R. D. Swisher

(1911 --)

Robert D. Swisher, Ph.D., was a research chemist, and starting in 1935 and through at least the 1940s, an SF fan. He was member of the Stranger Club in Boston and of FAPA and attended the Nycon.

With his wife Frances, he kept index cards on SF stories, authors, fanzines, and prozines. The result of this indexing was his SF Checklist, a listing of the titles of early fanzines.

Swisher also wrote scientific articles for prozines, including "Plan for a Universe" and "What Are Positrons?" in Astounding.

He is remembered today primarily for the Swisher Index, an early fanzine index, and his extensive correspondence with Astounding editor John W. Campbell, Jr..

He was also one of the charter members of the National Fantasy Fan Federation (N3F) in 1941, and was the subject of a Founding Member article by Jon D. Swartz in February 2019 issue National Fantasy Fan.

For an early short biography, see Who's Who in Fandom 1940, page 13.

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Person

1911—

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