Ray Cummings (born Raymond King Cummings) (August 30, 1887 – January 23, 1957) was an American author of science fiction literature and comic books.

Early life

Future combined with Science Fiction February 1942

Cummings was born in New York City in 1887. He worked with

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...

as a personal assistant and technical writer from 1914 to 1919.

Literary career

Cummings is identified as one of the "founding fathers" of the science fiction genre. His most highly regarded fictional work was the novel '' The Girl in the Golden Atom'' published in 1922, which was a consolidation of a short story by the same name published in 1919 (where Cummings combined the idea of Fitz James O'Brien's ''The Diamond Lens'' with

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

The Time Machine ''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively for ...

'') and a sequel, ''The People of the Golden Atom'', published in 1920. Before taking book form, several of Cummings's stories appeared serialized in

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

s. The first eight chapters of his ''The Girl in the Golden Atom'' appeared in ''All-Story Magazine'' on March 15, 1919.''no title given''
/ref> Ray Cummings wrote in "The Girl in the Golden Atom": "Time . . . is what keeps everything from happening at once", a sentence repeated by scientists such as C. J. Overbeck, and

John Archibald Wheeler John Archibald Wheeler (July 9, 1911April 13, 2008) was an American theoretical physicist. He was largely responsible for reviving interest in general relativity in the United States after World War II. Wheeler also worked with Niels Bohr in e ...

, and often misattributed to the likes of

Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

Feynman Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist, known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of the superflu ...

. Cummings repeated this sentence in several of his novellas. Sources focus on his earlier work, ''The Time Professor'', published in 1921, as its earliest documented usage.

Later work

During the 1940s, with his literary career in eclipse, Cummings anonymously scripted comic book stories for

Timely Comics Timely Comics is the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely Publications became the name ...

, the predecessor to

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

. He recycled the plot of ''The Girl in the Golden Atom'' for a two-part

Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...

tale, ''Princess of the Atom'' (''

Captain America Comics Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...

'' #25 & 26). He also contributed stories to the

Human Torch The Human Torch (Jonathan "Johnny" Storm) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a founding member of the Fantastic Four. He is writer Stan Lee's and artist Jack Kirby's reinvention of ...

and Sub-Mariner, which his daughter Betty Cummings often penned. Cummings died on January 22, 1957, at

Mount Vernon, New York Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of t ...

, of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Selected literary works

* ''The Girl in the Golden Atom'', short story (1919) * ''The People of the Golden Atom'' (1920) * ''Moon Plot'' (Argosy c. 1920) * ''The Girl in the Golden Atom'', novel (1922) * ''The Man Who Mastered Time'' (Argosy 1924) * ''Brand New World'' (Argosy 1928) * ''Snow Girl'' (Argosy 1929) * ''The Shadow Girl'' (Argosy 1929) * ''The Sea Girl'' (Argosy 1929) * ''The Princess of the Atom'' (1929) * ''Tama of the Light Country'' (Argosy 1930) * ''Beyond the Vanishing Point'', Astounding (March 1931) * ''Brigands of the Moon'' (McClurg, 1931) * ''Jungle Rebellion'' (Argosy 1931) * ''Tama Princess of Mercury'' (Argosy 1931) * ''Bandits of the Cylinder'' (Argosy 1931) * ''Beyond the Stars'', Future (February 1942)

References

External links

Science Fiction inventions of Ray Cummings
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cummings, Ray 1887 births 1957 deaths Writers from New York City American science fiction writers 20th-century American novelists American male novelists 20th-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) Golden Age comics creators