Isaak Asimov was born 1920 in Petrovk (Russia). 1923 emigrated its family into the USA. In the 50's Asimov laid down its Professur for biochemistry at the University of Boston, and lived from then on of its Schriftstellerei. It is considered today as one of the most productive writers of the world. Except its numerous Science Fiction novels he wrote popular-scientific special books for adults and children. Up to its death on 6 April 1992 in New York it published over 500 kurzgeschichten, novels and scientific essays. It seems to give however still very much unpublished material, so that also after its death still some works appeared. Isaac Asimov is the author of the robot laws.

Even before his official entry into the mystery scene in The Caves Of Steel (1953), Isaac Asimov's science fiction books often exhibited mystery technique. In particular, his great Foundation Trilogy (1941 - 1950) consists of a series of long short stories, each of which has affinities to the formal detective story. Each has a complex plot, and there is usually a surprise ending which reveals hidden aspects to the situation, just as the solution does to a mystery story. Similarly, the stories contained in I, Robot are often science fictional mysteries. A robot is misbehaving: what could possibly cause this? Investigation ultimately reveals the solution to the puzzle. Asimov also wrote non series sf works in the same mystery format, most importantly, "Hostess" (1951). There are no murders or official detectives in these tales, but their status as stories in which mysterious situations are ultimately elucidated, certainly makes them close relatives of the mystery genre. The brilliant plot complexity of the Foundation Trilogy , in particular, marks it out as one of the best works of science fiction.