Robert Anton Wilson

born January 18, 1932, Brooklyn, New York, USA - died January 11, 2007, Capitola, California, USA

Robert Anton Wilson was the co-author, with Robert Shea, of the underground classic "The Illuminatus! Trilogy", which won the 1986 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. His other writings include "Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy", called "the most scientific of all science fiction novels," by New Scientist, and several nonfiction works of Futurist psychology and guerilla ontology, such as Prometheus Rising and The New Inquisition.

Wilson, who saw himself as a Futurist, author, and stand-up comic, regularly gave seminars at Eslan and other New Age centers. Wilson made both a comedy record ("Secrets of Power") and a punk rock record ("The Chocolate Biscuit Conspiracy"), and his play "Wilhelm Reich in Hell" was performed at the Edmund Burke Theatre in Dublin, Ireland.

His novel "Illuminatus!" was adapted as a 10-hour science fiction rock epic and performed under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Great Britain's National Theatre, where Wilson appeared briefly on stage in a special cameo role. Robert Anton Wilson was also a former editor at Playboy magazine.