One of the most influential and sometimes controversial authors of “hard” science fiction, Robert Heinlein glorified individualism, progress, honor, and responsibility. Known as the “Dean of Science Fiction”, he set a high standard for science and engineering plausibility that many contemporaries could not emulate. Heinlein was the first science-fiction writer to break into mainstream general magazines such as THE SUNDAY EVENING POST in the late 1940s with unvarnished science fiction, and he was among the first authors of bestselling novel-length science fiction in the 1960s. For many years Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke were known as the Big Three of science fiction. He won seven Hugo Awards for his novels and films, as well as the first Grand Master Award given by the Science Fiction Writers of America for lifetime achievement.