Greg Egan (born 20 August 1961) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

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

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and amateur

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

, best known for his works of

hard science fiction Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's ''Islands of Space'' in the Novemb ...

. Egan has won multiple awards including the

John W. Campbell Memorial Award The John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, or Campbell Memorial Award, is an annual award presented by the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas to the author of the best science fiction no ...

, the

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...

, and the

Locus Award The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine ''Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. In addition to the pl ...

Life and work

Egan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

. He published his first work in 1983. He specialises in

stories with

mathematical Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and quantum ontology themes, including the nature of

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

. Other themes include

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

, simulated reality,

posthuman Posthuman or post-human is a concept originating in the fields of science fiction, futurology, contemporary art, and philosophy that means a person or entity that exists in a state beyond being human. The concept aims at addressing a variety of ...

ism,

mind uploading Mind uploading is a speculative process of whole brain emulation in which a brain scan is used to completely emulate the mental state of the individual in a digital computer. The computer would then run a simulation of the brain's information pr ...

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

, and the superiority of

rational Rationality is the quality of being guided by or based on reasons. In this regard, a person acts rationally if they have a good reason for what they do or a belief is rational if it is based on strong evidence. This quality can apply to an abi ...

naturalism to

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

. He often deals with complex technical material, like new physics and

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

. He is a

winner (with eight other works shortlisted for the Hugos) and has also won the

John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel The John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, or Campbell Memorial Award, is an annual award presented by the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas to the author of the best science fiction no ...

. His early stories feature strong elements of supernatural horror. Egan's short stories have been published in a variety of genre magazines, including regular appearances in '' Interzone'' and ''

Asimov's Science Fiction ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publicatio ...

''.

Mathematics

In 2018, Egan described a construction of

superpermutation In combinatorics, combinatorial mathematics, a superpermutation on ''n'' symbols is a string (computer science), string that contains each permutation of ''n'' symbols as a substring. While Triviality (mathematics), trivial superpermutations can s ...

s, thus giving an upper bound to their length. On 27 February 2019, using ideas developed by Robin Houston and others, Egan produced a superpermutation of ''n'' = 7 symbols of length 5906, breaking previous records.

Personal life

As of 2015, Egan lives in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. He is a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

and an atheist. Egan does not attend science fiction conventions, does not sign books, and has stated that he appears in no photographs on the web, though both SF fan sites and

Google Search Google Search (also known simply as Google) is a search engine provided by Google. Handling more than 3.5 billion searches per day, it has a 92% share of the global search engine market. It is also the most-visited website in the world. The ...

have at times mistakenly represented photos of other people with the same name as those of the writer.

Awards

* ''

Permutation City ''Permutation City'' is a 1994 science-fiction novel by Greg Egan that explores many concepts, including quantum ontology, through various philosophical aspects of artificial life and simulated reality. Sections of the story were adapted from E ...

'':

(1995) * ''

Oceanic Oceanic may refer to: *Of or relating to the ocean *Of or relating to Oceania **Oceanic climate **Oceanic languages **Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)" Places * Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...

'':

, Asimov's Readers' Award (1999) * '' Distress'': Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis as Best Foreign Fiction (2000) Egan's work has won the Japanese

Seiun Award The is a Japanese speculative fiction award given each year for the best science fiction works and achievements during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by , the awards are given at the annual Japan Science Fiction Convention. ...

for best translated fiction seven times. ''

Teranesia ''Teranesia'' is a 1999 science fiction novel by Greg Egan. The novel follows protagonist Prabir Suresh, who lives on an island in the South Moluccas with his biologist parents, who are investigating the unique evolutionary traits of butterflie ...

'' was named the winner of the 2000

Ditmar Award The Ditmar Award (formally the Australian SF ("Ditmar") Award; formerly the "Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award") has been awarded annually since 1969 at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention (the "Natcon") to recognise a ...

for best novel, but Egan declined the award.

Works

Novels

* '' An Unusual Angle'' (1983), * ''

Quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...

'' (1992), * ''

'' (1994), * '' Distress'' (1995), * ''

Diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

'' (1997), * ''

'' (1999), * ''

Schild's Ladder In the theory of general relativity, and differential geometry more generally, Schild's ladder is a first-order method for ''approximating'' parallel transport of a vector along a curve using only affinely parametrized geodesics. The method ...

'' (2002), * '' Incandescence'' (2008), * '' Zendegi'' (2010), * '' Dichronauts'' (2017), * ''The Book of All Skies'' (2021), * ''Scale'' (2023),

Orthogonal trilogy

* ''The Clockwork Rocket'' (2011), * ''The Eternal Flame'' (2012), * ''The Arrows of Time'' (2013),

Collections

Axiomatic An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that which is thought worthy or ...

(1995),

Our Lady of Chernobyl Greg Egan (born 20 August 1961) is an Australians, Australian science fiction writer and amateur mathematician, best known for his works of hard science fiction. Egan has won multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Be ...

(1995), Luminous (1998),

Dark Integers and Other Stories Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of lighting, illumination, an absence of visible spectrum, visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human visual perception, vision is unable to di ...

(2008), Crystal Nights and Other Stories (2009),

(2009), The Best of Greg Egan (2019), Instantiation (2020)

Other short fiction

Excerpted

* ''

'': ** "Orphanogenesis" in '' Interzone'' issue 123, September 1997

Academic papers

* ''An Efficient Algorithm for the Riemannian 10j Symbols'' by Dan Christensen and Greg Egan * ''Asymptotics of 10j Symbols'' by

John Baez John Carlos Baez (; born June 12, 1961) is an American mathematical physicist and a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) in Riverside, California. He has worked on spin foams in loop quantum gravity, appl ...

, Dan Christensen and Greg Egan * ''Conic-Helical Orbits of Planets around Binary Stars do not Exist'' by Greg Egan

Short movies

The production of a short film inspired by the story "Axiomatic" commenced in 2015, and the film was released online in October 2017.

Notes

References

External links

* *
Greg Egan
at

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...