Biography[edit]
Olsen was the son of Norwegian immigrants and grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. He attended Brown University, and achieved a Phi Beta Kappa and a masters in science in 1908.[3] He later met his wife, Thula Crismon (1896–1957) in Salt Lake City, Utah while teaching science. He had five children, but one died at birth. His first son and first child was Bob Gillham Olsen, named after his father's pen name born 1919, his first daughter and second child was Zora Louise Olsen born 1923, their second daughter and third child was Joyzelle Kaza Olsen born in 1929, and their fourth child and second son was Kenneth Crimson Olsen born 1937.
He moved to California and started the Olsen Advertising Agency,[3] all the while writing stories for magazines like Amazing Stories.[4] He built a home in Beverly Hills. Olsen often wrote humorous science fiction in Amazing Stories, from 1927 to 1936. He was one of the first writers to use the phrase "space marine".[5] His large hobby granted him fame through the world of science fiction in his day, but that was not enough to support a family. Ray Bradbury, just a teenager at the time, visited Bob Olsen often for mentorship, friendship, as well as simply a sharing of ideas.[6]