Mari Wolf

thumb|175px|Mari Wolf

'''Mari Wolf''' (born August 27, 1926)<ref>{{ISFDB name|13652}}</ref> was an American science fiction writer and magazine columnist. She is credited with the first use of the word "droid" for a robot, in a science fiction story.

==Early life== Mari Wolf was raised in Laguna Beach, California, and studied mathematics at the University of California Los Angeles. She was also interested in rocketry as a young woman.<ref name="Sigma">Eric Leif Davin, [http://parsec-sff.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Novenber-2017-Issue-380.pdf "Brief Bios: Mari Wolf"] ''Sigma'' (November 2017): 4.</ref>

==Career== Wolf worked in the aerospace industry in Southern California,<ref name="Sigma" /> and was described as a "calculating-machine operator" at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1955.<ref>[https://issuu.com/saturdayeveningpost/docs/1955_03_05 "In the Jet Laboratory"]{{Dead link|date=September 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }} ''Saturday Evening Post'' (March 5, 1955): 112.</ref> She was active in the earliest days of science fiction fandom and publishing in Los Angeles, and a member of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24292582/mari_wolf_1952/ "Authors Celebrate Initial Issue of Fanzine Magazine"] ''Van Nuys News'' (June 29, 1952): 28. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}</ref> She wrote a monthly column about fandom, including fan conventions and fanzines. "Fandora's Box" appeared in ''Imagination'' magazine from 1951 to 1956.<ref>Eric Leif Davin, ''Partners in Wonder: Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926-1965'' (Lexington Books 2005): 89-91. {{ISBN|9780739158685}}</ref><ref>Ted White, [http://efanzines.com/EK/eI5/index.htm "Mari Wolf & Me"] ''e*I*5'' (December 2002).</ref> When she resigned from the column after her divorce, Robert Bloch took over as the feature's author.<ref>Earl Kemp, [http://efanzines.com/EK/eI5/index.htm "Tales of Imagination and Space Travel: A Capricious Chronology"] ''e*I*5'' (December 2002).</ref>

Stories by Wolf include "Robots of the World! Arise!" (''If: Worlds of Science Fiction'', 1952), "An Empty Bottle" (''If: Worlds of Science Fiction'', 1952), "The House on the Vacant Lot" (''Fantastic Story'', 1952), "Prejudice" (''Destiny'', 1953), "The Statue" (''If: Worlds of Science Fiction'', 1953), "Homo Inferior" (''If: Worlds of Science Fiction'', 1953), "The First Day of Spring" (''If: Worlds of Science Fiction'', 1954), and "The Very Secret Agent" (''If: Worlds of Science Fiction'', 1954). The word "droid" for a robot first appears in a 1952 story by Wolf ("Robots of the World! Arise!").<ref>Rebecca Hawkes, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/10/18/star-wars-lawsuits-who-has-lucasfilm-sued-and-why/ "Star Wars Lawsuits: Who Has Lucasfilm Sued and Why?"] ''The Telegraph'' (October 18, 2016).</ref> Her mystery novel, ''The Golden Frame'', was published in 1961.

A retrospective anthology, '' Mari Wolf Resurrected: The Complete Short Stories of Mari Wolf'', was published in 2011.<ref name="Fowlkes">Greg Fowlkes, ed. [https://books.google.com/books/about/Mari_Wolf_Resurrected.html?id=xYpLXwAACAAJ ''Mari Wolf Resurrected: The Complete Short Stories of Mari Wolf''] (Resurrected Press 2011). {{ISBN|9781935774952}}</ref>

==Personal life== Mari Wolf married fellow science fiction writer Rog Phillips in 1951, in Chicago. They divorced in 1955.<ref name="Fowlkes" />

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{ISFDB name|13652}} * {{gutenberg author|35350}} * {{Librivox author |id=16480}} * [https://fancyclopedia.org/Mari_Wolf "Mari Wolf"] entry at ''Fancyclopedia 3''. * [https://archive.org/details/RobosDoMundoErgamSeMariWolf/page/n0 "Robos do mundo! Ergam-se!"], a Portuguese translation of "Robots of the World! Arise!".

Category:1927 births Category:American women writers Category:American science fiction writers Category:Year of death missing Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni Category:Writers from Laguna Beach, California