Born in Lwow in 1921, Lem had lived in Cracow since 1946. He died there on March 27, 2006.
He was the Polish writer who was the most popular and the most frequently published abroad. A classic of science fiction, Lem was nevertheless atypical of the writers in that genre - perhaps because he chose it less than freely in the 1940s, when the political oppression of Stalinism made it impossible for him to express himself openly in contemporary novels. Educated as a physician and scientific theorist, Lem possessed expert knowledge of the theory of evolution, mathematics, robotics, astronomy and physics, as well as of literature and many other fields. He became a universal "seeker of wisdom," a philosopher and blazer of the ways opened to mankind by the development of science and technology.
http://www.lem.pl/cyberiadinfo/english/dziela/cyberiada/cyberiadapl.htm
http://www.lem.pl/cyberiadinfo/english/dziela/dziela.htm
He was the Polish writer who was the most popular and the most frequently published abroad. A classic of science fiction, Lem was nevertheless atypical of the writers in that genre - perhaps because he chose it less than freely in the 1940s, when the political oppression of Stalinism made it impossible for him to express himself openly in contemporary novels. Educated as a physician and scientific theorist, Lem possessed expert knowledge of the theory of evolution, mathematics, robotics, astronomy and physics, as well as of literature and many other fields. He became a universal "seeker of wisdom," a philosopher and blazer of the ways opened to mankind by the development of science and technology.
http://www.lem.pl/cyberiadinfo/english/dziela/cyberiada/cyberiadapl.htm
http://www.lem.pl/cyberiadinfo/english/dziela/dziela.htm
