Larry Niven was born in California in 1938 and studied mathematics at Washburn University, Kansas. His first published science-fiction story was 'The Coldest Place' in 1964 and he immediately established himself as a significant figure in the science-fiction world, winning four Hugos for short fiction. Ringworld is the most important novel in his future history, Tales of Known Space sequence. He has also collaborated, most notably with Jerry Pournelle on The Mote in God's Eye, Oath of Fealty, Inferno, Lucifer's Hammer and Footfall.
