Robert Forward

Robert Lull Forward commonly known as Robert L. Forward (August 15, 1932 - September 21, 2002) was a United States physicist and science fiction writer.

He earned his doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1965, for the development of a bar antenna for the detection of gravitational radiation. He then went to work at Hughes Aircraft's research labs, where he continued his research on gravity measurement and received 18 patents. He took early retirement in 1987, to focus on his fiction writing and consulting for such clients as NASA and the U.S. Air Force.

Much of his research focused on the leading edges of speculative physics, but was always grounded in what he believed humans could accomplish. He worked on such projects as space tethers and space fountains, solar sails (including Starwisp), antimatter propulsion, and other spacecraft propulsion technologies, and did further research on more esoteric possibilities such as time travel and negative matter. In addition to over 200 papers and articles, he published 11 novels. He described his first novel, Dragon's Egg, as "A textbook on neutron star physics disguised as a novel." His novel Rocheworld describes a double-planet system with a single ocean.

His treatment of hard-science topics in fictional form is highly reminiscent of the work of Hal Clement.

Dr. Forward and his wife, Martha Dodson Forward, co-authored two of the Rocheworld novels.

Dr. Forward's son, also named Robert, has led a successful career as a storyboard artist and writer in television animation, including in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and more famously, Beast Wars. He is also the author of one novel, The Owl.

Dr. Forward's oldest daughter, Mary Lois Mattlin, is a teacher and homemaker.

Julie Fuller, Dr. Forward's second daughter, co-authored two of the Rocheworld novels with her father.

Dr. Forward's youngest, Eve Forward, has written two novels: Villains By Necessity and Animist.

Forward Mass Detector

Dr Forward's extensive work in the field of gravitational radiation detection included the invention of the rotating cruciform gravity gradiometer or 'Forward Mass Detector', for Lunar Mascon measurements. Misner, Wheeler & Thorne ( Gravitation ISBN 0716703440 ) point out that it can detect the curvature of spacetime produced by a fist. The principle behind it is quite simple - getting the implementation right is tricky. Essentially, two beams are crossed over and connected with an axle through their crossing point. They are held at right angles to each other by springs. They have heavy masses at the ends of the beams, and the whole assembly spun around the common axle at high speed. The angle between the beams is measured continuously, and if it varies with a period half that of the roation period, it means that the detector is experiencing a measurable gravitational field gradient.

Bibliography

Fiction

Dragon's Egg Series

Dragon's Egg (1980)
Starquake (1985)

Rocheworld Series

Rocheworld (Baen, 1990) (155,000 words with the best features of all prior versions)
*Rocheworld (Original Manuscript, 1981) (150,000 words)
*Rocheworld (Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, 1982) (60,000 words)
*The Flight of the Dragonfly (Hardcover, Timescape, 1984) (approx 100,000 words)
*The Flight of the Dragonfly (Paperback, Baen, 1985) (110,000 words)
Return to Rocheworld (February 1993) (with Julie Forward Fuller)
Marooned on Eden (August 1993) (with Margaret Dodson Forward)
Ocean Under the Ice (1994) (with Margaret Dodson Forward)
Rescued from Paradise (1995) (with Julie Forward Fuller)

Novels

Martian Rainbow (1991)
Timemaster (1992)
Camelot 30K (1993)
Saturn Rukh (1997)

Non-fiction

Mirror Matter: Pioneering Antimatter Physics (1988, with Joel Davis)
Future Magic (1988)
Indistinguishable from Magic (1995)

External links

*Official website with details of the last months of his life
*Home page at University of Alabama in Huntsville
*Bibliography at SciFan
*Obituary prepared by Dr. Forward himself
*Extracting electrical energy from the vacuum by cohesion of charged foliated conductors One of Forward's most well known papers discussing the Casimir effect and zero-point energy (hosted at the Calphysics website)