All My Heroes are Going to Ground...

Stanislaw Lem
September 12, 1921 -- March 27, 2006

One of the great science fiction writers has died. Most famous for his novel "Solaris". The remake film in 2002 starring George Clooney, while a dud at the box office is actually quite good.

Lem received "widespread acclaim" for The Cyberiad, a collection of stories set on a mechanical world ruled by robots.

I'm not surprised that you haven't heard of him. Most people I know don't.