Hugo Gernsback

August 16, 1884 - August 19, 1967

Hugo Gernsback was a Luxembourgian American inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher who is considered to be the "Father of Magazine Science Fiction". Gernsback founded the first magazine in multiple fields including electronics and radio (also known as "wireless") and Science Fiction.

Prior to his involvement in Science Fiction, Gernsback was a pioneer in amateur radio and the electronics industry. He founded the radio station WRNY and was involved in some of the first television broadcasts in the country. Even though Gernsback's first magazines were aimed at the electronics industry, in time he included science fiction stories with the scientific articles. He went on to found the first magazine that was exclusively for Science Fiction, Amazing Stories.

Gernsback played a number of other critical roles in popularizing Science Fiction including coining the term Science Fiction and starting the craziness that is better known as Science Fiction fandom.

Gernsback dabbled a bit as a writer and wrote two novels during his lifetime. Even though many modern critics seem to disagree, his first novel, Ralph 124C 41+, is considered by some to be one of the most influential Science Fiction stories. As a result of Gernsback's significant contributions to the genre, the annual Science Fiction achievement awards, the "Hugos," were named after him.