alt Hacker NewsIt's amazing that in the late 1930's, someone with his academic credentials and intellect decided his life would be best spent writing science fiction.
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What do you think would have been more valuable for him to do? His sci-fi books had a huge impact, and not only on sci-fi and literature, they literally changed people's lives. People decided to pursue a career in science or technology because they read these books when they were kids.
I looked this up on Wikipedia. It seems that he was working as an instructor (not a professor) of chemistry; since he was making more money as a writer during that time, he slowed down or stopped his research. Doesn’t seem to have been an intentional choice so much as how things happened to turn out.
Per Wikipedia, he published 40 novels and over 280 non-fiction books. He's best known for SF but he certainly didn't spend his whole career on it.
Who are you exactly to take a shit on someone else's choices?
He had an academic career too, becoming a tenured professor at age 35 at Boston University. Writing just paid better.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#Education_and_car...