Robert Heinlein, How His Illness Created His Science Fiction Career

Robert Heinlein was seriously ill many times in his life. He was born in 1907 and graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1929. He spent a large part of his navy career on the first US aircraft carrier, the USS Lexington. Against his wishes, and the wishes of his commanding officer at the time, he was transferred to the USS Ropera, a Navy destroyer. He did not like being on a smaller ship in the and seemed to often be seasick, and in his weakened state he developed tuberculosis. He left the Navy in 1934 as permanently disable due to this. He found himself without a job, no career, no future, and having to support his wife and payoff his heavy mortgage. This led directly to the start of his writing career. He intended to stay in the Navy and probably would have done so if decision wasn't made to transfer him from the aircraft here to the smaller Destroyer.

Robert Heinlein studied at the University of California-Los Angeles, and conducted research at the Navy experimental air station in Philadelphia during WWII.

He was stricken with a serious case of peritonitis in 1970, and he was unable to write for a full two years, and it almost ended his life at the time. He had just completed the first draft of I Will Fear No Evil. He was gravely ill and unable to finish the novel and, so his wife and his agent rushed to publish it. The book is often cited as being a rambling work that Robert did not have the time to finish.

In the mid-1970s, he suffered from severe blockage of arteries that restricted the blood flow to the brain. It was said that he slept 16 hours a day and he was unable to work the other eight hours, and for years he did not write anything. In 1977 he suffered a stroke that resulted in in the operation to unblock the arteries. When he recovered from his operation he was in better shape than he had been for years and he retained his mental capacity until his death in 1988 of emphysema.

Robert Heinlein is consider one of the fathers of modern science fiction and is ranked up there with the most known names in the industry. He wrote Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers, and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. He was a very prolific author during the 1960s, and won many awards.

This was a true case of how an unknown man's decision, the Navy officer in charge of Robert Heinlein's transfer, impacted many lives. The decision to move him from the aircraft carrier to the smaller destroyer, directly led to the career of one the greatest science-fiction authors of all time. Science-fiction fans worldwide are probably thanking that officer, despite Robert Heinlein going through the bout with tuberculosis, some are still thankful. Robert Heinlein often gave the credit that it was that transfer from aircraft to the smaller ship as being the start of his science-fiction career, he never once stated that he regretted it.