author
Philip Francis Nowlan
1888–1940
Best known for creating Buck Rogers, this early science fiction writer helped shape the way futuristic adventure reached popular audiences. His work linked pulp fiction, newspaper comics, and the growing imagination of the space age.
2 Audiobooks
Armageddon—2419 A.D.
by Philip Francis Nowlan
The Airlords of Han
by Philip Francis Nowlan
About the author
Born in Philadelphia on November 13, 1888, Philip Francis Nowlan was an American writer and journalist who became a key figure in early science fiction. He is most closely associated with Buck Rogers, first introduced as Anthony Rogers in the 1928 novella Armageddon 2419 A.D..
That story, followed by The Airlords of Han, imagined a distant future filled with war, technology, and high-flying adventure. Its success led to the famous Buck Rogers comic strip, which carried Nowlan’s ideas far beyond magazine readers and helped make science-fiction adventure a fixture of popular culture.
Nowlan died on February 1, 1940, in Bala, Pennsylvania. Though he did not live to see the full reach of the genre he influenced, his creation remained one of the best-known names in classic American science fiction.