Isaac Asimov's Birthday
Next: January 2, 2027
Dream of robots and the stars.
The story
Where it comes from
This Story marks the birthday of Isaac Asimov, the science fiction writer and biochemist, who was born in Petrovichi, Russia, and always celebrated his birthday on 2 January 1920. No accurate records survive, and he may have been born as early as October 1919. His family emigrated to the United States in 1923, and he grew up in Brooklyn working in his father's candy store, where he read the science fiction magazines on sale. He wrote or edited about 500 books, most famously the Foundation and robot series.
How it's celebrated
There is no formal observance, but his birthday is a fine excuse to read one of his short stories, such as 'Nightfall', or the robot tales collected in I, Robot (1950). Asimov also wrote hundreds of popular books explaining science to young readers, so it is a good day to share one with a curious child, or to imagine, as he did, how people and machines might live together.
Did you know
- The Oxford English Dictionary credits Asimov's fiction with bringing the word 'robotics' into English; he thought he was simply using an existing word.
- His 'Three Laws of Robotics', rules of ethics for robots, greatly influenced how later writers and thinkers imagined intelligent machines.
- His mother once changed his birth date on record to September 1919 to get him into school a year early, and he later had it changed back.
Coming up next
- Tolkien Birthday Toast · January 3, 2027
- World Braille Day · January 4, 2027
- Hayao Miyazaki's Birthday · January 5, 2027
- Epiphany (Three Kings' Day) · January 6, 2027
- Orthodox Christmas · January 7, 2027
- Galileo Spots Jupiter's Moons · January 7, 2027