Vonnegut, Kurt

American author, born in Indianapolis, where both his father and grandfather were working as architects. Further back, the family was of German descent. Kurt Vonnegut studied biology and chemistry at Cornell University when the Second World War came in between. He was sent to Europe, where he was captured in December 1944, and as a prisoner of war he became an eyewitness to the allied bombings of Dresden in February 1945. After his return home, he resumed his university studies in Tennessee and Chicago. He was employed as a PR man at General Electric in 1947. At the same time, he began writing science fiction short stories, which he sent to different magazines. His first published short story appeared in Collier's Weekly in 1950. Since 1979, Kurt Vonnegut was married to the famous photographer Jill Krementz.