Heinlein was born on July 7, 1907 in Butler, Missouri. He grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. He graduated from the naval academy in 1929 and served as an officer on the USS Lexington. He did a lot of work on radio communication which was in its infant stages at the time. In 1933-34 he served on the USS Roper until he was discharged by the navy for pulmonary tuberculosis. He worked several occupations but none for a very long time. He was highly socialist supporting Upton Sinclair’s End Poverty in California movement in the 1930’s and eventually supporting Sinclair in his bid for governor in California.
                He first began writing to pay off his mortgage. His first published story was “Life-Line” in Astounding Science-Fiction magazine. After the war was over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki prompted him to take a more political emphasis with his stories as well as delving into nonfiction. Heinlein divorced his second wife and married Virginia Gerstenfeld to which he would remain married to the rest of his life. It was at this time that he was believed to have shifted farther to the right politically.
                Between 1947 and 1958 he wrote a series of twelve novels intended for young adults collectively referred to as the “Heinlein juveniles”. Heinlein submitted Starship Troopers as the thirteenth but it was rejected due to the thought that it would be too controversial. It was all the same to Heinlein who was tired of only being known as a young adult writer. Putnams publishing gladly published Starship Troopers.
                His health began to deteriorate dramatically beginning in 1970 as a result of his favorite hobby, stonemasonry. His health later increased in the 70’s enough that he wrote two articles for the Britannica Compton Yearbook. However, in 1978 he suffered a transient ischemic attack and he was forced to have surgery to bypass a blocked carotid artery. The surgical treatment raised his health significantly and he wrote another five novels until his death on May 8, 1988 at the age of 81.

For a complete list of Robert A. Heinlein's work, CLICK HERE.