SCIENCE FICTION HAS made some remarkable predictions—from submarines (Jules Verne) to air-conditioning (H. G. Wells). What was Robert Heinlein’s most prescient sci-fi invention? A manned rocket flight to the moon, dreamed up in a juvenile book called Rocket Ship Galileo (1947). Best known as the author of the 1961 novel Stranger in a Strange Land—which in many ways predicted the sexual liberation of the 1960s—Heinlein (1907–1988) is one of the most influential science-fiction writers of all time. If you’re no stranger to Heinlein’s writing, take this sci-fi quiz.
1. What word, coined by Heinlein, does the American Heritage Dictionary define as “to understand profoundly through intuition or empathy”?
2. Which Heinlein novel, about an interstellar war between mankind and “Bugs,” did the director Paul Verhoeven adapt into a blockbuster movie in 1997?
3. Which government agency posthumously awarded Heinlein a Distinguished Public Service Medal?
4. What 1950 film, based loosely on Rocket Ship Galileo and with a screenplay by Heinlein, is considered to have initiated the science-fiction movie boom of the 1950s?
5. What science-fiction writing award did Heinlein win four times for his novels?
ANSWERS
1. “Grok.” The word comes from Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land (1961).
2. Starship Troopers (1959).
3. NASA.
4. Destination Moon. Heinlein served as technical director for this film, which tried to provide a realistic depiction of the first moon landing.
5. The Science Fiction Achievement Award, better known as the “Hugo,” for best novel.