Alan Edward Nourse (August 11, 1928 – July 19, 1992) was an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

writer and

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

. He wrote both juvenile and adult science fiction, as well as nonfiction works about

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

and science. His SF works sometimes focused on medicine and/or

psionics In American science fiction of the 1950s and 1960s, psionics was a proposed discipline that applied principles of engineering (especially electronics) to the study (and employment) of paranormal or psychic phenomena, such as telepathy and psy ...

. His

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

s included Al Edwards and Doctor X.

Biography

Alan Nourse was born August 11, 1928, to Benjamin and Grace (Ogg) Nourse in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moine ...

. He attended high school in

Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18t ...

. He served in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

after World War II. He earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in 1951 from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He married Ann Morton on June 11, 1952, in

Linden, New Jersey Linden is a city in southeastern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area, located about southwest of Manhattan and bordering Staten Island, a borough of New York City, across the Arthur Kill ...

. He received a

Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. ...

(M.D.) degree in 1955 from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

. He served his one-year internship at Virginia Mason Hospital in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

and practiced medicine in

North Bend, Washington North Bend is a city in King County, Washington, United States, on the outskirts of the Seattle metropolitan area. The population was 5,731 at the 2010 census and an estimated 7,136 in 2018. Since the closure of Weyerhaeuser's Snoqualmie sawmi ...

, from 1958 to 1963 and also pursued his writing career. He had helped pay for his medical education by writing science fiction for magazines. After retiring from medicine, he continued writing. His regular column in ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...

'' magazine earned him the nickname "Family Doctor". He was a friend of fellow author

Avram Davidson Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jews ...

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...

dedicated his 1964 novel ''

Farnham's Freehold ''Farnham's Freehold'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. A serialised version, edited by Frederik Pohl, appeared in ''Worlds of If'' magazine (July, August, October 1964). The complete version was published in nove ...

'' to Nourse. Heinlein in part dedicated his 1982 novel ''

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth d ...

'' to Nourse's wife Ann. His novel '' The Bladerunner'' lent its name to the ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's ...

'' movie, but no other aspects of its plot or characters (which were taken from Philip K. Dick's ''

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (retroactively retitled ''Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' in some later printings) is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in 1968. Th ...

''). In the late 1970s an attempt to adapt ''The Bladerunner'' for the screen was made, with

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Genera ...

author William S. Burroughs commissioned to write a story treatment; no film was ever developed but the story treatment was later published as the

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) fact ...

'' Blade Runner (a movie)''. He died on July 19, 1992, in

Thorp, Washington Thorp ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. In 2015, the population was 317 according to statistics compiled by Data USA. The town of Thorp is east of Seattle, nort ...

Selected works

Short stories

The Dark Door
(''

Galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System ...

'', December 1953)
Brightside Crossing
(''Galaxy'', January 1956)
Problem
(''Galaxy'', October 1956)
Prime Difference
(''Galaxy'', June 1957)
Contamination Course
('' If'', February 1958) *"Mirror, Mirror" (1967) *"The Counterfeit Man" *"The Canvas Bag" *"An Ounce of Cure" *"The Dark Door" *"Meeting of the Board" *"Circus" *"My Friend Bobby" *"The Link" *"Image of the Gods" *"The Expert Touch" *"Second Sight"

Novelettes

*"High Threshold" (published in the March 1951 issue of ''

Astounding ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William C ...

'') *"The Universe Between" (published in the September 1951 issue of ''

'')

Novels

*''Trouble on Titan'' (1954) *''A Man Obsessed'' (1955) *'' Rocket to Limbo'' (1957) *''Gold in the Sky'' (1958) *''Scavengers in Space'' (1958) *''The Invaders are Coming!'' (1959, with co-author J. A. Meyer) *''Star Surgeon'' (1959) *''Raiders from the Rings'' (1962) *''"The Universe Between"'' (1965, a

fix-up A fix-up (or fixup) is a novel created from several short fiction stories that may or may not have been initially related or previously published. The stories may be edited for consistency, and sometimes new connecting material, such as a frame s ...

of "High Threshold" and "The Universe Between" ) *''The Mercy Men'' (1968, revised version of ''A Man Obsessed'') *'' The Bladerunner'' (1974) *''The Practice'' (1978) *''The Fourth Horseman'' (1983)

Collections

*'' Tiger by the Tail and Other Science Fiction Stories'' (1961) *'' The Counterfeit Man'' (1963) *''Psi-High and Others'' (1967) *''Rx for Tomorrow'' (1971) *''Short Works of Alan Edward Nourse'' (2008, reprint of seven of the stories from ''The Counterfeit Man'')

Nonfiction books

*''So You Want to Be a Doctor'' (1957) *''Nine Planets'' (1960, revised edition 1970) *''So You Want to Be a Nurse'' (1961) *''The Body'' ( Life Science Library) (1965, revised edition 1981) *''Intern'' (1965, under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

Doctor X) *''Universe, Earth and Atom: The Story of Physics'' (1969) *''Venus and Mercury: a First Book'' (1972) *''The Backyard Astronomer'' (1973) *''The Giant Planets: a First Book'' (1974, revised edition 1982) *''The Asteroids: a First Book'' (1975) *''Viruses: a First Book'' (1976, revised edition 1982) *''Hormones: an Impact Book'' (1979) *''Herpes: an Impact Book'' (1985) *''AIDS: an Impact Book'' (1986) *''The Elk Hunt'' (1986) *''Teen Guide to Safe Sex'' (1990) *''Sexually Transmitted Diseases'' (1992) *''The Virus Invaders: a Venture Book'' (1992)

References

External links

Nourse, Alan E.
''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo Award, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus and BSFA Award, British SF Awards. Two print editions appeared ...

'' * * * *
Alan E Nourse
at Fantastic Fiction * *
Doctor X
at LC Authorities (no records as of July 2015) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nourse, Alan E. 1928 births 1992 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American science fiction writers American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers People from North Bend, Washington