Beliaev, Aleksandr Romanovich

Born Mar. 4 (16), 1884, in Smolensk; died Jan. 6, 1942, in the city of Pushkin, Leningrad Oblast. Soviet Russian writer. One of the founders of Soviet science fiction.

Beliaev’s books are devoted to the problems of science and technology in the future. They include The Head of Professor Dowell (1925), The Island of Lost Ships (1926–27), Above the Abyss (1927), The Amphibious Man (1928), The Battle in the Air (1928), Leap Into Nothingness (1933), The Star KETs (1936), The Miraculous Eye (1935), Laboratory W (1938), and Under the Arctic Sky (1938). Beliaev’s best works are characterized by social acuity; they combine a scientific quality with entertainment and humor.