Asimov's family emigrated to the United States when he was three years old. He grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., graduating from Columbia University in 1939 and taking a Ph.D. there in 1948. He then joined the faculty of [Boston University]?, with which he remained associated thereafter.
Asimov began contributing stories to science fiction magazines in 1939 and in 1950 published his first book, [/Pebble in the Sky]?. His trilogy of novels, Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation (1951-53), which recounts the collapse and rebirth of a vast interstellar empire in the universe of the future, is his most famous work of science fiction.
In the short-story collection I, Robot (1950), he developed a set of ethics for robots (see Three Laws Of Robotics) and intelligent machines that greatly influenced other writers' treatment of the subject.
His other novels and collections of stories included [/The Stars Like Dust]? (1951), [/The Currents Of Space]? (1952), /The Caves Of Steel (1954), [/The Naked Sun]? (1957), [/Earth Is Room Enough]? (1957), /Foundations Edge (1982), and [/The Robots Of Dawn]? (1983). The short story, [/The Bicentennial Man]? was made into a movie starring Robin Williams. His /Nightfall? (1941) is thought by many to be the finest science fiction short story ever written.
Among Asimov's books on various topics in science, written with lucidity and humour, are [/The Chemicals of Life]? (1954), [/Inside the Atom]? (1956), [/The World of Nitrogen]? (1958), [/Life and Energy]? (1962), [/The Human Brain]? (1964), [/The Neutrino]? (1966), [/Science, Numbers and I]? (1968), [/Our World in Space]? (1974), and [/Views of the Universe]? (1981). He also published two volumes of autobiography.
Please note that the book /Prelude To Foundation contains Asimov's suggested reading order/chronology for his science fiction books.