Alan Nourse was born August 11, 1928 to Benjamin and Grace (Ogg) Nourse in Des Moines, Iowa. He attended high school in Long Island, New York. He served in the U.S. Navy after World War II. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1951 from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. He married Ann Morton on June 11, 1952 in Lynden, New Jersey. He received a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree in 1955 from the University of Pennsylvania. He served his one year internship at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, Washington. He practiced medicine in North Bend, Washington from 1958 to 1963 and also pursued his writing career.

He had helped pay for his medical education by writing science fiction for magazines. [1] After retiring from medicine, he continued writing. His regular column in Good Housekeeping magazine earned him the nickname "Family Doctor".

He was a friend of fellow author Avram Davidson. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1964 novel Farnham's Freehold to Nourse. Heinlein in part dedicated his 1982 novel Friday to Nourse's wife Ann.

His novel The Bladerunner lent its name to the Blade Runner movie, but no other aspects of its plot or characters, which were taken from Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? In the late 1970s an attempt to adapt The Bladerunner for the screen was made, with Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs commissioned to write a story treatment; no film was ever developed but the story treatment was later published as the novella, Blade Runner .

His novel Star Surgeon has been recorded as a public domain audio book at LibriVox

His pen names included "Al Edwards" and "Doctor X"..

He died on July 19, 1992 in Thorp, Washington.

Some confusion arose among science fiction readers who knew that Andre Norton used the pen name "Andrew North" at about the same time. They mistakenly assumed "Alan Nourse" to be another Norton pen name.

Short stories

• "Brightside Crossing" (published in the January 1956 issue of Galaxy magazine)
• "Mirror, Mirror" (1967)

Novelettes

• "High Threshold" (published in the March 1951 issue of Astounding)
• "The Universe Between" (published in the September 1951 issue of Astounding)

Novels

• Trouble on Titan (1954)
• A Man Obsessed (1955)
• Rocket to Limbo (1957)
• Scavengers in Space (1958)
• The Invaders are Coming! (1959, with co-author J. A. Meyer)
• Star Surgeon (1959)
• Raiders from the Rings (1962)
• "The Universe Between" (1965, a fix-up of "High Threshold" and "The Universe Between" )
• The Mercy Men (1968, revised version of A Man Obsessed)
• The Bladerunner (1974)
• The Fourth Horseman (1983)

Collections

• Tiger by the Tail and Other Science Fiction Stories (1961)
• The Counterfeit Man (1963)
• Psi-High and Others (1967)
• Rx for Tomorrow (1971)
• Short Works of Alan Edward Nourse (2008, reprint of seven of the stories from The Counterfeit Man)

Nonfiction Books

• Nine Planets (1960, revised edition 1970)
• So You Want to Be a Nurse (1961)
• The Body (Life Science Library) (1965, revised edition 1981)
• Intern (1965, under the pseudonym Doctor X)
• Universe, Earth and Atom: The Story of Physics (1969)
• Venus and Mercury: a First Book (1972)
• The Backyard Astronomer (1973)
• The Giant Planets: a First Book (1974, revised edition 1982)
• The Asteroids: a First Book (1975)
• Viruses: a First Book (1976, revised edition 1982)
• Hormones: an Impact Book (1979)
• Herpes: an Impact Book (1985)
• AIDS: an Impact Book (1986)
• The Elk Hunt (1986)
• Teen Guide to Safe Sex (1990)
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases (1992)
• The Virus Invaders: a Venture Book (1992)