Personal Details

Born	May 23rd, 1921
Birthplace	East Orange, New Jersey, USA
Baptized	No Entry
Baptized at...	No Entry
Baptized by...	No Entry
Baptized in...	No Entry
Occupation(s)	Science fiction author, reader, editor, critic, public relations counsel, musician, poet
Died	July 30th, 1975, aged about 54 years
Died at...	Henly-on-Thames, Harpsden, county of Oxfordshire, England
Cause of Death	Recurrent cancer per smoking, metastisized.
Burial Place	St. Cross Church Cemetery, Oxford, England
Disposition	Burial

Parents

Father	[1324]	Asa Rhodes Blish, (***) 9
Mother	[1324_sa]	Dorothea (Schneewind) Blish 9

Spouses, Mates & Children

Wife #1 [1380I_sa] - Mildred "VK" Virginia (Kidd) Blish 10 Married by: No Entry Married at: No Entry Children by this spouse: I [1402A] Asa Benjamin Blish 11 b. December 10th, 1947 c. March II [1403]+ Dorothea Elisabeth (Blish) Genly, CNM, B.A. Lit., M.S. Nursing 11 b. Living - Suppressed Living - Suppressed III [1402B] Charles Benjamin Blish 11 b. Living - Suppressed Living - Suppressed	VK's epitaph: Ad Astra
Wife #2 [1380I_sb] - Judith "Judy" Ann (Lawrence) Blish 10 Married by: No Entry Married at: No Entry Children by this spouse: No Records of Children

Immediate Family Tree

Gen. 10	Gen. 9	Gen. 8	Gen. 7	Gen. 6
James Benjamin Blish, B.Sc., Ed. (***)	Asa Rhodes Blish, (***)	James Knox Blish, (***)	Charles Cheney Blish, (***)	Colonel Sylvester Blish, (***)
				Rhoda (Cheney) Blish
			Elizabeth Potter (Bonar) Blish	Matthew Bonar
				Catharine (Cosner) Bonar
		Amy Mason (Rhodes) Blish	Albert Rhodes	? Rhodes
				? (?) Rhodes
			Ann Elizabeth (Read) Rhodes	? Read
				? (?) Read
	Dorothea (Schneewind) Blish	Benjamin, von Schneewind	Ferdinand, von Schneewind	?, von Schneewind
				? (?), von Schneewind
			Babesh "Babette" (?), von Schneewind	No Entry
				No Entry
		Lucie Obedine (Wickham) Schneewind	Thomas Gregory Wickham	No Entry
				No Entry
			Harriet (Lacey) Wickham	Obediah Pierpoint Lacey
				Lucy (Pelletier) Lacey

Personalized History Timeline, 1921 to 1975

1899-1923: 6th Cholera pandemic from before birth until age 2 1910-1936: Reign of King George V (Windsor) from before birth until age 15 1918-1933: Prohibition from before birth until age 12 1920-1929: Roaring 20's from before birth until age 8 1921-1924: Warren G Harding president of US from age 0 to age 3 1922: Insulin made available to diabetics at age 1 1925-1928: Calvin Coolidge president of US from age 4 to age 7 1925: Scopes trial on Evolutionary Theory at age 4 1926: Sound in Movies at age 5 1927: Holland Tunnel opens (New York City) at age 6 1927: 1st transAtlantic solo flight - Lindbergh at age 6 1928: Video Recordings at age 7 1928: Television at age 7 1928: Geiger Counter at age 7 1928: Penicillin discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming at age 7 1929-1932: Herbert Hoover president of US from age 8 to age 11 1929: Stock Market Crash at age 8 1929-1939: Great Depression from age 8 to age 18 1930: Pluto Discovered at age 9 1931-1933: Chinese-Japanese war (2) from age 10 to age 12 1931: Sees April issue of Astounding Stories (in June) at age 10 1932: First pub. letter in Astounding Stories at age 11 1933: Armstrong invents FM modulation at age 12 1933: Radio Astronomy at age 12 1933: Soviet communist party purge at age 12 1933-1945: Franklin D Roosevelt president of US from age 12 to age 24 1934: Longshoreman's strike - 35,000 on strike for 83 days at age 13 1935: Dustbowl at age 14 1935-1936: Abyssinian war from age 14 to age 15 1936: Helicopter at age 15 1936: Spanish Civil War at age 15 1936: Reign of King Edward VIII (Windsor) at age 15 1936-1952: Reign of King George VI (Windsor) from age 15 to age 31 1937: Nylon (by DuPont) at age 16 1937-1945: Chinese-Japanese war (3) from age 16 to age 24 1938: Germany annexes Austria at age 17 1939: Aircraft Jet Engine invented (by Ohain) at age 18 1939-1945: World War II from age 18 to age 24 1939: Digital Computer at age 18 1939-1942: Zoology @ Rutgers, B.Sc Ed from age 18 to age 21 1940: 1st pub. SF: Emergency Refueling (March Super Science Stories) at age 19 1940: 1st black general in US army at age 19 1940: Color Television at age 19 1941-1945: Manhattan Project from age 20 to age 24 1942: Nuclear Reactor at age 21 1942-1944: Serving in US army from age 21 to age 23 1942: Magnetic Recording Tape at age 21 1944-1946: Grad school @ columbia from age 23 to age 25 1945-1952: Harry S Truman president of US from age 24 to age 31 1945: United Nations formed at age 24 1945: US drops the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at age 24 1945: Hypertext at age 24 1946: The Bikini at age 25 1946-1989: The Cold War from age 25 until after line end 1947: UN partitions Palestine to Jewish and Arab sections at age 26 1947: Transistor at age 26 1947-1964: Marriage to V. Kidd from age 26 to age 43 1947: Son Asa is born at age 26 1947: India and Pakistan emerge from ex-British India at age 26 1948: Arabs attack Israel on the day it is inaugurated at age 27 1948: Israel inaugurated as state at age 27 1948: 33 1/3 rpm musical recordings at age 27 1948: Father Asa dies at age 27 1948: NATO formed at age 27 1948: Son Asa dies at age 27 1949: Apartheid policy in South Africa at age 28 1949: 45 rpm musical recordings at age 28 1949: Soviets detonate first nuclear bomb at age 28 1950-1954: McCarthyism from age 29 to age 33 1950: World pop. est. at 2.4 billion at age 29 1950-1953: Korean War from age 29 to age 32 1950: Bunche 1st black to win Nobel Peace Prize at age 29 1951: Electricity from Atomic Power at age 30 1952: 1st Thermonuclear Device Detonated at age 31 1952-2050: Reign of Queen Elizabeth II (Windsor) from age 31 until after line end 1953: (Retro/2004) Hugo award forA Case of Conscience (novella) at age 32 1953: (Retro/2004) Hugo award for Earthman Come Home (novelette) at age 32 1953: Moves to Arrowhead estate in Milford, PA at age 32 1953-1960: Dwight D Eisenhower president of US from age 32 to age 39 1954: Racial segregation in schools ruled unconstitutional at age 33 1954: Daughter Elisabeth is born at age 33 1955: Pennsylvania Flood of August 1955 from Hurricane Dianne at age 34 1955: Invention of Velcro at age 34 1955: Fiber Optics (by Kapany) at age 34 1955: Warsaw pact formed at age 34 1955-1959: Wrks for Chas. Pfizer and Co. from age 34 to age 38 1955: Introduction of Salk Polio Vaccine at age 34 1956: Ocean liner Andrea Doria collides with the Stockholm, sinks at age 35 1956: Son Charles Benjamin is born at age 35 1957: Sputnik Launched - 1st (artificial) satellite at age 36 1958: FM Stereo Broadcasts at age 37 1958: Integrated Circuit at age 37 1958: Wins Hugo Award at age 37 1958: US space agency (NASA) established at age 37 1958: Stereo LP recordings come into usage at age 37 1959: Hugo Award - A Case of Conscience (novel) at age 38 1959: Hawaii enters the union - 50th at age 38 1959: 1st nuclear powered merchant vessel, Savannah at age 38 1959: Alaska enters the union - 49th at age 38 1960: Laser at age 39 1960: Guest of honor, World SF convention at age 39 1960-1962: Works for Hill and Knowton from age 39 to age 41 1960: Pantyhose at age 39 1960: World subsurface circumnavigation by US sub Triton at age 39 1960: 1st weather satellite (Tiros I) at age 39 1961-1970: 7th Cholera pandemic from age 40 to age 49 1961: First human in space - Yuri Gagarin at age 40 1961: 1st US manned spaceflight - Alan Shephard at age 40 1961-1963: John F Kennedy president of US from age 40 to age 42 1962-1965: Vatican II from age 41 to age 44 1962-1968: Works for Tobacco Institute from age 41 to age 47 1962: Cuban missile crisis at age 41 1963: 1st artificial heart at age 42 1963-1968: Lyndon B Johnson president of US from age 42 to age 47 1963: Pres. Kennedy Assassinated at age 42 1963: Compact Cassette Recordings at age 42 1964-1975: Marriage to J. Lawerence from age 43 to age 54 1964: Divorce from Virginia Kidd at age 43 1964: US civil rights bill at age 43 1964-1975: Vietnam War from age 43 to age 54 1965: 1st spacewalks (US, USSR) at age 44 1965: Blacks riot in Watts neighborhood, Los Angeles at age 44 1965: Nebula nomination for The Shipwrecked Hotel at age 44 1966: 8-track tape players at age 45 1966-1969: Living in Alexandria, VA from age 45 to age 48 1966: 1st soft landings on moon (US, USSR) at age 45 1967: Six day war: Israel-Arabs at age 46 1967: 1st human heart transplant at age 46 1967-1970: Nigerian civil war from age 46 to age 49 1967: Marshall 1st black supreme court justice at age 46 1967: Physicist John Wheeler coins the term Black Hole at age 46 1968: Robert Kennedy assassinated at age 47 1968: Martin Luther King assassinated at age 47 1968: Nebula nomination for Black Easter (novel) at age 47 1968-1975: Freelance Writing from age 47 to age 54 1969-1975: Living in England from age 48 to age 54 1969-1974: Richard M. Nixon president of US from age 48 to age 53 1969: Woodstock Music Festival at age 48 1969: Moon Landing - Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin at age 48 1970: Nat. Guard murders 4 students at Kent State at age 49 1970: Guest of honor, British Eastercon at age 49 1970: Microprocessor at age 49 1970: Nebula nomination for A Style in Treason (novella) at age 49 1971: Intel ships 1st uProcessor: the 4004 at age 50 1971: Pakistani civil war at age 50 1973: The Internet at age 52 1973: October war (Israel-Arabic nations) at age 52 1974-1976: Gerald Ford president of US from age 53 until after line end 1974: Pres. Nixon resigns in disgrace at age 53 1975: The 1st home computer: The Altair 8800a at age 54 1975: Ebola virus appears - 90 percent lethal at age 54 1975: Byte Magazine, issue #1 - September at age 54

Additional Information

James Benjamin Blish acheived fame all over the world as one of the "founding fathers" of the Science Fiction community. He helped to found the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) and was published in many languages. During his career he received Science Fiction's top award, the Hugo Award, as well as many other lesser honors. After his death, an award for criticism was created in his name. The first winner of the James Blish award was Brian Aldiss, in 1977. On July 5th, 2002, James Blish was posthumously inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. For a truly detailed look at this Blish family member, the following work is recommended: Imprisoned in a Tesseract The life and work of James Blish author David Ketterer ISBN Number 0-87338-334-6 From the perspective of this writer (the son of James Blish), Professor Ketterer's account treats James Blishes life with somewhat of a more negative view than it deserves. The impression is gathered, when reading this title, that James Blish was not a happy man. Yet I definitely recall many bright smiles, laughter, and a sharp sense of humor, reports of which seem to be uniformly lacking in this volume. Still, you are unlikely to find such a wealth of information about my father anywhere else, and I do find the volume definitely worth reading. I only ask that you do keep in mind that he certainly did have a happy side to his life, no matter that Ketterer fails to portray it with any significance. The only one that looks unhappy is me - my father looks perfectly delighted with life, despite my sour puss... Here are some photos of the science fiction titles of James Benjamin Blish: A Case Of Conscience The Star Trek Novels The Star Trek Reader VOR Here is James Blishes very first appearance in print, anywhere, in the letters section of Astounding Stories, at the tender age of 11 years old. This appeared in the readers comments section for the September 1932 issue. Here is an interesting letter he wrote to Astonishing Stories in 1940: Dear Editor: Good work on Astonishing Stories. "The Lifestone" and "Asteroid" were expert jobs, the others not down to 10c standard but not as good as these two by wide margins. Cover very good, interiors all a little crude except the one illustrating "Half-Breed". Where is Leo Morey now? He is not as good as he used to be, but he's better than anybody you have but Eron. Or get Binder to do some more interiors. I hope that before you print another letter like "4E's" (whoever he may be) you will take steps to make it readable. Illiteracy is unpardonable, but such an obviously deliberate attempt at artificial illiteracy is in bad taste and ought to be corrected rather carefully or not printed at all. Congrats, and I hope Super Science Stories is as good, despite the handicap of a story by me. -- Jim Blish, 12 Washington Terrace, East Orange, New Jersey. This is the pulp referred to in the letter that contains James Blish's very first published SF story Tom Purdom shares the following fascinating anecdote: One of the science fiction writers I read as a teenager was named James Blish. The visions he scattered across the pages of the science fiction magazines included a popular series of stories in which the cities of Earth acquired domes and anti-gravity motors and became giant spaceships that roamed the galaxy. Jim wrote a lot of other things beside the Cities in Flight series and one of them generated an anecdote that has become a permanent component of my personal life support system. It is an incident that sums up, I think, part of the connection between the boy who sat at his work table building model airplanes and the slightly older boy who sits at his desk putting words on a computer screen. One of Jim's short stories was based on some real research in some aspect of psychology such as the chemistry of memory. Years ago, at a science fiction convention in Philadelphia, he came up to me with his face glowing with excitement. He had just been approached by a young woman who had come to the convention because she had seen an advertisement that announced he would be there. She had read his story when she had been a girl and she had been so fascinated by the ideas in it that she had looked up the research the story had been based on and acquired a permanent interest in psychology. She had come to the convention because she had wanted him to know she had just received her Ph.D. in psychology. She had even brought him something to autograph-- a copy of the original scientific paper that described the research he had used in his story. I had no trouble understanding why Jim looked so ecstatic. I've always been glad he told me about that encounter. It's the kind of memory I pull out of my organic data banks whenever I wonder why any sane person should spend his life tapping out sentences on a keyboard. It isn't the most important reason writers write, but it's important enough. I probably wouldn't want to read very many words by any writer who didn't light up when something like that happened. He had sent copies of his story sailing through the world like paper airplanes and one of them had landed in the mind of a young girl. And she had flown. Some Interesting Tidbits James Blish coined the now commonly used astronomical phrase "Gas Giant" The following is the obituary that appeared in The New York Times on Thursday, July 31, 1975. It suffers from the typical shallowness of newpaper reporting, and carries some rather blatant errors for an obituary (for instance, it notes that his son Benjamin survived him, but neglects to mention his daughter, Elizabeth, by the same marriage two years previous to the son, and states that he had "written" Star Trek when in fact he novelized Star Trek scripts, with one major exception.) Even so, the mention in the paper is another confirming indication that his life, and his death, were of considerable note to society at large: JAMES BLISH, 54, WRITER, IS DEAD His Science Fiction Includes Mirabilis and Fallen Star LONDON, July 30 - James Blish, the science fiction writer, died today in his home at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, after a long illness. He was 54 years old. Mr. Blish leaves a wife, the former Judy Ann Lawrence, an artist and writer, and a son by his earlier marriage to Virginia Kidd. Witches Were Subject Mr. Blish's best known works included Fallen Star, Titan's Daughter, and A Torrent of Faces with Norman Knight. Others were Jack of Eagles, Earthman Come Home, The Frozen Year, A Case of Conscience, Galactic Cluster, Dr. Miribilis and Black Easter. He also wrote There Shall be no Darkness, a novel about witches included with other stories in Witches Three. Of Mr. Blish's novel about witches a reviewer in The New York Times commented that the omnibus was "one more proof that science fiction is really growing up." Anatole Broyard, reviewing Dr. Miribilis in The New York Times, remarked that the book, a study of Roger Bacon, the 13th century scientist and philosopher, was based on a massive study of the man, his age, his thought, his books (more than 22 tomes) and the lives and works of his contemporaries Albertus Magnus, the scholastic, and Thomas Aquinas, the philospoher. Mr. Broyard added: "A highly regarded science-fiction writer, the author is a passionate medievalist as well, and this book is obviously a labor of love. If love is not blind, it is at least partial, and Mr. Blish elevates Bacon at the expense of Albertus and Aquinas." Of Earthman Come Home, a reviewer in The Times Book Review said it "surpasses even the high Blish standards, and offers that very rare thing, a wholly new concept of the far future." The novel depicted vagabond cities wandering in space, with New York City as the "hero," roaming through the galaxy long after it had cut loose from its home planet. Mr. Blish also wrote several books of poetry and had written Star Trek, based on the NBC-TV series created by Gene Roddenberry. He was born in Orange, N.J. in 1921, and moved to England in 1968.