Edward Elmer "Doc" Smith, Ph.D. (2 May 1890 - 31 August 1965) was an American science fiction writer best known for Space Opera, a genre he arguably invented, including the Skylark Series, the Lensman series, The Galaxy Primes and Spacehounds of IPC. Smith was very much a pioneer in the field of science-fiction, starting work on The Skylark of Space in 1916, though he was not able to find a publisher until 1928. (His postage bill for mailing the manuscript to multiple publishers exceeded his $125 first sale by $3.)
Smith's nickname "Doc" derives from the fact that he was a professional chemist, holding a doctorate in chemical engineering, specializing in doughnuts of all things. Yeah, you read that right. Doughnuts. (That said, he was also highly experienced in explosives engineering.) It is fair to say, however, that he never let scientific plausibility (or, more accurately, the lack thereof) get in the way of telling a ripping yarn. (He knew his chemistry and metallurgy. Relativistic and quantum physics, maybe just enough to play with.) That said, some of his fictional concepts were adapted into real military innovations, and he is likely the only person to have described antimatter weaponry in a form derived from Paul Dirac's original antimatter sea concept.
Works by E. E. "Doc" Smith with their own trope pages include:
Other works by E. E. "Doc" Smith provide examples of:
- Badass Family: The Family D'Alembert.
- The Greys: The inhabitants of Callisto (one of Jupiter's moons) in Spacehounds of I.P.C.. Like all humanoids in the book, they're on the side of the good guys.
- Heavyworlder: The Family D'Alembert.
- Human Subspecies: In the Family D'Alembert series.
- Science Marches On: The "computers
" in Spacehounds of IPC are people who do the navigational computing for the spaceliners by hand and slide rule.
