Stefan Wul was the nom de plume of the French science fiction writer Pierre Pairault (27 March 1922 – 26 November 2003). He was a dental surgeon, but science fiction was his real passion. Most of his books reflect that, showing a deep knowledge of scientific data. Pairault retired from dental surgery in 1989, but remained active in the French science fiction scene.
He published eleven novels between 1956 and 1959 and a twelfth in 1977. One, Le Temple du Passé (1957), was translated into English, as The Temple of the Past in 1973. His fame outside of French-speaking countries is instead due to the animated adaptations of two of his novels by the animator and film director René Laloux. Oms en série, which Laloux filmed in 1973, was translated into English in 2010 and published under the film's title, Fantastic Planet.