Forward, Robert Lull, 1932-2002.
 
 

The Arts/Cultural Desk | September 28, 2002, Saturday
Robert L. Forward, 70, Physicist and Novelist
 
New York Times
By STUART LAVIETES (NYT) 621 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 18 , Column 2
ABSTRACT - Robert L Forward, science fiction writer, physicist and inventor whose 11 novels were inspired by his research into gravitational physics and advanced space propulsion, dies at 70 (M) Robert L. Forward, a science fiction writer, physicist and inventor whose 11 novels were inspired by his research into gravitational physics and advanced space propulsion, died at his home in Seattle last Saturday. He was 70.

The cause of death was cancer, his son-in-law, Ben Mattlin, said.
 

Publications:

Dragon's egg / Robert L. Forward.
1st ed.
New York : Ballantine Books, 1980.
345 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
 
 
 
 

Physicist-Science Fiction Author Robert L. Forward
Dies at 70

24 September 2002

Physicist and science fiction author Robert Lull Forward passed away in the early morning hours of September 21, 2002, in Seattle, Washington, following a valiant battle with brain cancer. He was 70 years old.

One of the world's leading experts in exotic physics and future space travel, Forward built and operated the first bar antenna for the detection of gravitational radiation (now in the Smithsonian), worked on the matter-antimatter propulsion system concept used in Star Trek and promoted the concept of solar sailing.He authored 157 scientific papers and science texts on the possibilities of truly "boldly going" where no humans have gone before. During a more than 30-year tenure at Hughes Aircraft Company Corporate Research Laboratories in Malibu, California he created and designed spacecraft and propulsion systems that earned him numerous patents and ignited dreams of going to the stars. He also gained renown for melding his imagination to science for 11 "hard" science fiction novels, the first of which, Dragon's Egg, was published in 1980.

At the time of his passing, Forward was owner and chief scientist for Forward Unlimited, a consulting firm that specialized in exotic physics and advanced space propulsion, which he established in 1962; and chairman and chief scientist of its spin-off company, Tethers Unlimited, Inc, a partnership he formed in 1994 with Robert P. Hoyt, to develop highly-survivable space tethers and space tether systems.

Forward is survived by his by his wife of 48 years, Martha Dodson Forward, daughter Julie Forward Fuller, both of whom co-authored some of his novels; three other children --son Robert Forward of Chatsworth, California, and daughters Mary Lois Mattlin of Los Angeles, California, and Eve Fortward-Rollins of Mill Creek, Washington; and seven grandchildrren.

A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, September 28, 2002 at 1 p.m., at the Westwood Hills Congregational Church in Westwood, California.

The Life Story of Robert L. Forward
By Robert L. Forward

Robert P. Hoyt -- Forward's partner in Tethers, Unlimited -- sent out an email to the space community informing them of Bob's passing. In that email, Hoyt included an obituary that Bob wrote himself, tailored for the American Physics Society. It may seem odd to some, but many who knew him will view it, no doubt, as classic Forward and -- who better? With permission, we share that obitiuary here.

Robert Lull Forward

The intelligent pattern of protoplasm that had been Robert L. Forward ceased coherent operation on September 21, 2002.

Robert Lull Forward died at home of brain cancer at the age of 70. Forward was born 15 August 1932 in Geneva, New York. After graduation from the University of Maryland in 1954 with a BS degree in Physics and a Second Lieutenant commission in the Air Force, he married Martha Neil Dodson and served two years stateside during the closing years of the Korean War. Upon leaving the service Forward was awarded a Hughes Aircraft Company Graduate Research Fellowship, which he used to obtain a MS in Applied Physics from UCLA in 1958 and a PhD in Physics from the University of Maryland in 1965. Forward was one of the early pioneers in the field of experimental gravitational radiation astronomy. For his PhD thesis he built and operated the first bar antenna for the detection of gravitational radiation under the direction of Profs. Weber and Zipoy. The antenna is now in the Smithsonian Museum.

Forward worked for 31 years at the Hughes Aircraft Company Corporate Research Laboratories in Malibu, California in positions of increasing responsibility until he took early retirement in 1987 to spend more time on writing novels and his aerospace consulting company business - Forward Unlimited. During his tenure at Hughes, he received 18 patents, and published numerous papers on experimental gravity instruments and measurements, including the first paper on using the normal modes of the Earth to set an upper limit on interstellar millicycle gravitational radiation; a paper on the details of the wideband "chirp" signal to be expected from the gravitational collapse of a binary neutron star pair; and a method for "flattening" spacetime over a hatbox-sized region in an orbiting microgravity space lab to the picogravity level.

Forward also published the first paper showing that it was possible to build and operate a laser interferometer gravitational radiation antenna that was photon noise limited over the band from 1-20 kHz, and that further improvements in gravitational strain sensitivity needed only more laser power and longer lengths in the interferometer arms. The broadband gravitational strain sensitivity his laser interferometer antenna reached in 1972 was not bettered for over a decade. Forward also invented the multidirectional spherical bar antenna for gravitational radiation, and the rotating cruciform gravity gradiometer Mass Detector for Lunar Mascon measurements (which Misner, Wheeler & Thorne pointed out can detect the curvature of spacetime produced by a fist).

From the time of his retirement from Hughes in 1987 onward, Forward was a consultant for the Air Force and NASA on advanced space propulsion concepts, with an emphasis on propulsion methods (lightsail, antimatter, electrodynamic tether, etc.), that use physical principles other than chemical or nuclear rockets. In 1992 he formed the company, Tethers Unlimited, with Dr. Robert P. Hoyt. When he reached 70, he "retired" to part time consulting and writing.

In addition to over 200 papers and articles, Forward published 11 "hard" science fiction novels, where the science is as accurate as possible-consistent with telling a good story. Forward "taught" science through his novels. His first book, Dragon's Egg, expanded upon Frank Drake's idea of tiny fast-living creatures living on the surface of a neutron star. Forward called it, "A textbook on neutron star physics disguised as a novel." The book is often assigned as "extra credit reading" in beginning astronomy courses. The science in his books has often been novel enough that many of his fiction books have been referenced in journal publications as "prior art publications."

Downloads of many of Forward's papers can be obtained by visiting his web site at: http://www.ForwardUnlimited.com