awards established in his honour, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the UsefulNotes/JohnWCampbellAwardForBestNewWriter (which is not technically a UsefulNotes/HugoAward, but is presented at the same annual award ceremony). The latter was recently [[note]]September 2019[[/note]] renamed the Astounding Award by the sponsor, Analog Magazine, in recognition of the more problematic aspects of Campbell's personality and history. Interest in his work continues, considering that when the original manuscript for ''Frozen Hell'' was found, it was published after fans initiated a highly successful Website/{{Kickstarter}}.

As a writer, the bulk of his work was done in the 1930s. He first made his name as an author of ScienceHero SpaceOpera, including the 'Arcot, Morey and Wade' stories, which were collected in book form in the 1950s. He also wrote more thoughtful science fiction under the name Don A. Stuart, including the linked stories "Twilight" and "Night", and "Literature/WhoGoesThere", the story that inspired the films ''Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld'' and ''Film/TheThing1982''.

There have been two significant awards established in his honour, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the UsefulNotes/JohnWCampbellAwardForBestNewWriter (which is not technically a UsefulNotes/HugoAward, but is presented at the same annual award ceremony). The latter was recently [[note]]September 2019[[/note]] renamed the Astounding Award by the sponsor, Analog Magazine, in recognition of the more problematic aspects of Campbell's personality and history.

There have been two significant awards established in his honour, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the UsefulNotes/JohnWCampbellAwardForBestNewWriter (which is not technically a UsefulNotes/HugoAward, but is presented at the same annual award ceremony).

-->-- '''[[WebVideo/ExtraCredits Extra Sci-Fi]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctpvd2VvukQ&list=PLhyKYa0YJ_5AuEhpcGAo4ngmSDKuFgZZx "John W. Campbell reshapes science fiction]]

John W. Campbell, Jr. (June 8, 1910 – July 11, 1971) was an American science fiction writer and editor. As editor of ''Magazine/AstoundingScienceFiction'' magazine for over thirty years, he was one of the most influential figures in the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

There have been two significant awards established in his honour, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (which is not technically a UsefulNotes/HugoAward, but is presented at the same annual award ceremony).

There have been two significant awards established in his honour, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (which is not technically a HugoAward, but is presented at the same annual award ceremony).

John W. Campbell, Jr. (1910 – 1971) was an American science fiction writer and editor. As editor of ''Magazine/AstoundingScienceFiction'' magazine for over thirty years, he was one of the most influential figures in the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

* TheSingularity: "The Last Evolution" is a 1932 short story by Creator/JohnWCampbell about a future where mankind and robots coexist peacefully. When aliens attack the Solar System using {{Death Ray}}s of an unknown type, mankind builds a robot of unheard-of intelligence to figure out a defense. Said robot builds an even more advanced machine, which builds even more avanced robots, up to the creation of a race of EnergyBeings that CurbStomp the enemy fleet. Too bad that mankind, and all organic life, has been killed in the battle... So the superintelligent energy beings inherit the Earth.

* HardLight: In the Arcot, Morey and Wade series.

John W. Campbell, Jr. (1910 – 1971) was an American science fiction writer and editor. As editor of ''AstoundingScienceFiction'' magazine for over thirty years, he was one of the most influential figures in the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

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* ManEatingPlant: A man-eating Venusian plant is mentioned as having almost killed one of the heroes in "The Brain-Stealers of Mars".

* CantArgueWithElves: Campbell hated this trope and gave an ExecutiveVeto to any story in which aliens were shown to be superior to humans.

His primary influence was that, as editor, he demanded good stories with good science. He inarguably did more to pull SF out of the age of pulp than anyone else. On the other hand, he was not known for his tolerance. Asimov himself testified that Campbell felt that Northern European men were the pinnacle of humanity, and Campbell accepted precious few stories where the hero was identifiably ''not'' a Northern European man. He accepted ''none'' where any alien race is superior to humanity in a meaningful way. His definition of "good science" was also pretty much limited to "good physics and chemistry"; when it was proven that smoking caused cancer, he pooh-poohed the results, and continued wielding his distinctive cigarette holder until he died of cancer. By the 1960s, he was also deeply into pseudoscience like the Dean Drive and Dianetics. He remains a controversial figure.

As a writer, the bulk of his work was done in the 1930s. He first made his name as an author of ScienceHero SpaceOpera, including the 'Arcot, Morey and Wade' stories, which were collected in book form in the 1950s. He also wrote more thoughtful science fiction under the name Don A. Stuart, including the linked stories "Twilight" and "Night", and "Literature/WhoGoesThere", the story that inspired the films ''TheThingFromAnotherWorld'' and ''Film/TheThing''.