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:<div class="dablink">''For other persons of the same name, see [[John Campbell]].''</div>
[[image:Jwc_letters.jpg|thumb|The cover of ''The John W. Campbell Letters'', volume 1, with a picture of Campbell drawn by [[Frank Kelly Freas]]]]
'''John Wood Campbell, Jr.''' ([[June 8]],[[1910]] &ndash; [[July 11]],[[1971]]) was an important [[science fiction|science-fiction]] writer and editor.  As a writer he was first influential under his own name as a writer of super-science [[space opera]] and then under the name '''Don A. Stuart''', a pseudonym he used for moodier, less pulpish stories.  However, Campbell's primary influence on the science-fiction field was as the editor of ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]'', a post that he held from late 1937 until his death.  In that role he is generally credited with helping to create the so-called [[Golden Age of Science Fiction]], which is often held to have started with the July 1939 issue of Astounding.  [[Isaac Asimov]], in his autobiography, calls Campbell "the most powerful force in science fiction ever, and for the first ten years of his editorship he dominated the field completely."
<ref>''I. Asimov'', [[Isaac Asimov]], page 73</ref>  At the time of his sudden and unexpected death after 34 years at the helm of ''Astounding'', however, his quirky personality and occasionally eccentric editorial demands had alienated a number of his most illustrious writers such as Asimov and [[Robert A. Heinlein]] to the point where they no longer submitted works to him.

==Biographical information==
[[image:WhoGoesThere.jpg|right|thumb|1954 Dell Paperback]]Campbell was born in [[Newark, New Jersey]]<ref name=Ash>{{cite book | first=Brian| last=Ash|title=Who's Who in Science Fiction |publisher=Elm Tree Books | location=London | year=1976 | pages = 63|id=ISBN 0-241-89383-6}}</ref> in 1910.  His father was a cold, impersonal, and unaffectionate electrical engineer.  His mother, Dorothy (née Strahern) was warm but changeable of character and had an [[identical twin]] who visited them often and who disliked young John.  John was unable to tell them apart and was frequently coldly rebuffed by the person he took to be his mother.<ref name=AMZ1963August>{{cite journal | year = 1963 | month = August | title = ''Amazing Stories'' | pages = 101}}</ref> Campbell attended the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT), where he befriended [[Norbert Wiener]], one of the godfathers of computers.  He began writing science fiction at age 18 and quickly sold his first stories.  By the time he was 21 he was a well-known pulp writer of super-science space opera but had been dismissed by MIT: he had failed German.  He then spent one year at [[Duke University]], from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in physics in 1932.<ref name=ASF1971October>{{cite journal | year = 1971 | month = October | title = ''Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact'' | pages = 4}}</ref><ref name=Nicholls>{{cite book | editor= [[John Clute|Clute, John]] & [[Peter Nicholls|Nicholls, Peter]]| title= The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction| origdate= 1993| publisher= [[St. Martin's Press|St. Martin's Press, Inc.]]| location= New York| pages= 199|id=ISBN 0-312-09618-6}}</ref>  Asimov notes Campbell's presence at Duke and speculates that Duke was "best known in my youth for the work of [[Joseph B. Rhine]] on extrasensory perception, and that may have influenced Campbell's later views on the subject." <ref>''I. Asimov'', [[Isaac Asimov]], page 72</ref>  [[Damon Knight]] writes that Campbell was a "portly, bristled-haired blond man with a challenging stare" who told him once that "he wasn't sure how much longer he would edit ''Astounding''.  He might quit and go into science.  'I'm a nuclear physicist, you know,' he said, looking me right in the eye." <ref>''Hell's Cartographers'', edited by Brian W. Aldiss and Harry Harrison, page 114</ref>  He was married to Dona Stewart in 1931, divorced in 1949, then remarried in 1950 to Margaret (Peg) Winter.  He spent most of his life in New Jersey and died at home, "quietly, quickly, painlessly, as he sat before his television." <ref>''Introduction: The Father of Science Fiction'', by [[Isaac Asimov]], in ''Astounding'' edited by [[Harry Harrison]], page ix</ref>

==Writing career==

Campbell's first published story, "When the Atoms Failed", appeared in the January 1930 issue of ''[[Amazing Stories]]'', when he was 18; he had had a previous story, "Invaders from the Infinite", accepted by ''Amazing'''s editor, [[T. O'Conor Sloane]], but Sloane had lost the manuscript.<ref name=Nicholls />  Campbell's early fiction included a space opera series based around three characters, Arcot, Morey and Wade; and another series with lead characters Penton and Blake.  All were eventually published in book form in the 1950s and 1960s.  This early work established Campbell's reputation as a leading writer of space adventure; and when he began in 1934 to publish stories with a different tone, he used a pseudonym, Don A. Stuart, perhaps because of the difference in style.  The pseudonym was derived from the maiden name of Campbell's wife, Dona Stuart.<ref name=AMZ1963August>{{cite journal | year = 1963 | month = August | title = ''Amazing Stories'' | pages = 101}}</ref>

Soon Stuart also had a strong reputation as a leading writer, and from 1930 until the later part of the decade Campbell was prolific and successful under both his own name and the Stuart pseudonym.  Two significant stories published under the pseudonym are "Twilight" (''Astounding'', November 1934), the first Stuart story, which immediately established the reputation of the apparently new author; and "[[Who Goes There?]]" (''Astounding'', August 1938), about a group of Antarctic researchers who discover a crashed alien vessel, complete with a malevolent shape-changing occupant. This was filmed as ''[[The Thing from Another World]]'' ([[1951]]) and again as ''[[The Thing]]'' ([[1982]]).  "Who Goes There?", published when Campbell was only 28, was his last significant piece of fiction.  As [[Sam Moskowitz]] has written about Campbell in his early critical study of science-fiction writers, "From the memories of his childhood he drew the most fearsome agony of the past: the doubts, the fears, the shock, and the frustration of repeatedly discovering that the woman who looked so much like his mother was not who she seemed.  Who goes there?  Friend or foe?" <ref>''Seekers of Tomorrow, Masters of Modern Science Fiction'', [[Sam Moskowitz]], page 52</ref>

==Editorship of Astounding and Unknown; the Golden Age==
In late 1937, [[F. Orlin Tremaine]] hired Campbell as the editor of ''Astounding''.<ref name=EarlydelRey>{{cite book | first=Lester | last=del Rey |authorlink= Lester del Rey| title=The Early del Rey| publisher=Ballantine Books | location=New York | year=1976 | pages=4-7,18|id=ISBN 0-345-25063-X}}</ref><ref name=Tuck>{{cite book | first=Donald H. | last=Tuck |authorlink= Donald H. Tuck| title=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volume 1| publisher=Advent: Publishers, Inc. | location=Chicago | year=1974 | pages = 87|id=ISBN 0-911682-20-1}}</ref>  Campbell was not given full authority for ''Astounding'' until May of 1938,<ref name=delRey>{{cite book | first=Lester | last=del Rey |authorlink= Lester del Rey| title=The World of Science Fiction and Fantasy: The History of a Subculture| publisher=Ballantine Books | location=New York | year=1979 | pages = 91|id=ISBN 0-345-25452-X}}</ref> but in fact had been responsible for buying stories somewhat earlier, perhaps as early as the October 1937 issue,<ref name=Tuck /> although the statement of ownership in the November 1937 issue listed Tremaine as the editor as of October 1, 1937.<ref name=ASF1937November>{{cite journal | year = 1937 | month = November | title = ''Astounding Science-Fiction'' | pages = 159}}</ref>  An editorial notice in the April 1938 issue made it clear he was responsible for stories appearing as early as February.<ref name =EarlydelRey /><ref name=ASF1938April>The editorial note was not signed, but it refers to stories bought for the last three issues, one of which (Lester del Rey's ''The Faithful'') is known to have been bought by Campbell.  See the citation from ''The Early del Rey'' for del Rey's account of that sale.  For the editorial note, see {{cite journal | year = 1938 | month = April | title = ''Astounding Science-Fiction'' | pages = 125}}</ref>

Campbell began to make changes almost immediately.  He instigated a ''mutant'' label for unusual stories, and in March 1938 changed the title of the magazine from ''Astounding Stories'' to ''Astounding Science-Fiction''.  He had intended to eventually change the name to simply ''Science Fiction'', but [[Blue Ribbon Magazines]] brought out a magazine with that title in March 1939, and Campbell decided to retain the existing name.

Lester del Rey's first story, in March 1938, was a notable find for Campbell, but in 1939 such an extraordinary group of new writers were published for the first time in the pages of Astounding that the period is generally regarded as the beginning of the Golden Age of science fiction, and the July 1939 issue in particular.<ref>For example, the Nicholls ({{cite book | editor= [[John Clute|Clute, John]] & [[Peter Nicholls|Nicholls, Peter]]| title= The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction| origdate= 1993| publisher= [[St. Martin's Press|St. Martin's Press, Inc.]]| location= New York| pages= 199|id=ISBN 0-312-09618-6}}) says "The beginning of Campbell's particular Golden Age of SF can be pinpointed as the summer of 1939," and goes on to begin the discussion with the July 1939 issue.  Lester del Rey ({{cite book | first=Lester | last=del Rey |authorlink= Lester del Rey| title=The World of Science Fiction and Fantasy: The History of a Subculture| publisher=Ballantine Books | location=New York | year=1979 | pages = 94|id=ISBN 0-345-25452-X}}) comments that "July was the turning point".  In addition, the issue was later reproduced as a facsimile issue just because of its fame for this reason.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}</ref>  The July issue contained [[A. E. van Vogt]]'s first story, "Black Destroyer"; and [[Isaac Asimov]]'s early story "Trends"; August brought [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s first story, "Lifeline", and the next month [[Theodore Sturgeon]]'s first story appeared.  Virginia Heinlein writes in her collection of Heinlein's letters that Campbell was "a large, tall man who threw off ideas like a sparkler.... Robert did not admire his writing style and objected strenuously to the various changes JWC made in Robert's stories." <ref>''Grumbles from the Grave'', edited by Virginia Heinlein, page 6</ref>

Also in 1939, Campbell started the fantasy magazine ''[[Unknown (magazine)|Unknown]]'' (later ''Unknown Worlds'') .  Although ''Unknown'' was cancelled after only four years, a victim of wartime paper shortages, the magazine's editorial direction was significant in the evolution of modern fantasy.

Campbell was regarded by many of the ''Astounding'' stable of writers as an important and encouraging influence on their work, and there are many stories in the reminiscences of writers such as Isaac Asimov and Lester del Rey of their interactions with him.  Generally, he is widely considered to be the single most important and influential editor in the history of science fiction.  As the ''[[Science Fiction Encyclopedia]]'', edited by [[Peter Nicholls]], wrote about Campbell: "More than any other individual, he helped to shape modern sf."  This influence is generally considered to be during the period between [[1938]] and about [[1950]].  After that, new magazines such as ''[[Galaxy science fiction|Galaxy]]'' and the ''[[Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction]]'', building upon the foundation ''Astounding'' had laid during the so-called Golden Age of Science Fiction, moved in different directions and developed talented new writers who were not directly influenced by him.

Asimov says of his unmatched influence on the field: "By his own example and by his instruction and by his undeviating and persisting insistence, he forced first ''Astounding'' and then all science fiction into his mold.  He abandoned the earlier orientation of the field.  He demolished the stock characters who had filled it; eradicated the penny-dreadful plots; extirpated the Sunday-supplement science.  In a phrase, he blotted out the purple of pulp.  Instead, he demanded that science-fiction writers understand science and understand people, a hard requirement that many of the established writers of the 1930s could not meet.  Campbell did not compromise because of that: those who could not meet his requirements could not sell to him, and the carnage was as great as it had been in Hollywood a decade before, while silent movies had given way to the talkies." <ref>''Introduction: The Father of Science Fiction'', by [[Isaac Asimov]], in ''Astounding'' edited by [[Harry Harrison]], pages ix-x</ref>

The most famous example of the type of speculative but plausible science fiction that Campbell demanded from his writers is ''Deadline'', a short story by [[Cleve Cartmill]] that appeared during the wartime year of 1944, a year before the detonation of the first [[atomic bomb]].  As [[Ben Bova]], Campbell's successor as editor at ''Analog'', writes, it "described the basic facts of how to build an atomic bomb.  Cartmill and... Campbell worked together on the story, drawing their scientific information from papers published in the technical journals before the war.  To them, the mechanics of constructing a uranium-fission bomb seemed perfectly obvious."  The FBI, however, descended on Campbell's office after the story appeared in print and demanded that the issue be removed from the newsstands.  Campbell convinced them that by removing the magazine "the FBI would be advertising to everyone that such a project existed and was aimed at developing nuclear weapons" and the demand was dropped. <ref>''Through Eyes of Wonder'', by [[Ben Bova]], pages 66-67</ref>

Campbell was also responsible for the grim, and controversial, ending of the famous short story ''[[The Cold Equations]]'' by [[Tom Godwin]].  Joe Green says that Campbell had "three times! sent "Cold Equations" back to Godwin, before he got the version he wanted.... Godwin kept coming up with ingenious ways to save the girl! Since the strength of this deservedly classic story lies in the fact the life of one young woman must be sacrificed to save the lives of many, it simply wouldn't have the same impact if she had lived." <ref>''Our Five Days with John W. Campbell'', by Joe Green, ''The Bulletin of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America'', Fall 2006, No. 171, page 13</ref>

[[Image:Astounding_November_1949.jpg|thumb|right|150px|The famous November 1949 "future" issue, in which all the stories had previously been "reviewed" in November of 1948]]

Campbell revealed a sly sense of humor in the November 1949 issue.  He had always encouraged literary criticism by ''Astounding's'' readership, and in the November 1948 issue he published a letter to the editor by a reader named Richard A. Hoen that contained a detailed ranking of the contents of an issue ''one year in the future''.  Campbell went along with the joke and contracted stories from most of the authors mentioned in the letter that would follow the fan's imaginary story titles.  Ironically, when the issue actually appeared, Hoen had forgotten his original letter, and was supposedly "amazed at how many of my favorite authors appeared in one issue".{{Fact|date=February 2007}}  One of the best-known stories from that issue is [[Gulf (Heinlein)|"Gulf"]], by [[Robert A. Heinlein]].  Other stories and articles were written by a number of the most famous authors of the time: [[Isaac Asimov]], [[Theodore Sturgeon]], [[Lester del Rey]], [[A. E. van Vogt]], [[L. Sprague de Camp]], and the astronomer [[R. S. Richardson]].<ref>''A Requiem for Astounding'', by Alva Rogers, pages 176-180</ref>

==Editorials and opinions==

Campbell was well known for the opinionated editorials in each issue of the magazine, wherein he would sometimes put forth quite preposterous hypotheses, perhaps intended to generate story ideas. An anthology of these editorials was published in [[1966]]. He also suggested story ideas to writers (including, famously, "Write me a creature that thinks ''as well as'' a man, or ''better than'' a man, but not ''like'' a man"), and sometimes asked for stories to match cover paintings he had already bought.

Isaac Asimov once asked Campbell why he had stopped writing fiction after he became the editor of Astounding. Campbell explained, "Isaac, when I write, I write only my own stories. As editor, I write the stories that a hundred people write." <ref> The quote is from Asimov's introduction to ''ASTOUNDING: John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology'' (1973)</ref>

===Slavery===

*Science-fiction writer Joe Green writes that Campbell "enjoyed taking the 'devil's advocate' position in almost any area, willing to defend even viewpoints with which he disagreed if that led to a livelier debate."  As an example, he says that during a conversation with him Campbell "pointed out that the much-maligned 'peculiar institution' of slavery in the American South had in fact provided the blacks brought there with a higher standard of living than they had in Africa."  Green goes on to say that he was "very much afraid that in fact he was sincere.  I suspected, from comments by Asimov, among others — and some ''Analog'' editorials I had read — that John held some racist views, at least in regard to blacks."  Finally, however, Green agreed with Campbell that "rapidly increasing mechanization after 1850 would have soon rendered slavery obsolete anyhow.  It would have been better for the USA to endure it a few more years than suffer the truly horrendous costs of the Civil War." <ref>''Our Five Days with John W. Campbell'', by Joe Green, ''The Bulletin of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America'', Fall 2006, No. 171, page 15</ref>

*In a June, 1961, editorial called "Civil War Centennial" Campbell argued that slavery had been a dominant form of human relationships for most of history and that the present was unusual in that anti-slavery cultures dominated the planet.  He went on to say that "...it's my bet that the South would have been integrated by 1910.  The job would have been done — and done right — half a century sooner, with vastly less human misery, and with almost no bloodshed.... The only way slavery has ever been ended, anywhere, is by introducing industry.... If a man is a skilled and competent machinist — if the lathes work well under his hands — the industrial management will be forced, to remain in business, to accept that fact, whether the man be black, white, purple, or polka-dotted." <ref>Editorial of June, 1961, ''Analog'', page 5</ref>

===Smoking===

*Campbell was a heavy smoker throughout his life and was seldom seen without his customary cigarette holder.  In the ''Analog'' of September, 1964, 9 months after the [[Surgeon General]]'s first major warning about the dangers of cigarette smoking had been issued on January 11th, Campbell ran an editorial called "A Counterblaste to Tobacco." <ref>Editorial of June, 1961, ''Analog'', page 8 — The ''e'' on ''Counterblaste'' was deliberate: he was referring to a 16th-century diatribe about the evils of smoking.</ref>  In it he stated that the connection to lung cancer was "esoteric" and referred to "a barely determinable possible correlation between cigarette smoking and cancer".  He went on to claim that tobacco's calming effects led to more effective thinking, a true benefit.  "How many of the world's great leaders," he concluded, "under maximum tension and pressure, have maintained calm, a sense of responsibility, and the driving will to achieve essential to human affairs... with tobacco?" <ref>Editorial of September, 1964, ''Analog'', page 8</ref>

[[Image:Analog_Sub_in_Martian_Orbit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A United States submarine in [[Mars|Martian]] orbit, propelled there by a [[Dean drive]], on an ''Astounding'' cover.]]
===The Dean drive===

*In the 1950s, Campbell developed strong interests in alternative theories that began to isolate him from some of his own mainstream writers such as Asimov.  He wrote favorably, for instance, about such things as the "[[Dean drive]]," a device that supposedly produced thrust in violation of [[Sir Isaac Newton|Newton]]'s [[third law]], and the "[[Hieronymus machine]]," which could supposedly amplify [[psi]] powers. He published many stories about [[telepathy]] and other [[psionic]] abilities. In 1949 Campbell also became interested in [[Dianetics]].  He was initially a strong supporter, writing of Hubbard's initial article in Astounding that "It is, I assure you in full and absolute sincerity, one of the most important articles ever published."<ref name=ASF1950April>{{cite journal | year = 1950 | month = April | title = ''Astounding Science Fiction'' | pages = 132}}</ref>  He also claimed to have successfully used dianetic techniques himself: "The memory stimulation technique is so powerful that, within thirty minutes of entering therapy, most people will recall in full detail their own birth.  I have observed it in action, and used the techniques myself."<ref name=ASF1950April />  In addition to publishing [[L. Ron Hubbard]]'s first articles on the subject, Campbell continued to write editorials in support of Dianetics for a time.

*Writing about the Campbell of this period, the noted science-fiction writer and critic [[Damon Knight]] commented in his book ''In Search of Wonder'': "In the pantheon of magazine science fiction there is no more complex and puzzling figure than that of John Campbell, and certainly none odder."  Knight also wrote a four-stanza ditty about some of Campbell's new interests.  The first stanza reads:
::''Oh, the Dean Machine, the Dean Machine,
::''You put it right in a submarine,
::''And it flies so high that it can't be seen --
::''The wonderful, wonderful Dean Machine!''

===Pseudoscience===
*And Isaac Asimov writes: "A number of writers wrote pseudoscientific stuff to ensure sales to Campbell, but the best writers retreated, I among them." <ref>''I. Asimov'', [[Isaac Asimov]], page 74</ref>

*Asimov was not alone in his opinion.  In 1957, the novelist and critic [[James Blish]] could write: "From the professional writer's point of view, the primary interest in ''Astounding Science Fiction'' continues to center on the editor's preoccupation with extrasensory powers and perceptions ("psi") as a springboard for stories.... 113 pages of the total editorial content of the January and February 1957 issues of this magazine are devoted to psi, and 172 to non-psi material....  [By including the first part of a serial that later becomes a novel about psi] the total for these first two issues of 1957 is 145 pages of psi text, and 140 pages of non-psi." <ref>[[James Blish]], ''The Issues at Hand'', pages 86-87.</ref>
 
*Asimov also says that "Campbell championed far-out ideas.... He pained very many of the men he had trained (including me) in doing so, but felt it was his duty to stir up the minds of his readers and force curiosity right out to the border lines.  He began a series of editorials... in which he championed a social point of view that could sometimes be described as far right.  (He expressed sympathy for [[George Wallace]] in the 1968 national election, for instance.)  There was bitter opposition to this from many (including me — I could hardly ever read a Campbell editorial and keep my temper)." <ref>''Introduction: The Father of Science Fiction'', by [[Isaac Asimov]], in ''Astounding'' edited by [[Harry Harrison]], pages xii</ref>

*This attempted (and often successful) steering of writers' efforts led to a [[filk]]song:

::''On yonder hill there stands a building,
::'' and upon the fourteenth floor
::'' stands a group of authors moaning
::'' as they've never moaned before:
::''Oh, no, John, no, John, no, John, no!''

==In the eyes of others==

Asimov says in his autobiography that Campbell was "talkative, opinionated, quicksilver-minded, overbearing.  Talking to him meant listening to a monologue.... He was a tall, large man with light hair, a beaky nose, a wide face with thin lips, and with a cigarette in a holder forever clamped between his teeth."<ref>''I. Asimov'', [[Isaac Asimov]], page 72</ref>  "Six-foot-one, with hawklike features, he presented a formidable appearance," says Moskowitz.<ref>Moskowitz</ref>  Damon Knight's opinion of Campbell was similar to Asimov's: "No doubt I could have got myself invited to lunch long before, but Campbell's lecture-room manner was so unpleasant to me that I was unwilling to face it.  Campbell talked a good deal more than he listened, and he liked to say outrageous things." .<ref>''Hell's Cartographers'', edited by Brian W. Aldiss and Harry Harrison, page 133</ref> The notable [[United Kingdom|British]] novelist and critic [[Kingsley Amis]], in his seminal 1960 book about science fiction, ''[[New Maps of Hell]]'', dismisses Campbell brusquely: "I might just add as a sociological note that the editor of ''Astounding'', himself a deviant figure of marked ferocity, seems to think he has invented a psi machine." <ref>''New Maps of Hell'', [[Kingsley Amis]], page 84</ref> 

The noted science-fiction writer [[Alfred Bester]], an editor of ''Holiday Magazine'' and a sophisticated [[Manhattan]]ite, recounts at some length his "one demented meeting" with Campbell, a man he imagined from afar to be "a combination of [[Bertrand Russell]] and [[Ernest Rutherford]]," across the river in Newark.<ref>''Hell's Cartographers'', edited by Brian W. Aldiss and Harry Harrison, page 57</ref> The first thing Campbell said to him was that Freud was dead, destroyed by the new discovery of Dianetics, which, he predicted, would win L. Ron Hubbard the [[Nobel Peace Prize]].  Over a sandwich in a dingy New Jersey lunchroom Campbell ordered the bemused Bester to "think back.  Clear yourself.  Remember! You can remember when your mother tried to abort you with a button hook.  You've never stopped hating her for it."  Shaking, Bester eventually made his escape and, he says, "returned to civilization where I had three double [[gibson]]s."  He adds: "It reinforced my private opinion that a majority of the science-fiction crowd, despite their brilliance, were missing their marbles."  

Asimov's final word on Campbell was that "in the last twenty years of his life, he was only a diminishing shadow of what he had once been."<ref>''I. Asimov'', [[Isaac Asimov]], page 74</ref>  Even Robert A. Heinlein, perhaps Campbell's most important discovery and, Virginia Heinlein tells us, by 1940 a "fast friend", <ref>''Grumbles from the Grave'', edited by Virginia Heinlein, page 8</ref> eventually tired of Campbell.  "When Podkayne [''[[Podkayne of Mars]]''] was offered to him, he wrote Robert, asking what he knew about raising young girls in a few thousand carefully chosen words.  The friendship dwindled, and was eventually completely gone." <ref>''Grumbles from the Grave'', edited by Virginia Heinlein, page 36</ref>  In 1963 Heinlein wrote his agent to say that a rejection from another magazine was "pleasanter than offering copy to John Campbell, having it bounced (he bounced both of my last two Hugo Award winners) — and then have to wade through ten pages of his arrogant insults, explaining to me why my story is no good." <ref>''Grumbles from the Grave'', edited by Virginia Heinlein, page 152</ref>

==Radio and awards==

Between [[December 11]], [[1957]] and [[June 13]], [[1958]], Campbell hosted a weekly science fiction radio program called ''Exploring Tomorrow''. The scripts were written by authors such as [[Gordon Dickson]] and [[Robert Silverberg]]. Transcripts of some programs are still available.

In 1996 Campbell was inducted into the [[Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame|Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame]], in the first year of its existence.<ref name=SFFHoF>{{cite web | url = http://www.midamericon.org/halloffame/ | title = Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame | accessdate = 21 June | accessyear = 2006}}</ref>

The [[Campbell award (best novel)|John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel]] and [[John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer]] were named in his honor.

==Bibliography==
''For the main article, see [[Bibliography of John W. Campbell]].

This shortened bibliography lists each title once. Some titles that are duplicated are in fact different versions, whereas other publications of Campbell's with different titles are simply selections from or retitlings of other works, and have hence been omitted.

The main bibliographic sources are footnoted from this paragraph and provided much of the information in the following sections.<ref name=Nicholls /><sup>,</sup><ref name=Tuck /><sup>,</sup><ref name=Currey>{{cite book | first=L. W. | last=Currey|title=Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors: A Bibliography of First Printings of Their Fiction | publisher=G.K. Hall & Co.| location=Boston| year=1979 | pages = 97|id=ISBN 0-8161-8242-6}}</ref><sup>,</sup><ref name=Contento>{{cite web | url = http://users.ev1.net/~homeville/isfac/ | title = Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections, Combined Edition | accessdate = 8 June | accessyear = 2006}}</ref><sup>,</sup><ref name=Reginald>{{cite book | first=R. | last=Reginald | title=Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature: Volume 1: Indexes to the Literature| publisher=Gale Research Company | location=Detroit| year=1979 | pages = 88-89|id=ISBN 0-8103-1051-1}}</ref>  For more bibliographic information see the separate bibliography article.

Dates indicate first book publication.

===Novels and fixups===
*''The Mightiest Machine'' (1947)
*''The Incredible Planet'' (1949)
*''The Black Star Passes'' (1953)
*''Islands of Space'' (1956)
*''Invaders from the Infinite'' (1961)
*''The Ultimate Weapon'' (1966)

===Short story collections and omnibus editions===
*''Who Goes There?'' (1948)
*''The Moon is Hell'' (1951)
*''Cloak of Aesir'' (1952)
*''The Planeteers'' (1966)
*''The Best of John W. Campbell'' (1973)
*''The Space Beyond'' (1976)
*''The Best of John W. Campbell'' (1976) (Differs from 1973 version)
*''A New Dawn: The Don A. Stuart Stories of John W. Campbell, Jr.'' (2003)

===Edited books===
*''From Unknown Worlds''  (1948)
*''The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology'' (1952)
*''Prologue to Analog'' (1962)
*''Analog I'' (1963)
*''Analog II'' (1964)
*''Analog 3'' (1965)
*''Analog 4'' (1966)
*''Analog 5'' (1967)
*''Analog 6'' (1968)
*''Analog 7'' (1969)
*''Analog 8'' (1971)

===Nonfiction===
*''Collected Editorials from Analog'' (1966)
*''The John W. Campbell Letters, Volume 1'' (1986)

==External links==
*{{dmoz|Arts/Literature/Genres/Science_Fiction/Authors/C/Campbell,_John_W./}}
*[http://www.outpost31.com Outpost #31] The Ultimate THE THING Fan-Site 
*http://www.catch22.com/SF/ARB/SFC/Campbell,JW.php3
*http://www.hycyber.com/SF/campbell_john_w.html
*[http://thething.ca thething.ca] The World's Largest THE THING Collection
*{{isfdb name|name=John W. Campbell|id=John_W._Campbell,_Jr.}}
*{{gutenberg author|id=John_Wood_Campbell|name=John W. Campbell}}

==Sources==
*''I. Asimov'', by [[Isaac Asimov]], [[Doubleday]], New York, 1994 ISBN 0-385-41701-2
*"John W. Campbell: The Writing Years", by Sam Moskowitz, in Amazing Stories, August 1963; Ziff-Davis Publishing Corporation.  Reprinted in ''Seekers of Tomorrow, Masters of Modern Science Fiction'', [[Sam Moskowitz]], [[Ballantine Books]], New York, 1967
*''Hell's Cartographers, Some Personal Histories of Science Fiction Writers'', edited by [[Brian W. Aldiss]] and [[Harry Harrison]], [[Harper & Row]], New York, 1975 ISBN 0-06-010052-4
*''New Maps of Hell'', [[Kingsley Amis]], [[Ballantine Books]], New York, 1960
*''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'', edited by [[John Clute]] & [[Peter Nicholls]], [[St. Martin's Press]], New York, 1993 ISBN 0-312-09618-6
*''Grumbles from the Grave'', selected letters of [[Robert A. Heinlein]], edited by Virginia Heinlein, [[Del Rey Books]], New York, 1989 ISBN 0-345-36246-2
*''Astounding'', edited by [[Harry Harrison]], [[Random House]], New York, 1973 ISBN 0394481674)  
*''Through Eyes of Wonder'', by [[Ben Bova]], Addisonian Press, Reading, Massachusetts, 1975, ISBN 0-201-09206-9
*''A Requiem for Astounding'', by Alva Rogers, Advent:Publishers, Chicago, 1964
*''More Issues at Hand'', by [[James Blish]], writing as William Atheling, Jr., Advent:Publishers, Inc. Chicago, 1970
*''Our Five Days with John W. Campbell'', by Joe Green, ''The Bulletin of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America'', Fall 2006, No. 171, pages 13-16

==References==
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[[Category:1910 births|Campbell, John W.]]
[[Category:1971 deaths|Campbell, John W.]]
[[Category:American science fiction writers|Campbell, John W.]]
[[Category:Science fiction editors|Campbell, John W.]]
[[Category:American novelists|Campbell, John W.]]
[[Category:American short story writers|Campbell, John W.]]
[[Category:Duke University alumni|Campbell, John W.]]
[[Category:Science Fiction Hall of Fame|Campbell, John W.]]
[[Category:Worldcon Guests of Honor|Campbell, John W.]]
[[cs:John Wood Campbell]]
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[[ru:Кэмпбелл, Джон Вуд]]
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