First of all, I did give my top 3-4, without looking up anything (except for one fact). I must confess that I have not read a Heinlein novel, so I looked THAT up in my initial post.
I read LOTS of short stories by many sci-fi authors and that gives me a sense of what they are about. That may not be the best, but I can say I read them, stories by these writers. While in college, I read and collected lots of paperback books with many sci-fi anthologies. One of my bucket list things to do is to read some of the great classic novels. At the top of that list are: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien; Heinlein (probably Stranger in a Strange Land), Ursula K. Le Guin (probably The Left Hand of Darkness), perhaps Philip K. Dick, and others, such as Philip Farmer and Harlan Ellison. I cannot recall specific short stories but enjoyed them as escapism and as a way to think of the world a bit differently. Most discussions online and in print do not mention short stories, at least not as a primary subject.
I like the Star Wars movies and Star Trek, too. Those have and will inspire new writers and new creative efforts (such as movies and TV). Let's be real; most of us, writers included, are inspired by stories we hear and watch and read.
With that in mind, I think the first three writers of Science Fiction inspired so many: Mary Shelly, Jules Verne, and H. G. Wells. They were among the FIRST and they are very good. NO Doubt they inspired so many other sci-fi writers. One guy often forgotten as a sci-fi writer is Edgar Allan Poe:
Poe also reinvented science fiction, responding in his writing to emerging technologies such as hot air balloons in "The Balloon-Hoax"
from Wikipedia.
Perhaps this will "muddy the waters" but I will add the Harlan Ellison wrote an episode for Star Trek, one of my favorite episodes:
Ellison repeatedly criticized how Star Trek creator and producer Gene Roddenberry (and others) rewrote his original script for the 1967 episode "The City on the Edge of Forever". Despite his objections, Ellison kept his own name on the shooting script instead of using "Cordwainer Bird" to indicate displeasure
(again from Wikipedia).
I will also confess that I rarely read novels, not wanting to commit huge blocks of time away from Real Life to read them. So short stories filled that need to read and read things for FUN without denying time for important things, such as studying.
One last comment on this topic at this point. For a college elective, I took a Philosophy course in college called "Religion and Science Fiction". It was GREAT FUN. I had to get approval by the professor since I did not take the prerequisite course on Plato. He was okay with waving it. The course attracted lots of guys I knew were engineering majors and the class was packed. Due to time constraints, we read many shorts stories and a novella or two, as I recall. Again, I do not recall specific shorts stories, or even the novella(s). But I enjoyed the chance to put some thought to what these stories allowed us to explore. As a course my senior year, it provided a justification of my approach to reading for FUN. Unfortunately, I do not recall too many specific stories. We explored several themes and used the stories to explore those themes.
I took no course in Physics, Chemistry, or Calculus that semester. Instead, I took courses for FUN and to explore things outside the realm of Pure Science and Math. The best parts of that semester, as a college senior: I made Dean's List, took 18 credit hours, AND dated several very nice and attractive young ladies.
GREAT FUN..!!!
Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 8:08 am
ConfederateSS.out!(The Blue and Silver Rebellion)... 
