Born in Waukesha, Wisconsin and raised in Central Michigan, author Vernor Vinge is the son of geographers. Fascinated by science and particularly computers from an early age, he has a Ph.D. in computer science, and is a retired professor of mathematics and computer science with San Diego State University. Divorced, his former wife, Joan D. Vinge, is also a science fiction writer.

He has won Hugo Awards for his novels A Fire Upon the Deep, A Deepness in the Sky, and Rainbows End and for the novella "Fast Times at Fairmont High". Known for his rigorous hard-science approach to science fiction, he became an iconic figure among cybernetic scientists in 1981 with the publication of the novella "True Names," one of the first stories to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace.

He has also gained a great deal of attention for his essay, "The Technological Singularity". The essay proposes that in the very near future computers will reach the point where they can check and rewrite their own programming, producing a machine super-intelligence and ending the era of humanity.

Sought widely as a speaker to both business and scientific groups, he lives in San Diego, California.