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"The strength of a civilization is not measured by its ability to fight wars, but rather by its ability to prevent them." Gene Roddenberry as quoted in the program, Earth: Final Conflict (Scorched Earth episode).

Born Eugene Edward Roddenberry on August 19, 1921 in El Paso, Texas, he would later become better known as Gene Roddenberry. Best known as and the creator and producer of the long running television series Star Trek, Mr. Roddenberry also wrote for other television shows.

Gene grew up in Los Angeles, California and, after having attended University of Southern California, Columbia University, and University of Miami, he later would pursue a career in aeronautical engineering. In 1941 Roddenberry joined the Air Corps and became a pilot. During the course of his service in the Air Corps he had flown in several combat missions and was later awarded both the Distinguished Metal Cross and Air Metal awards.

After leaving the Air Corps, Gene worked as a pilot for Pan American airlines as well as working as a police officer for the Los Angeles Police Department from 1949-1956. It was just after this time that Gene would pursue television writing. In 1956 he left the LAPD to tackle a full time career in writing for television. One of the first major shows he worked on was West Point Story (1956-58). After submitting several of the shows scripts, he eventually became the head writer for the show. His other works from this period included scripts for the programs Highway Patrol (1955) , Have Gun Will Travel (1957), The Detectives (1959), Naked City (1958-63) , The Lieutenant (1963-66), Alias Smith and Jones (1971), as well as other programs. The Lietenant was the first program that Gene Roddenberry would become not only a writer but also its producer. The cast of the program placed before him several of the actors who would later become part of the Star Trek family, including Leonard Nemoy (Mr. Spock), Nichelle Nichols (Ohara), and Majel Barrett, who would later become his second wife.

In 1964, Gene originated his ideas for Star Trek. Initially the series was taken on by Desilu Studios, the production company founded by Desi Arnez and Lucille Ball. Star Trek premiered on September 8, 1966 and originally ran for three seasons. The program didn't do well when it originally aired and was cancelled because of low ratings. However, later on in its run in syndication, Star Trek would realize its greatest popularity. Indeed, in the years since its premier airing, it has

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