Glen David Brin (born October 6, 1950) is an American scientist and author of

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 ...

. He has won the Hugo,Who's Getting Your Vote?
, October 29, 2008, ''

Reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, lang ...

'' Locus, Campbell and

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of prof ...

s. His novel '' The Postman'' was adapted into a 1997 feature film starring

Kevin Costner Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, producer, film director and musician. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actor ...

Early life and education

Brin was born in

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia *Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre * Glendale, Queensland, ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in 1950 to Selma and Herb Brin. He graduated from the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

with 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 ...

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

, in 1973."David Brin". ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 2018-02-01. Available onlin
via ''Encyclopedia.com''
. At the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is ...

, he earned a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

in electrical engineering (optics) in 1978 and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree in

in 1981.

Career

From 1983 to 1986 he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the California Space Institute, of the University of California, at the San Diego campus in La Jolla. In 2010 Brin became a fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. He helped establish the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination (UCSD). He serves on the advisory board of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

's Innovative and Advanced Concepts group and frequently does futurist consulting for corporations and government agencies. Brin has a side career in public speaking and consultation. He appears frequently on science or future related television shows such as ''The Universe'', ''Life After People'', ''Alien Encounters'', ''Worlds of Tomorrow''. He consults and speaks for a wide variety of groups interested in the future, ranging from Defense Department agencies and the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

, SAP,

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

and other major corporations. He has also been a participant in discussions at the Philanthropy Roundtable and other groups seeking innovative problem solving approaches. As of 2013 he served on the Board of Advisors for the

Museum of Science Fiction The Museum of Science Fiction (MOSF) is a 501c(3) nonprofit museum that has plans to be based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in the spring of 2013 by Greg Viggiano and a team of 22 volunteer professionals with a goal of becoming the world's ...

Personal life

Brin has

Polish Jew The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

ish ancestry, from the area around

Konin Konin (german: Kunau) is a city in central Poland, on the Warta River. It is the capital of Konin County and is located within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Prior to 1999, it was the capital of the Konin Voivodeship (1975–1998). In 2021 the p ...

. His grandfather was drafted into the Russian army and fought in the

Russian-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

of 1905. As of 2022, Brin was living in

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...

with his wife and children.

Works

Most of Brin's fiction is categorized as

hard science fiction Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's ''Islands of Space'' in the Novemb ...

, in that they apply some degree of plausible scientific or technological change as important plot elements. About half of Brin's works are in his

Uplift Universe The Uplift Universe is a fictional universe created by American science fiction writer David Brin. A central feature in this universe is the process of biological uplift. His books which take place in this universe are: * '' Sundiver'' (1980) * ' ...

. These have twice won the

Hugo Award for Best Novel The Hugo Award for Best Novel is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is available for works of fiction of 40,000 ...

. Much of Brin's work outside the Uplift series focuses on the impact on human society of technology, a theme which commonly appears in contemporary North American science fiction. This is most noticeable in ''The Practice Effect'', ''Glory Season'' and ''Kiln People''.

Influence of Jewish heritage

Brin's

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish heritage is the source of two other strong themes in his works. ''

Tikkun Olam ''Tikkun olam'' ( he, תִּיקּוּן עוֹלָם, , repair of the world) is a concept in Judaism, which refers to various forms of action intended to repair and improve the world. In classical rabbinic literature, the phrase referred to leg ...

'' ("repairing the world", i.e. people have a duty to make the world a better place) is originally a religious concept, but Brin, like many non-

orthodox Jews Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Jewish theology, Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Torah, Written and Oral Torah, Or ...

, has adapted this into a secular notion of working to improve the human condition, to increase knowledge, and to prevent long-term evils. Brin has confirmed that this notion in part underscores the notion of humans as "caretakers" of sentient-species-yet-to-be, as he explains in a concluding note at the end of ''

Startide Rising ''Startide Rising'' is a 1983 science fiction novel by American writer David Brin, the second book of six set in his Uplift Universe (preceded by '' Sundiver'' and followed by '' The Uplift War''). It earned both Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best ...

''; and it plays a key role in ''

The Uplift War ''The Uplift War'' is a 1987 science fiction novel by American writer David Brin, the third book of six set in his Uplift Universe. It was nominated as the best novel for the 1987 Nebula Award and won the 1988 Hugo and Locus Awards. The previ ...

'', where the Thennanin are converted from enemies to allies of the Terragens (humans and other sapients that originated on Earth) when they realize that making the world a better place and being good care-takers are core values of both civilizations. Many of Brin's novels emphasize another element of Jewish tradition, the importance of laws and legality, whether intergalactic law in the Uplift series or that of near-future California in ''Kiln People'' but, on the other hand, Brin has stated that "Truly mature citizens ought not to need an intricate wrapping of laws and regulations, in order to do what common sense dictates as good for all".

Bibliography

Fiction

The Uplift stories

The Uplift novels are: *''

Sundiver ''Sundiver'' is a 1980 science fiction novel by American writer David Brin. It is the first book of his first Uplift trilogy, followed by ''Startide Rising'' in 1983 and ''The Uplift War'' in 1987. Plot summary The novel begins with the ma ...

'' (1980), *''

'' (1983), – Hugo and Locus SF Awards winner, 1984; Nebula Award winner, 1983 *''

'' (1987), – Hugo and Locus SF Awards winner, 1988; Nebula Award nominee, 1987 *The Uplift Trilogy (sometimes called the Uplift Storm trilogy): **'' Brightness Reef'' (1995) – Hugo and Locus SF Awards nominee, 1996 **''

Infinity's Shore The Uplift Storm trilogy, also simply called ''The Uplift Trilogy'' is a series of novels set in David Brin's Uplift Universe. The entire trilogy is one long tale, with no gaps in the timeline between volumes. The three novels are: * ''Brightne ...

'' (1996), **'' Heaven's Reach'' (1998), Short stories: * "Aficionado" (1998) was first published as "Life in the Extreme" in ''

Popular Science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

'' magazine, republished in the 2003 limited-edition collection ''Tomorrow Happens'', and included in Brin's 2012 novel ''Existence''. It is available on Brin's website. "Aficionado" takes place before the novels. * "Temptation" (1999) appeared in

Robert Silverberg Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935) is an American author and editor, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a Gran ...

's anthology ''Far Horizons: All New Tales from the Greatest Worlds of Science Fiction'' and is set after the events of ''Infinity's Shore''. ''Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe'' (2002), is co-written by Brin and Kevin Lenagh

High Horizon

* ''Colony High'' (February 2021) * ''Castaways of New Mojave'' (August 2021) – with Jeff Carlson

Other fiction

Stand-alone novels: *'' The Practice Effect'' (1984), *'' The Postman'' (1985), – Campbell and Locus SF Awards winner, Hugo Award nominee, 1986; Nebula Award nominee, 1985 Originally appeared, in substantially different form, as a three-part novella in ''

Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publicatio ...

''. Filmed by

as a

major motion picture Punchline is an American rock band from Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, United States, that was formed in 1998. The band released its seventh full-length album, '' Thrilled'', on December 4, 2015, on InVogue Records. History 1998-2002: early yea ...

. *'' Heart of the Comet'' (1986), (with

Gregory Benford Gregory Benford (born January 30, 1941) is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is professor emeritus at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. He is a contributing editor of ''Reas ...

) – Locus SF Award nominee, 1987 *''

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...

'' (1990), – Hugo and Locus SF Awards nominee, 1991. Contains many successful predictions of current trends (such as

email spam Email spam, also referred to as junk email, spam mail, or simply spam, is unsolicited messages sent in bulk by email (spamming). The name comes from a Monty Python sketch in which the name of the canned pork product Spam is ubiquitous, unavoida ...

) and technologies. *'' Glory Season'' (1993), – Hugo and Locus SF Awards nominee, 1994 *'' Kiln People'' (2002), – Campbell, Clarke, Hugo, and Locus SF Awards nominee, 2003. '' Kiln People'' (published in the UK as ''Kil'n People'') was shortlisted in four different awards for best SF/fantasy novel of 2002—the Hugo, the Locus, the John W. Campbell Award, and the

Arthur C. Clarke Award The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. It is named after British author Arthur C. Clarke, who gave a grant to establish the award i ...

; each time finishing behind a different book. *''Existence'',

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese scienc ...

, (2012), *''The Ancient Ones'', self-published, (2020), Graphic novels: *''Forgiveness'' (2002), – set in the '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' universe *''The Life Eaters'' (2003), – published by the

Wildstorm Wildstorm Productions, (stylized as WildStorm), is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wild ...

imprint of

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

, art by

Scott Hampton Scott Hampton (born April 10, 1959) is an American comic book artist known for his painted artwork. He is the brother of fellow comics-creator Bo Hampton. Andelman, Bob"Scott Hampton & Bo Hampton Interview,"''A Spirited Life'' (July 17, 2006). ...

* ''Tinkerers'' (2010) – discussion of the causes of the decline of American manufacturing His short fiction has been collected in: *'' The River of Time'' (1986), *'' Otherness'' (1994), *''Tomorrow Happens'' (2003) *''Insistence of Vision'' (2016), Other works by Brin include his addition to

Asimov's ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publication ...

Foundation Universe The ''Foundation universe'' is the future history of humanity's colonisation of the galaxy, spanning nearly 25,000 years, created through the gradual fusion of the '' Robot'', ''Galactic Empire'', ''Foundation'' book series written by American ...

: *'' Foundation's Triumph'' (1999), and his addition to Eric Flint's 1632-verse: *"71" in '' Ring of Fire IV'' (2016), Brin designed the game ''Tribes'', published in 1998 by

Steve Jackson Games Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and (until 2019) the gaming magazine ''Pyramid''. History Founded in 1980, six years after the c ...

, and wrote the storyline for the 2000

Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nint ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

'' Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future''.

Nonfiction

On-going: * Articles in professional journals, including ''

The Astrophysical Journal ''The Astrophysical Journal'', often abbreviated ''ApJ'' (pronounced "ap jay") in references and speech, is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of astrophysics and astronomy, established in 1895 by American astronomers George Ellery Hale and J ...

'' and ''Information Technology and Libraries'', as well as popular magazines, such as '' Omni'', ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'', and ''

''. Books: * ''Extraterrestrial Civilization'' by Thomas Kuiper and Glen David Brin, (1989) * '' The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?'' (1998) —won the Eli M. Oboler Award for intellectual freedom from the American Library Association * ''Star Wars on Trial: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Debate the Most Popular Science Fiction Films of All Time'' (2006) * ''Polemical Judo: Memes for our Political Knife-fight'' (2019)

Honors and awards

Nebula Award for Best Novel The Nebula Award for Best Novel is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy novels. A work of fiction is considered a novel by the organization if it is 40,000 words or longer; a ...

winner in 1984 *

winner in 1984, 1988 *

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual conv ...

winner in 1985 *

Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel The Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel is one of the annual Locus Awards presented by the science fiction and fantasy magazine ''Locus''. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year. The award f ...

winner in 1984, 1986, 1988 *

Hugo Award for Best Short Story The Hugo Award for Best Short Story is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The short story award is available for works of fiction of ...

winner in 1985 * Minor planet 5748 Davebrin discovered by

Eleanor Helin Eleanor Francis "Glo" Helin (née Francis, 19 November 1932 – 25 January 2009) was an American astronomer. She was principal investigator of the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (Some sources gi ...

in 1991, is named in his honor.

References

External links

* * David Brin's

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in Reverse ...

Contrary Brin
* * * * ;Interviews

at SFFWorld.com(2002-07-19)

at Actusf.com
All of David Brin's audio interviews on the podcast ''The Future And You''
in which he describes his expectations of the future

Video of conversation between David Brin
and

James Pinkerton James "Jim" P. Pinkerton (born March 11, 1958) is an American columnist, author, and political analyst. Career A graduate of Evanston Township High School (1975) and Stanford University (1980), he served on the White House staff under both Ronal ...

Bloggingheads.tv Bloggingheads.tv (sometimes abbreviated "bhtv") is a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast on ...

*
Alliance for Progress Encyclopedia, encyclopedia of David Brin's Uplift Universe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brin, David 1950 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists American futurologists American graphic novelists American male novelists American male short story writers American science fiction writers American short story writers American transhumanists Analog Science Fiction and Fact people California Institute of Technology alumni Hugo Award-winning writers Jewish American writers Jewish novelists Living people Nebula Award winners University of California, San Diego alumni Writers from Glendale, California Inkpot Award winners