Larry Eisenberg

Born in New York City in 1919, Larry Eisenberg was an American biomedical engineer and science fiction writer whose work often mixed sharp ideas with humor. He is especially remembered for the story What Happened to Auguste Clarot?, which appeared in Harlan Ellison's landmark anthology Dangerous Visions.

Alongside his fiction, Eisenberg spent many years at Rockefeller University, where he worked in electronics and biomedical engineering. Science fiction reference sources also note his popular Emmett Duckworth stories, collected in The Best Laid Schemes, which helped build his reputation for playful, inventive speculative fiction.

Later in life, he became widely admired in another form: witty limericks, especially those shared with fellow music lovers at WQXR. He died in 2018 at age 99, leaving behind a body of work that connected science, imagination, and a very lively sense of fun.