Robert Anson Heinlein was born July 7, 1907 in Butler, Missouri. In his 81 years of life, Heinlein produced a body of work that included short stories, serials, novels, non-fiction essays and even several television and movie adaptations. A celebrated writer, Heinlein had several other careers and passions. What is presented here is a basic timeline of Heinlein's life and achievement, as well as a chronolgy of his major works. For more a more detailed biography and more exploration of Heinlein's work, please see these links.

1907	Robert Anson Heinlein born on July 7, the third of seven children of Bam Lyle and Rex Ivar Heinlein.
1914	Robert's grandfather Lyle, a great influence on Heinlein's early days, dies.
1924	Graduates from Kansas City Central High School, attends University of Missouri--Kansas City for one year.
1925-29	Attends the Naval Academy. Graduates 20th from a class of 243. Serves as a gunnery officer on the USS Lexington.
1934	Receives medical discharge from the Navy because of tuberculosis. Studies physics and mathmatics at UCLA, looks at careers in architecture, real estate, mining. Runs for California State Assemblyman.
1939	Publishes first short story, "Life Line", in Astounding Science Fiction.
1940	Publishes "Let There Be Light" (Super Science Stories, 1940)
1941	Releases plan for Future History series, started with "Life Line." Guest of honor at the Third World Science Fiction Convention.
1942-45	Stops writing to work as a civilian research engineer at Mustin Field, in Philadelphia.
1947	Brings science fiction to general circulation magazines like the Saturday Evening Post, beginning with "The Green Hills of Earth"(Saturday Evening Post, Feb. 8, 1947). Starts juvenile novels with Scribner's, writing Rocket Ship Galileo.
1948	Marries Lt. Virginia Gerstenfeld, a chemist and aeronautical test engineer from Mustin Field.
1950	Moves to Denver, CO to recover from tuberculosis.
1956	Receives Hugo Award for Double Star. (The Hugo Award is a fans' award given since 1955 in honor of Hugo Gernsback, who "named" science fiction in 1926 when he published the first science fiction pulps)
1960	Receives Hugo Award for Starship Troopers (1959).
1962	Receives Hugo Award for The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
1973	Publishes Time Enough for Love, a best-seller that picks up the story of Lazarus Long from the Methuselah's Children, part of the Future History series.
1975	Given the first Grand Masters Award by Science Fiction Writers of America, founded 1965.
1978	Suffers near stroke, recovers. Reprints "The Notebooks of Lazarus Long" from Time Enough For Love.
1979	Testifies before a joint session of the House Select Committee on Aging and the House Committee on Science and Technology about Applications of Space Technology for the Elderly and Handicapped.
1980	The Number of the Beast
1984	Makes New York Times bestseller list with Job: A Comedy of Justice.
1985	Publishes The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, another bestseller.
1987	Publishes To Sail Beyond the Sunset, an autobiography of Lazarus Long's mother.
1988	Dies at age of 81.