This week, we will be focusing on Robert Heinlein. He was a science fiction writer that sparked the imaginations of many great minds that have created what we consider modern society. He was called the "dean of science fiction writers," and imagined things over 50 years ago that have now become reality. Without people like this leading the way in science imaginings, we would not have much of the technology today.

Here are the top ten facts about this literary giant:

1. He won seven Hugo Awards. These awards are given to the very best science fiction writers of that year. However, they broke the rules for Heinlein and awarded him three of these for work he had created in the years past.

2. Heinlein attended the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1925 and was a commissioned officer in 1929. As a Lieutenant, he served five years as a gunnery officer until he was discharged due to contracting tuberculosis in 1934.

3. After leaving the Navy and trying a variety of other occupations, Heinlein found himself broke in 1939. There was a contest for fiction writing that awarded $50 to the winner. He ended up writing his first story Life Line, but actually sold it to Astounding Science Fiction magazine for $20 more than the contest offered.

4. By 1941, Heinlein was writing one-fifth of the content for Astounding Science Fiction. So he also wrote under the pseudonym Anson MacDonald. He ended up tying with "MacDonald" (himself) in the readers' polls.

5. Heinlein created the idea for the waterbed while he was being hospitalized for his tuberculosis. In his novel Stranger In A Strange Land, he called it a Hydraulic bed.

6. He is considered one of the "Big Three" of science fiction writers. The other two are , Isaac Asimov, known for I Robot, and Arthur C. Clarke, known for 2001: Space Odyssey.

7. One of his more popular works that you may be more familiar with is Starship Troopers. The films are loosely based on his novel.

8. He was one of the first science fiction writers to ever to break into the mainstream when his work was featured in The Saturday Evening Post.

9. It took Heinlein 13 years to finish Stranger In A Strange Land.

10. The last fun fact about Heinlein is also about his book Stranger In A Strange Land. Not long after its release, a new religion called The Church of All Worlds. Heinlein never joined or endorsed the church however.

Carl Sagan was born in 1934 in Brooklyn, New York. He developed a love for science and space early in his life when his mother sent him to the library at the age of five. He graduated high school at the age of 16 and then went on to get a BA in physics from the University of Chicago. A year later, he obtained his master's and four years after that he had a PhD in astronomy and astrophysics. He brought the wonders of the universe to TV and helped to create a culture that was in love with space and science. He also authored some very popular books like Dragons of Eden, Pale Blue Dot, and Contact. Here is this week's top ten.

1. Sagan was the original host and creator of the television show Cosmos. Neil DeGrasse Tyson has since then brought the show back for a whole new generation of stargazers.

2. Known for the quote, "Billions and billions," Sagan never actually said them. In fact, it was Johnny Carson that said it while doing an impression of him. The actual phrasing Sagan used on his show Cosmos was, "Billions upon billions."

3. Sagan believed in fringe science. In his 30's he began speaking about things like interstellar space flight, aliens, and strange creatures living in Venus' atmosphere. He even testified to Congress about UFO's, and also wanted to terraform Venus.

4. His novel Contact, which Sagan wrote 30 years ago this year, was turned into a movie that starred Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey.

*Photo: Copyright 1968 Warner Bros Pictures*

5. In 1968, Sagan briefly consulted on the Stanley Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film was way ahead of its time and is heralded as one of the best science fiction films about exploration of the unknown of all time.

6. He won a Pulitzer Peace Prize for his book The Dragons of Eden: Speculation on the Evolution of Human Intelligence. In the book, he uses anthropology, evolutionary biology, computer science, and psychology to try to give some idea on how human intelligence may have evolved.

7. Sagan and his wife Ann Druyan put together the "Earth Guide for Aliens," that was launched into space on the voyager probe. In fact, it was during this project that they fell in love and were engaged to be married after she found a 2500 year old Chinese piece of music called Flowing Streams.

8. The "Earth Guide for Aliens," is meant to survive billions of years in hopes that it will come across an alien civilization one day.

9. Sagan thought Star Trek was racially biased. He was quoted in a piece he wrote for the The New York Times, "In a global terrestrial society centuries in the future, the ship's officers are embarassingly Anglo-American. In fact, only two of 12 or 14 interstellar vessels are given non-English names, Kongo and potemkin."

10. He thought we should leave Mars alone. Sagan felt that if there was life on Mars that the planet belonged to the Martians. "If there is life on Mars, I believe we should do nothing with Mars. Mars then belongs to the Martians, even if the Martians are only microbes. The existence of an independent biology on a nearby planet is a treasure beyond assessing, and the preservation of that life must, I think, supersede any other possible use of Mars."

More Resources

http://www.biography.com/people/carl-sagan-9469191#synopsis

http://www.famousscientists.org/carl-sagan/

http://www.neatorama.com/2009/11/09/10-neat-facts-about-carl-sagan/

http://mentalfloss.com/article/64954/11-out-world-facts-about-carl-sagan

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/blogposts/8-facts-about-carl-sagan/