Philip Francis Nowlan

Philip Francis Nowlan was an American writer born in 1888 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who died in 1940. A newspaper columnist before turning to fiction, he created the character Buck Rogers in the 1928 novella Armageddon 2419 A.D., published in Amazing Stories, in which a man from the 20th century awakens centuries later into a war-torn future America. Nowlan adapted the story into the pioneering Buck Rogers comic strip the following year, illustrated by Dick Calkins, remaining involved with the strip until shortly before his death; the character went on to radio serials, film, and television across the twentieth century, becoming one of the foundational figures of American science-fiction adventure. He also wrote further Buck Rogers novellas for the pulps and the mystery novel The Girl from Nowhere.