Robot Nemesis: Humanity’s Creation Becomes Its Executioner

Robot Nemesis by E.E. "Doc" Smith - Humanity’s Creation Becomes Its Executioner

E.E. “Doc” Smith, often hailed as the father of the space opera, was born Edward Elmer Smith on May 2, 1890, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. A chemist by training—he earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering—Smith balanced a professional career in food science with a passion for writing grand, galaxy-spanning science fiction. His literary debut came in 1928 with The Skylark of Space, one of the earliest stories to explore interstellar travel with scientific plausibility and epic scale. Co-written with his neighbor Lee Hawkins Garby, the novel introduced many elements that would come to define the genre.

Smith is best known for the Lensman and Skylark series, foundational works that inspired generations of authors and helped shape the golden age of science fiction. His stories were packed with super-science, titanic battles between good and evil, and larger-than-life heroes. While his prose was often described as melodramatic and his characters archetypal, his visionary imagination and sense of cosmic scale were unmatched in his time.