Rudolf von Bitter Rucker (; born March 22, 1946) is an American

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

, computer scientist,

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

author, and one of the founders of the

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting said to focus on a combination of "low-life and high tech". It features futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyberwa ...

literary movement. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known for the novels in the

Ware Tetralogy ''The Ware Tetralogy'' is a series of four science fiction novels by author Rudy Rucker: ''Software'' (1982), '' Wetware'' (1988), ''Freeware'' (1997) and '' Realware'' (2000). The first two books both received the Philip K. Dick Award for bes ...

, the first two of which (''

Software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

'' and '' Wetware'') both won Philip K. Dick Awards. He edited the science fiction

webzine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to an online only magazine was the computer ...

'' Flurb'' until its closure in 2014.

Early life

Rucker was born and raised in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, son of Embry Cobb Rucker Sr (October 1, 1914 - August 1, 1994), who ran a small furniture-manufacture company and later became an Episcopal priest and community activist, and Marianne (née von Bitter). The Rucker family were of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

descent. Through his mother, he is a great-great-great-grandson of

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political philosophy and t ...

. Rucker attended St. Xavier High School before earning a BA in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

from

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

(1967) and MS (1969) and

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

(1973) degrees in mathematics from

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

Career

Rucker taught mathematics at the State University of New York at Geneseo from 1972 to 1978. Although he was liked by his students and "published a book 'Geometry, Relativity and the Fourth Dimension''and several papers," several colleagues took umbrage at his long hair and convivial relationships with English and philosophy professors amid looming budget shortfalls; as a result, he failed to attain tenure in the "dysfunctional" department. Thanks to a grant from the

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation () is a foundation that promotes international academic cooperation between scientists and scholars from Germany and abroad. Established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, it is funded by t ...

, Rucker taught at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg from 1978 to 1980. He then taught at Randolph-Macon Women's College in

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner and Abolitionism, abolitionist John Lynch (1740–1820), J ...

from 1980 to 1982, before trying his hand as a full-time author for four years. Inspired by an interview with

Stephen Wolfram Stephen Wolfram ( ; born 29 August 1959) is a British-American computer scientist, physicist, and businessman. He is known for his work in computer algebra and theoretical physics. In 2012, he was named a fellow of the American Mathematical So ...

, Rucker became a computer science professor at

San José State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State Universit ...

in 1986, from which he retired as

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

in 2004. From 1988 to 1992 he was hired by John Walker of

Autodesk Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that provides software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquarte ...

as a programmer o
cellular automata
which inspired his book '' The Hacker and the Ants''. A mathematician with philosophical interests, he has written '' The Fourth Dimension'' and '' Infinity and the Mind''.

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

published new editions of ''Infinity and the Mind'' in 1995 and in 2005, both with new prefaces; the first edition is cited with fair frequency in academic literature. As his "own alternative to cyberpunk," Rucker developed a writing style he terms transrealism. Transrealism, as outlined in his 1983 essa
''The Transrealist Manifesto''
is science fiction based on the author's own life and immediate perceptions, mixed with fantastic elements that symbolize psychological change. Many of Rucker's novels and short stories apply these ideas. One example of Rucker's transreal works is ''Saucer Wisdom'', a novel in which the main character is abducted by aliens. Rucker and his publisher marketed the book, tongue in cheek, as non-fiction. His earliest transreal novel, '' White Light'', was written during his time at

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. This transreal novel is based on his experiences at SUNY Geneseo. Rucker often uses his novels to explore scientific or mathematical ideas; ''White Light'' examines the concept of

infinity Infinity is something which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is denoted by \infty, called the infinity symbol. From the time of the Ancient Greek mathematics, ancient Greeks, the Infinity (philosophy), philosophic ...

, while the

(written from 1982 through 2000) is in part an explanation of the use of

natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the Heredity, heritable traits characteristic of a population over generation ...

to develop software (a subject also developed in his ''The Hacker and the Ants'', written in 1994). His novels also put forward a

mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight ...

philosophy that Rucker has summarized in an essay titled, with only a bit of irony, "The Central Teachings of Mysticism" (included in ''Seek!'', 1999). His non-fiction book, ''The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul: What Gnarly Computation Taught Me About Ultimate Reality, the Meaning Of Life, and How To Be Happy'' summarizes the various philosophies he's believed over the years and ends with the tentative conclusion that we might profitably view the world as made of computations, with the final remark, "perhaps this universe is perfect."

Personal life

Rucker was the roommate of

Kenneth Turan Kenneth Turan (; born October 27, 1946) is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1991 ...

during his freshman year at Swarthmore College. In 1967, Rucker married Sylvia Bogsch Rucker (1943–2023). Together they have three children. On July 1, 2008, Rucker suffered a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

. Thinking he might not be around much longer, this prompted him to write ''Nested Scrolls'', his autobiography. Rucker resided in

Highland Park, New Jersey Highland Park is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, in the New York City metropolitan area. The borough is located on the northern banks of the Raritan River, in th ...

during his graduate studies at Rutgers University.

Bibliography

Novels

The

*''

'' (1982) *'' Wetware'' (1988) *''Freeware'' (1997) *''Realware'' (2000) Transreal Trilogy *''The Secret of Life'' (1985) *'' White Light'' (1980) *''Saucer Wisdom'' (1999) novel marketed as non-fiction Transreal novels *'' Spacetime Donuts'' (1981) *''The Sex Sphere'' (1983) *'' Master of Space and Time'' (1984) *''The Hollow Earth'' (1990) *'' The Hacker and the Ants'' (1994) (Revised 'Version 2.0' 2003) *''

Spaceland Spaceland was an alternative rock/indie rock nightclub in the Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California, Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, that existed between 1995 and 2011. The club was formerly a popular disco to young locals c ...

'' (2002) *''Frek and the Elixir'' (2004) *'' Mathematicians in Love'' (2006) *''Jim and the Flims'' (2011) *''The Big Aha'' (2013) *''All the Visions'' (1991), memoir/novel Other novels *''As Above, So Below: A Novel of Peter Bruegel'' (2002) *''

Postsingular ''Postsingular'' is a 2007 science-fiction novel written by the American writer Rudy Rucker. It focuses upon a cast of San Franciscans and their relationship with emerging uses of nanotechnology. It was the first of Rucker's works to be licensed ...

'' (2007) *''Hylozoic'' (sequel to ''Postsingular'', May 2009) *''Turing and Burroughs'' (2012) *''Return to the Hollow Earth'' (2018) *''Million Mile Road Trip'' (2019) *''Juicy Ghosts'' (2021)

Short fiction

Collections *''The Fifty-Seventh Franz Kafka'' (1983) *''Transreal!'', includes poetry and non-fiction essays (1991) *''Gnarl!'' (2000), complete short stories *''Mad Professor'' (2006) *''Surfing the Gnarl'' (2012), includes an essay and interview with the author *''Complete Stories'' (2012) *''Transreal Cyberpunk'', with Bruce Sterling (2016) Stories (by date of composition)

Non-fiction

*''Geometry, Relativity and the Fourth Dimension'' (1977) *'' Infinity and the Mind'' (1982) *'' The Fourth Dimension: Toward a Geometry of Higher Reality'' (1984) *''Mind Tools'' (1987) *''Seek!'' (1999), collected essays *''Software Engineering and Computer Games'' (2002), textbook *''The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul: What Gnarly Computation Taught Me About Ultimate Reality, the Meaning of Life, and How to Be Happy'' (

Thunder's Mouth Press Perseus Books Group was an American publishing company founded in year 1996 by investor Frank Pearl. Perseus acquired the trade publishing division of Addison-Wesley (including the Merloyd Lawrence imprint) in 1997. In 2005, Perseus acquired ...

, 2005) *''Nested Scrolls'' - autobiography (2011) *''Collected Essays'' (2012) *''How to Make an Ebook'' (2012) *''Better Worlds'' (2013), art book of Rucker's paintings *''Journals 1990–2014'' (2015)

As editor

*''Speculations on the Fourth Dimension: Selected Writings of Charles H. Hinton'', Dover (1980), *'' Mathenauts: Tales of Mathematical Wonder'',

Arbor House Arbor House was an independent publishing house founded by Donald Fine in 1969. Specializing in hardcover publications, Arbor House published works by Hortense Calisher, Ken Follett, Cynthia Freeman, Elmore Leonard and Irwin Shaw before being ...

(1987) *'' Semiotext(e) SF'',

Autonomedia Autonomedia is a nonprofit publisher based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn known for publishing works of criticism. As of the mid-2000s, they were staffed by volunteers and had published over 200 books, usually with 3,000 of each run, and its best known ...

(1989)

Critical studies and reviews of Rucker's work

;''The big aha'' * ;''Turing and Burroughs'' *

Filmography

* As actor-speaker in ''Manual of Evasion LX94'', a 1994 film by

Edgar Pêra Edgar Henrique Clemente Pêra (born 19 November 1960) is a Portugal, Portuguese filmmaker. Pêra is also a fine artist and a graphic comics artist . and writes fiction and cinema essays (PhD). Edgar Pêra studied Psychology, but switched to Fi ...

Explanatory notes

References

External links

Rudy Rucker Portal

Rudy Rucker Books
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rucker, Rudy 1946 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American novelists American male non-fiction writers American male novelists American people of German descent American science fiction writers American technology writers Asimov's Science Fiction people Cellular automatists Cyberpunk writers Living people Novelists from Kentucky Novelists from New York (state) People from Highland Park, New Jersey People from Los Gatos, California Rutgers University alumni San Jose State University faculty State University of New York at Geneseo faculty Swarthmore College alumni Wired (magazine) people Writers from California Writers from Louisville, Kentucky Writers from Middlesex County, New Jersey