The best science fiction novels do not make a new world out of whole cloth; rather they tend to take the existing world, change one or two of the rules, and imagine the consequences. Michael Crichton became the master at this style of reimaginings, finding the right balance between the science and the fiction. He grounded his works just enough to establish a patina of possibility, and then focused on what was the thrust of his works: the cinematic action.

On this day, October 23, in 1942, Michael Crichton was born. His father was the executive editor of Advertising Age, which may explain Crichton’s knack for keen prose, but his first professional foray was in teaching anthropology.

Crichton graduated from Harvard with honors, and returned to the university to study medicine, writing his novels on the side. His medical school experience later became the inspiration for the television series ER, but initially led to his breakout work The Andromeda Strain, about a satellite that returns to Earth carrying a deadly microorganism. Like a number of other novels by Crichton, it would be made into a movie.