Robert Lull Forward (August 15, 1932 – September 21, 2002) was an American physicist and science fiction writer.

He took early retirement in 1987, to focus on his fiction writing and consulting for such clients as NASA and the U.S. Air Force.

In 1984, Forward published his theoretical design for a "Casimir battery", utilizing the electromagnetic Zero-point energy and the attractive force associated.

Critics' reviews were mixed, always praising the science concepts and the aliens he created, but often finding the plots thin and the humans shallow.

"[7] His novel Rocheworld describes a double-planet system with a single shared atmosphere and ocean, and a beam-powered propulsion interstellar space ship to get there.

Forward also helped Larry Niven calculate the parameters of the Smoke Ring for his novel The Integral Trees.

[1] Both collected in an omnibus edition Dragon's Egg & Starquake (1994) Forward also wrote many articles in scientific journals and filed many patents, mainly while working for Hughes Aircraft.