Robert Heinlein (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988), the “Dean of American Science Fiction”, looking very handsome in his Naval Academy Uniform in 1929.  Heinlein is perhaps the most celebrated American Science Fiction author (along with Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke).  He began writing and publishing after being discharged from the Navy, where he had served as a communications officer on the USS Lexington.  During his career he won four Hugo Awards and the Grand Master Award bestowed by the Science Fiction Writers of America for lifetime achievement.  Heinlein’s work shows his interest in sexual and social liberation.  His 1962 novel Stranger in a Strange Land is still considered a masterpiece of the genre.  After a long and prolific career, he died of heart failure in 1988.