Stanislaw Lem

Polish satirical and philosophical Science Fiction writer, whose novel Solaris (1961) was filmed by Andrei Tarkovsky in 1971. Stanislaw Lem's books have been translated into some 30 languages and sold over 10 million copies. He is probably the best single Science Fiction author of the late 20th century not to write in English.

Stanislaw Lem was born in Lvov, Poland in 1921 (now Lviv?, Ukraine) as the son of a physician. He studied medicine at Lwów University and at Jagiellonian University in Cracow, but his studies were interrupted by World War II. During the war and Nazi occupation Lem worked as a car mechanic and welder, and was a member of the resistance fighting against the Germans. Toward the end of the war Poland was occupied by the Red Army and the country was closely controlled by the Soviet Union for the next 50 years. In 1946 Lem moved to Cracow. After finishing his studies Stanislaw Lem received his MD. He worked a research assistant in a scientific institution and started to write stories on his spare time.