Editing Hal Clement (section)

==Biography==
{{more footnotes needed|section|date=March 2013}}<!-- ref name=long may be the source for most or all -->

Harry Clement Stubbs was born in [[Somerville, Massachusetts]], on May 30, 1922.

He went to [[Harvard University|Harvard]], graduating with a B.S. in [[astronomy]] in 1943.  While there he wrote his first published story, "Proof", which appeared in the June 1942 issue of ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]'', edited by [[John W. Campbell]]; three more appeared in later 1942 numbers.<ref name=isfdb/> His further educational background includes an M.Ed. ([[Boston University]] 1946) and M.S. in [[chemistry]] ([[Simmons College (Massachusetts)|Simmons College]] 1963).

During [[World War II]] Clement was a pilot and copilot of a [[B-24 Liberator]] and flew 35 combat missions over Europe with the 68th Bomb Squadron, [[44th Operations Group|44th Bomb Group]], based in England with [[Eighth Air Force|8th Air Force]]. After the war, he served in the [[United States Air Force]] [[Air Force Reserve Command|Reserve]], and retired with the rank of colonel. He taught chemistry and astronomy for many years at [[Milton Academy]] in [[Milton, Massachusetts]].

From 1949 to 1953, Clement's first three novels were two-, three-, and four-part ''Astounding'' serials under Campbell: ''[[Needle (novel)|Needle]]'' (Doubleday, 1950), ''[[Iceworld]]'' (Gnome Press, 1953), and ''[[Mission of Gravity]]'' (1954), his best-known novel, published by Doubleday's Science Fiction Book Club (established 1953).<!-- latter source is ISFDB wiki --> The latter novel features a land and sea expedition across the [[supergiant planet|superjovian]] planet [[Mesklin]] to recover a stranded scientific probe. The natives of Mesklin are [[centipede]]-like intelligent beings about 50 centimeters long. Various episodes hinge on the fact that Mesklin's fast rotational speed causes it to be considerably deformed from the spherical, with effective surface gravity that varies from approximately 3 ''[[g-force|''g'']]''<sub>n</sub> at the equator to approximately 700 ''g''<sub>n</sub> at the poles.

Clement's article "Whirligig World" describes his approach to writing a science fiction story:

<blockquote>Writing a science fiction story is fun, not work. ... the fun ... lies in treating the whole thing as a game.... [T]he rules must be quite simple.  They are; for the reader of a science-fiction story, they consist of finding as many as possible of the author's statements or implications which conflict with the facts as science currently understands them.  For the author, the rule is to make as few such slips as he possibly can... Certain exceptions are made [e.g., to allow travel faster than the speed of light], but fair play demands that all such matters be mentioned as early as possible in the story...</blockquote>

Clement was a frequent guest at science fiction conventions, especially in the eastern United States, where he usually presented talks and slide shows about writing and astronomy.

Clement died in his sleep in Massachusetts at the [[Milton Hospital]] on October 29, 2003, at age 81.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Clute|first=John|date=31 October 2003|title=Hal Clement: Writer From the Golden Age of Science Fiction|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/hal-clement-37380.html|access-date=13 March 2021|website=[[The Independent]]}}</ref>