First Lensman

2 May 1890 – 31 August 1965

Edward Smith was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the son of staunch Presbyterians of British ancestry. The following winter, his family moved to Spokane, Washington, and, in 1902, to Seneaquoteen, Idaho, to farm. He received two degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Idaho in 1914. He married in 1915. One evening, while he and his wife were visiting friends, a discussion about space travel led to Smith agreeing to co-author a novel with one of the friends, although after getting about a third of the way through, they abandoned it. Smith went on to receive a Master's degree in Chemistry from George Washington University in 1917 and a doctorate in Chemical Engineering in 1918. In…