Alan Edward Nourse (August 11, 1928 – July 19, 1992) was an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

writer and

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

. He wrote both juvenile and adult science fiction, as well as nonfiction works about

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, and Health promotion ...

and science. His SF works sometimes focused on medicine and/or

psionics In American science fiction of the 1950s and 1960s, psionics was a proposed discipline that applied principles of engineering (especially electronics) to the study (and employment) of paranormal or psychic phenomena, such as telepathy and psychok ...

. His

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

s included Al Edwards and Doctor X.

Biography

Alan Nourse was born August 11, 1928, to Benjamin and Grace (Ogg) Nourse in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moine ...

. He attended high school in

Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18t ...

. He served in the U.S. Navy after World War II. He earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in 1951 from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and wa ...

in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He married Ann Morton on June 11, 1952, in

Linden, New Jersey Linden is a city in southeastern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area, located about southwest of Manhattan and bordering Staten Island, a borough of New York City, across the Arthur Kil ...

. He received a

Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degre ...

(M.D.) degree in 1955 from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...

. He served his one-year internship at Virginia Mason Hospital in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

and practiced medicine in

North Bend, Washington North Bend is a city in King County, Washington, United States, on the outskirts of the Seattle metropolitan area. The population was 5,731 at the 2010 census and an estimated 7,136 in 2018. Since the closure of Weyerhaeuser's Snoqualmie saw ...

, from 1958 to 1963 and also pursued his writing career. He had helped pay for his medical education by writing science fiction for magazines. After retiring from medicine, he continued writing. His regular column in ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...

'' magazine earned him the nickname "Family Doctor". He was a friend of fellow author

Avram Davidson Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...

. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1964 novel ''

Farnham's Freehold ''Farnham's Freehold'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. A serialised version, edited by Frederik Pohl, appeared in '' Worlds of If'' magazine (July, August, October 1964). The complete version was published in n ...

'' to Nourse. Heinlein in part dedicated his 1982 novel ''

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth da ...

'' to Nourse's wife Ann. His novel '' The Bladerunner'' lent its name to the ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick ...

'' movie, but no other aspects of its plot or characters (which were taken from

Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928March 2, 1982), often referred to by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. He wrote 44 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his l ...

's ''

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (retroactively retitled ''Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' in some later printings) is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in 1968. The ...

''). In the late 1970s an attempt to adapt ''The Bladerunner'' for the screen was made, with

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generat ...

author

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

commissioned to write a story treatment; no film was ever developed but the story treatment was later published as the

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) fact ...

'' Blade Runner (a movie)''. He died on July 19, 1992, in Thorp, Washington.

Selected works

Short stories

The Dark Door
(''

Galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar Sys ...

'', December 1953)
Brightside Crossing
(''Galaxy'', January 1956)
Problem
(''Galaxy'', October 1956)
Prime Difference
(''Galaxy'', June 1957)
Contamination Course
('' If'', February 1958) *"Mirror, Mirror" (1967) *"The Counterfeit Man" *"The Canvas Bag" *"An Ounce of Cure" *"The Dark Door" *"Meeting of the Board" *"Circus" *"My Friend Bobby" *"The Link" *"Image of the Gods" *"The Expert Touch" *"Second Sight"

Novelettes

*"High Threshold" (published in the March 1951 issue of ''

Astounding ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William C ...

'') *"The Universe Between" (published in the September 1951 issue of ''

'')

Novels

*''Trouble on Titan'' (1954) *''A Man Obsessed'' (1955) *''

Rocket to Limbo ''Rocket to Limbo'' is a 1957 science fiction novel by Alan E. Nourse. It was first published in book form by David McKay Co., Inc, and was later incorporated into an Ace Double (with '' Echo in the Skull'', by John Brunner). It first appeared i ...

'' (1957) *''Gold in the Sky'' (1958) *''Scavengers in Space'' (1958) *''The Invaders are Coming!'' (1959, with co-author

J. A. Meyer ''J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', formerly known as ''Jweekly'', is a weekly print newspaper in Northern California, with its online edition updated daily. It is owned and operated by San Francisco Jewish Community Publications In ...

) *''Star Surgeon'' (1959) *''Raiders from the Rings'' (1962) *''"The Universe Between"'' (1965, a

fix-up A fix-up (or fixup) is a novel created from several short fiction stories that may or may not have been initially related or previously published. The stories may be edited for consistency, and sometimes new connecting material, such as a frame ...

of "High Threshold" and "The Universe Between" ) *''The Mercy Men'' (1968, revised version of ''A Man Obsessed'') *'' The Bladerunner'' (1974) *''The Practice'' (1978) *''The Fourth Horseman'' (1983)

Collections

*'' Tiger by the Tail and Other Science Fiction Stories'' (1961) *''

The Counterfeit Man ''The Counterfeit Man'' is a collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Alan E. Nourse, published in 1963 by David McKay. Several of the stories have a medical or psychological theme. Contents * "The Counterfeit Man". The m ...

'' (1963) *''Psi-High and Others'' (1967) *''Rx for Tomorrow'' (1971) *''Short Works of Alan Edward Nourse'' (2008, reprint of seven of the stories from ''The Counterfeit Man'')

Nonfiction books

*''So You Want to Be a Doctor'' (1957) *''Nine Planets'' (1960, revised edition 1970) *''So You Want to Be a Nurse'' (1961) *''The Body'' ( Life Science Library) (1965, revised edition 1981) *''Intern'' (1965, under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Doctor X) *''Universe, Earth and Atom: The Story of Physics'' (1969) *''Venus and Mercury: a First Book'' (1972) *''The Backyard Astronomer'' (1973) *''The Giant Planets: a First Book'