Frederik Pohl

Born in New York City in 1919, Frederik Pohl built an unusually wide-ranging career as a science-fiction writer, editor, literary agent, and longtime fan. His professional life stretched from the 1930s into the 21st century, and he became known for stories that used futuristic settings to explore politics, technology, advertising, and the pressures of modern life.

He is especially remembered for co-writing The Space Merchants with C. M. Kornbluth and for later novels including Gateway, which became one of his best-known books. Along the way he also edited influential science-fiction magazines and earned many of the field's major honors, including Hugo and Nebula recognition.

What makes his work last is how readable and pointed it still feels: imaginative, skeptical, and often very funny even when the ideas are dark. He died in 2013, leaving behind a body of work that helped define science fiction as both entertainment and social commentary.