After leaving the U.S. Navy as a young lieutenant, Robert Anson Heinlein began writing science fiction stories and never looked back. He won four Hugo Awards for best science fiction novel during the 1950s and '60s, earning him the sobriquet of "The Dean of Science Fiction." Stranger in a Strange Land, his 1961 story of an empathetic Mars-born human who comes to live on Earth, is one of the best selling science fiction novels ever. Along with Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, Heinlein is considered a father of modern science fiction. His other novels include The Puppet Masters (1951), Double Star (1956, Hugo winner for 1956), Starship Troopers (1959, Hugo winner for 1960), The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966, Hugo winner for 1967), Time Enough for Love (1973) and The Number of the Beast (1980).

Extra credit: Heinlein's name is pronounced hine-line... In Stranger in a Strange Land, Heinlein coined the term grok -- now defined by The American Heritage Dictionary as "To understand profoundly through intuition or empathy"... Starship Troopers was made into 1997 movie starring Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards and later became a popular video game series... Heinlein's date of birth can be written as 07-07-07.