Edward Elmer Smith was born in 1890. In 1915, he married Jeanne MacDougall and began collaborating on The Skylark of Space. In 1918, he earned his Ph.D. in chemistry and later became Chief Chemist for a company specializing in doughnut mixes. He had three children, Verna, Clarrissa and Roderick. During World War II, he was head of the Inspection Division of an ordnance plant at a laboratory called "Outer Siberia," but was fired for refusing to pass substandard shells. Doc was a master of many professions including lumberjack and carpenter, cereal and explosives chemist, chemical and mechanical engineer, metallurgist, blacksmith and machinist, hardrock miner, photographer, and cook. In university, he captained a crack drill and rifle team, sang in Gilbert and Sullivan light operas, and was president of the mandolin and guitar club. The remarkable skills of Doc's characters are sometimes hard to believe. Doc made them as capable as he, and Doc was a starkly incredible man.
Doc was Guest of Honor at the Second World Science Fiction Convention, and was inducted into the First Fandom Hall of Fame at the 21st Worldcon. He was a true fan. At the second Worldcon, he attended the masquerade in his leather motorcycle garb with a homemade raygun as a C.L. Moore character, Northwest Smith. He contributed frequently to fan magazines.
On 31 August 1965, the First Historian suddenly left this plane of existence; his friend Robert Heinlein reported that he had "urgent business a long way off, no time to spare to tell us more stories."