Alan E. Nourse, M.D., draws upon his experience as a practicing physician in many of his stories and novels, particularly the more recent ones, and his accurate and often imaginative use of medical details distinguishes his work from much other science fiction written for adolescents, his most frequent audience. Apart from science fiction, he has produced a series of vocational books for teenagers, several scientific and medical works for the general reader, and an autobiographical account of his internship. Most recently, he has written science books for younger children as well as an adult novel exploring the problems of the general practitioner. Throughout his career, Nourse has written about science and medicine--factually as well as speculatively--for several popular markets. His science fiction, which has appeared less frequently in recent years, is, if not outstanding, generally acknowledged to be above average.

Nourse was born in Des Moines, Iowa...