Inspired by an interview with Stephen Wolfram, Rucker became a computer science professor at San José State University in 1986, from which he retired as professor emeritus in 2004. He then taught at Randolph-Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, Virginia from 1980 to 1982, before trying his hand as a full-time author for four years. Thanks to a grant from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Rucker taught at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg from 1978 to 1980. Although he was liked by his students and 'published a book and several papers,' several colleagues took umbrage at his long hair and convivial relationships with English and philosophy professors amid looming budget shortfalls as a result, he failed to attain tenure in the 'dysfunctional' department. Rucker taught mathematics at the State University of New York at Geneseo from 1972 to 1978. Xavier High School before earning a BA in mathematics from Swarthmore College (1967) and MS (1969) and PhD (1973) degrees in mathematics from Rutgers University. Through his mother, he is a great-great-great-grandson of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

The Rucker family were of Huguenot descent. Rucker was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, son of Embry Cobb Rucker Sr (OctoAugust 1, 1994), who ran a small furniture-manufacture company and later became an Episcopal priest and community activist, and Marianne (née von Bitter). Until its closure in 2014 he edited the science fiction webzine Flurb. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known for the novels in the Ware Tetralogy, the first two of which ( Software and Wetware) both won Philip K. Rudolf von Bitter Rucker ( / ˈ r ʌ k ər/ born March 22, 1946) is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement.

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