Hugo Gernsback, inventor and publisher credited with popularizing the science fiction genre, was born in 1884.

Called the “Barnum of the Space Age” by Life magazine and the “Father of Modern Science Fiction” by the New York Times, Hugo Gernsback was an accomplished inventor and publicist, scientific visionary and pioneer in amateur radio and television broadcasting. Gernsback was the first to use the term “television” and sponsored the first television broadcasts in New York. He founded the influential Amazing Stories magazine, the first devoted to science fiction. Gernsback wrote what is generally recognized as the first widely-popular modern science fiction novel, Ralph 124C 41+, as a way to fill blank space in his magazine Modern Electrics. Ralph was full of strange futuristic devices such as television, radar, tape recorders, stainless steel and fluorescent lighting. The amazing futuristic devices in Ralph were very popular, and such devices played an important role in Gernsback’s later works of science fiction. Indeed, Gernsback had an uncanny ability to predict future inventions. Many of the devices described in Gernsback’s fictional works became reality before his death in 1967. The Hugo Awards, named in his honor, are given annually for the best science fiction books and films.

ReadWriteThink
In Writing Alternative Plots for Robert C. O’Brien’s Z for Zachariah (6–8), students read the science fiction novel Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien. They examine the decision-making strategies of the main character, Ann Burden, and finish by writing alternative endings.

Futuristic technology often pays a role in science fiction. In Paying Attention to Technology: Exploring a Fictional Technology (9–12), students complete a short survey to establish their beliefs about technology and then compare their opinions to the ideas in a novel that depicts technology, such as 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, REM World or Feed.

In Finding the Science Behind Science Fiction through Paired Readings (6–8), students explore the genre of science fiction, while learning more about the science integrated into the plot of the story using nonfiction texts and resources.

Science NetLinks
Students examine some of the then-futuristic machinery and inventions dreamed up by Leonardo da Vinci in Leonardo’s Machines (6–8).

Sometimes truth really is stranger than science fiction. Science NetLinks Science Updates often discuss advances and inventions in technology or medical science that sound as if they came from the mind of science fiction author.

Diagnostic Microchip (6–12) describes an innovative plan to get closer to early cellular distress signals, occurring before diseases are apparent.

Replicating Robots (6-12) describes a project at Cornell University that created robots which can build exact copies of themselves.

Thought-Controlled Robotics (6–12) describes a system under development that will allow victims of paralysis to control robots with their brains.