During World War II, science fiction split in two. At Astounding, John W. Campbell pushed his writers toward the logic and rigor that would define hard science fiction for decades to come. Across the aisle, Ray Palmer revived Amazing Stories with wild adventures, cosmic conspiracies, psychic mysteries, and the earliest hints of UFO lore. One magazine spoke to engineers; the other, to dreamers. Between them, they forged the two strands of science fiction that still shape the genre today — the world of reason, and the world of wonder.
