Early Life, Science Career and Family
Diana J. Gabaldon was born on January 11, 1952, in Arizona, (U.S.A.). Her father, Tony Gabaldon (1931–1998) was an Arizona state senator from Flagstaff.. Her mother's family were originally from Yorkshire (England).
Gabaldon grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from Northern Arizona University, 1970–1973, a Master of Science in Marine Biology from the University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 1973–1975, and a Ph.D. in Ecology from Northern Arizona University, 1975-1978. Gabaldon received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL) degree from Northern Arizona University in 2007.
As a full-time assistant professor in the Center for Environmental Studies at Arizona State University in the 1980s, Gabaldon did research, was a scientific computing and database expert, and taught university classes in anatomy and other subjects. She was the founding editor of Science Software Quarterly. During the mid-1980s, Gabaldon wrote computer articles and software reviews for national computer publications such as Byte magazine, PC Magazine, and InfoWorld.
Gabaldon currently lives in the Phoenix, Arizona area with her husband, Doug Watkins; they have three adult children. After her first book deal was finalized, she resigned her faculty position at Arizona State University to become a full-time fiction author.
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