The following biography was taken from The New York Times:

"Robert L. Forward, a science fiction writer, physicist and inventor whose 11 novels were inspired by his research into gravitational physics and advanced space propulsion, died at his home in Seattle [on September 21, 2002]. He was 70.

The cause of death was cancer, his son-in-law, Ben Mattlin, said.

With his first book, "Dragon's Egg" (1980), Dr. Forward established a reputation as a creator of fantastic worlds that were solidly based on scientific principles. He set "Dragon's Egg" and its sequel, "Starquake" (1985), on a neutron star, a highly compressed remnant of an exploding star where gravity is 67 billion times stronger than Earth's. The star's inhabitants, whom he called cheelas, lived the equivalent of about 45 minutes.

In his final book, "Saturn Rukh" (Tor/Tom Doherty, 1997), his attention to accuracy led him to include an appendix of mathematical tables and astronomical diagrams for readers interested in verifying the maneuvers of the book's spacecraft.

He also wrote "The Flight of the Dragonfly" (1984), which he renamed "Rocheworld" and followed with four sequels.

Dr. Forward, who held a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland, began his literary career while working as a senior scientist at the Hughes Aircraft Company's laboratory in Malibu, Calif. He often explained that he had advised so many science fiction writers on the technical details of space flight and other scientific issues that he decided to take up writing himself.

At Hughes and later at companies he founded, Forward Unlimited (in 1987) and Tethers Unlimited (in 1994), Dr. Forward devoted his research efforts to propulsion systems for space travel. He studied the potential for antimatter propulsion (similar to the system that powers the Starship Enterprise on "Star Trek") for the Air Force and NASA.

For epic interstellar journeys, he envisioned a rocketless vehicle that would be manufactured in space and equipped with an ultrathin sail as big as Texas. The ship would be propelled by a laser beam or high-energy particles shot from Earth; traveling at 55,000 miles per second, it would reach the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, in less than 50 years.

Dr. Forward applied this concept of heavenly sailing ships to a somewhat more practical purpose when he designed a satellite, called a statite, that could hover 200,000 miles above one of the poles, held in place by sails filled by solar winds. In 1993 his design won a patent, one of the 20 that he received.

Robert Lull Forward was born in Geneva, N.Y., on Aug. 15, 1932. He served in the Air Force, reaching the rank of captain. He received his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Maryland and a master's in applied physics from the University of California at Los Angeles. For his doctorate he built and operated the world's first bar antenna for the detection of gravitational radiation, which is now at the Smithsonian Institution.

He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Martha; three daughters, Julie Fuller, of Ramona, Calif.; Mary Lois Mattlin, of Los Angeles; and Eve Forward-Rollins, of Seattle; his son, Robert, of Los Angeles; and seven grandchildren.

Dr. Forward received much praise for his science fiction novels, although it was sometimes qualified. In The New York Times Book Review in 1993, Gerald Jonas wrote that in "Camelot 30K" Dr. Forward wasted "no time on frills like plot and character development." Still, Mr. Jonas concluded, "he has fashioned an intellectual puzzle, pure and simple, with a wonderfully clever solution that blew my own tentative hypotheses sky-high."

Lavietes, Stuart. 2002. Robert L. Forward, Physicist and Novelist, Dies at 70.The New York Times, 28 September 2002.