Short answers, pulled from the story.
L. Sprague de Camp was an American author of science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction who lived from the 27th of November 1907 to the 6th of November 2000. Over a 60 year career he wrote more than 100 books and was a major figure in science fiction during the 1930s and 1940s.
L. Sprague de Camp trained as an aeronautical engineer, earning a Bachelor of Science from the California Institute of Technology in 1930 and a Master of Science in engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology in 1933. He also worked as a surveyor and a patent expert before his writing career took off.
L. Sprague de Camp is credited with the first use of extraterrestrial as a noun meaning alien life, and with coining its abbreviation, E.T. He did so in his 1939 Astounding Science Fiction article Design for Life, though the adjective extraterrestrial itself dates back to 1868.
L. Sprague de Camp co-wrote two major fantasy series with Fletcher Pratt: the Harold Shea stories, beginning in 1940, and Gavagan's Bar, beginning in 1950. Critic Floyd C. Gale called them far and away the finest team of fantasy collaborators.
L. Sprague de Camp helped revive the sword and sorcery genre through his editorial work on, and continuation of, Robert E. Howard's Conan cycle. He also wrote one of the first major independent biographies of Howard.
L. Sprague de Camp won the 1953 International Fantasy Award for nonfiction with Willy Ley, became the third Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy in 1976, the fourth SFWA Grand Master in 1979, and won the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1984. He also won a Special Achievement Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 1996 and the Hugo Award for Nonfiction in 1997 for his autobiography, Time and Chance.
Yes, L. Sprague de Camp joined the newly formed Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal in May 1976. In 2011 he was selected for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's Pantheon of Skeptics, which honors deceased fellows who contributed to scientific skepticism.