Charles Sheffield, born in the UK in 1935, graduated from St John's College Cambridge with a Double First in Mathematics and Physics. Moving to the USA in the mid 1960s, he began working in the field of particle physics which lead to a consultancy with NASA and landed him the position of chief scientist at the Earth Satellite Corporation. Best known for writing hard SF, his career as a successful science fiction writer began in response to his grief over the loss of his first wife to cancer in 1977; Sheffield has been awarded both the HUGO and NEBULA AWARDs for his work and won the 1992 JOHN W. CAMPBELL MEMORIAL AWARD for Best Science Fiction Novel for BROTHER TO DRAGONS. He also served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America between 1984 and 1986.
For more information see www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/sheffield_charles