Portrait of James Tiptree Jr.

Birthday profile

James Tiptree Jr.

James Tiptree Jr. (Alice Bradley Sheldon), American psychologist and science fiction author (died 1987)

Born
August 24, 1915
Died
May 19, 1987
Zodiac sign
Virgo
Birth year
1915

About James Tiptree Jr.

Alice Bradley Sheldon, better known as James Tiptree Jr. (born Alice Hastings Bradley; August 24, 1915 – May 19, 1987), was an American science fiction and fantasy author. It was not publicly known until 1977 that James Tiptree Jr. was a pen name of a woman, which she used from 1967 until her death. From 1974 to 1985, she also occasionally used the pen name Raccoona Sheldon. Tiptree was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2012. Tiptree's debut story collection, Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home, was published in 1973 and her first novel, Up the Walls of the World, was published in 1978. Her other works include the 1973 novelette "The Women Men Don't See", the 1974 novella "The Girl Who Was Plugged In", the 1976 novella "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?", the 1985 novel Brightness Falls from the Air, and the 1974 short story "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever".

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

James Tiptree Jr. timeline

  1. Tiptree's debut story collection, Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home, was published in 1973 and her first novel, Up the Walls of the World, was published in 1978.
  2. It was not publicly known until 1977 that James Tiptree Jr. was a pen name of a woman, which she used from 1967 until her death.
  3. Tiptree was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2012.

The world when James Tiptree Jr. was born

James Tiptree Jr. was born in 1915. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1915

  • Top movieThe Birth of a Nation
  • Best-selling book"The Turmoil" – Booth Tarkington

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJess Willard defeats Jack Johnson for heavyweight title in Havana
  • Top headlineLusitania sunk by German submarine — 1,198 die
  • Technology milestoneFirst transcontinental telephone call (Bell to Watson)
  • World population~1.75B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWoodrow Wilson
  • U.S. population98.4M

1915 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in James Tiptree Jr.'s birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19152026
Gas$0.25$3.45/gal
Movie ticket$0.10$11.95
Population98.4M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.