I think of John Campbell (as editor) as 'the' founder of the golden age of sci-fi.
As Asimov said:
Quote:
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"By his own example and by his instruction and by his undeviating and persisting insistence, he forced first Astounding and then all science fiction into his mold. He abandoned the earlier orientation of the field. He demolished the stock characters who had filled it; eradicated the penny dreadful plots; extirpated the Sunday-supplement science. In a phrase, he blotted out the purple of pulp. Instead, he demanded that science-fiction writers understand science and understand people, a hard requirement that many of the established writers of the 1930s could not meet. Campbell did not compromise because of that: those who could not meet his requirements could not sell to him, and the carnage was as great as it had been in Hollywood a decade before, while silent movies had given way to the talkies."
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Of course, Asimov and Clarke tended to write fairly wooden characters, so the 'understand science' part was more important than the 'understand people' part. But still...
I do think trying to tie Mary Wollstonecraft and Jonathan Swift in as the founders of the golden age is a little ludicrous. They may have influenced other writers, but at some point you have to draw a line.