Michael Crichton
From Wikinfo
Michael Crichton (born October 23, 1942) is an author of science fiction novels and producer of films and television programs. Crichton is a graduate of Harvard Medical School. When he was in the medical school, he had written several novels under the pen names John Lange and Jeffery Hudson.
He is perhaps best known for writing Jurassic Park (1991), Sphere (1987), and The Andromeda Strain (1969), but has written several other books with a scientific theme, as well as being the creator and executive producer of the hit television drama ER.
Other books are Prey (2002), dealing with a swarm of nano-robots out of control; Congo, a novel about the search for special industrial diamonds and a new race of gorillas; Timeline, dealing with space-time travel and the 14th century.
Within his non-fiction books is Travels, that contains autobiographical episodes.
Crichton has been critical of the scientific community for what he sees as a mixture of politics with science and the transformation of science into a political religion. In a January 2003 lecture at Caltech University, titled Aliens Cause Global Warming, Crichton attacked the science behind issues currently in the political arena, such as the global warming debate and second-hand smoke. In his lecture he criticized Scientific American magazine for "playing the role of mother church" and accused it of persecuting Danish statistician Bjorn Lomborg for heresy. Lomborg published a peer-reviewed book entitled The Skeptical Environmentalist which received widespread criticism from the scientific and environmental communities.
Contents |
Family
- Father: John Henderson Crichton
- Mother: Zula Miller Crichton
- Brother: Douglass Crichton
- Wife: Anne-Marie Martin
- Daughter: Taylor Crichton
- Fomer Wives: Joan Radam (1965-1970), Kathy St. Johns (1978-1980), Suzanne Childs.
Fiction
- 1966 Odds On - written as John Lange
- 1967 Scratch One - written as John Lange
- 1968 Easy Go - written as John Lange
- 1968 A Case of Need - written as Jeffery Hudson
- 1969 Venom Business - written as John Lange
- 1969 Zero Cool - written as John Lange
- 1969 The Andromeda Strain
- 1970 Grave Descend - written as John Lange
- 1970 Drug of Choice - written as John Lange
- 1970 Dealing - written with his bother Douglass Crichton as Michael Douglas
- 1972 Binary - written as John Lange
- 1972 The Terminal Man
- 1975 The Great Train Robbery
- 1976 Eaters of the Dead
- 1980 Congo
- 1987 Sphere
- 1990 Jurassic Park
- 1992 Rising Sun
- 1993 Disclosure
- 1995 The Lost World
- 1996 Airframe
- 1999 Timeline (novel)
- 2002 Prey
Non-Fiction
- 1970 Five Patients
- 1977 Jasper Johns
- 1983 Electronic Life
- 1988 Travels
Directed Movies
- 1972 Pursuit (a TV movie)
- 1973 Westworld
- 1978 Coma
- 1979 The Great Train Robbery
- 1981 Looker
- 1984 Runaway
- 1989 Physical Evidence
Screenplay
- 1973 Extreme Close Up
- 1996 Twister - co-written with his wife Anne-Marie Martin
Films based on work by Michael Crichton
- 1971 The Andromeda Strain
- 1972 Dealing
- 1972 The Carey Treatment (A Case of Need)
- 1972 The Terminal Man
- 1979 The Great Train Robbery
- 1993 Rising Sun
- 1993 Jurassic Park
- 1994 Disclosure
- 1995 Congo
- 1997 The Lost World: Jurassic Park
- 1998 Sphere
- 1999 The 13th Warrior (Eaters of the Dead)
- 2001 Jurassic Park 3
- 2003 Timeline
TV Series
External link
- Official homepage
- Michael Crichton: A Critical Companion (book) by Elizabeth A. Trembley
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Michael Crichton" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton January 3, 2004
