American science fiction author, born in 1938 and best known for Ringworld, who wrote the animated episode The Slaver Weapon and so brought his feline Kzinti into Star Trek.
Larry Niven is an American science fiction novelist, born in 1938, whose Known Space stories include the award-winning Ringworld.
In 1973 he adapted his own short story The Soft Weapon as The Slaver Weapon for Star Trek: The Animated Series. Spock, Uhura and Sulu, travelling by shuttlecraft with a stasis box left by the long-dead Slavers, are captured by Kzinti, a warlike cat-like species who hope the box holds a weapon. The episode is unusual in that Kirk does not appear.
The story imported the Kzinti and other elements of Niven's fiction into Star Trek. The species has since been mentioned in Picard and seen in Lower Decks.