Isaac Asimov was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, he was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, Asimov wrote or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards.

Asimov's most famous work is the Foundation series, the first three books of which won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. His other major series are the Galactic Empire series and the Robot series. He linked these series to create a unified "future history" for his works. He also wrote over 380 short stories, including the social science fiction novelette "Nightfall," which was voted the best short science fiction story of all time by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1964.

Most of his popular science books explain concepts in a historical context. Examples include Guide to Science, the three-volume Understanding Physics, and Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery. Asimov wrote on numerous scientific and non-scientific topics, including chemistry, astronomy, mathematics, history, biblical exegesis, and literary criticism.

He was the president of the American Humanist Association and was honored with several entities named after him, such as the asteroid (5020) Asimov and a crater on Mars.