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— contents —

~ about | Isaac Asimov PhD
~ about | the laws
~ the 3 laws of robotics
~ featurette

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about | Isaac Asimov PhD

His background as an author.

Isaac Asimov PhD (1920 — 1992) was an American author + professor of bio-chemistry at Boston Univ. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the Big 3 science fiction writers — along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. Best known for his science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries + fantasies, as well as much non-fiction.

Asimov’s most famous work is the Foundation series — the first 3 books won the science fiction Hugo Award for best all-time series in 1966. His other major series are the Galactic Empire series + the Robot series. Later, with Foundation + Earth he linked this distant future to the Robot stories, creating a unified future history for his tales.

He also wrote over 380 short stories, including the social science fiction novelette Nightfall — that in 1964 was voted the best all-time short science fiction by the Science Fiction Writers of America. Asimov wrote the Lucky Starr series of juvenile science fiction novels using the pen-name Paul French.

Most of his popular science books explain concepts in a historical way. Examples include Guide to Science, the 3-volume Understanding Physics, and Asimov’s Chronology of Science + Discovery. He wrote about other science + non-science topics: such as chemistry, astronomy, math, history, and literary criticism.

Most dictionaries credit his science fiction writing for inventing the words robotics, positronic (an entirely fictional tech), and psycho-history (a study of the human motivations that affect civilization’s history).

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about | the laws

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the 3 LAWS of ROBOTICS
by Isaac Asimov PhD

1. |

the FIRST law

A robot may not injure a human being or — through inaction — allow a human being to come to harm.

2. |

the SECOND law

A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the 1st law.

3. |

the THIRD law

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the 1st or 2nd law.

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broadcast: BBC
featurette title: 3 laws for the behavior of robots.

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presented by

BBC | home ~ channel
tag line:

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— featurette —

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— notes —

BBC = the British Broadcasting corp.

corp. = corporation
univ. = university