Hugo Gernsback (; born Hugo Gernsbacher, August 16, 1884 – August 19, 1967) was a Luxembourgish–American inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher, best known for publications including the first science fiction magazine.
In his honour, annual awards presented at the World Science Fiction Convention are named the "Hugos". == Personal life == Gernsback was born in 1884 in Luxembourg City, to Berta (Dürlacher), a housewife, and Moritz Gernsbacher, a winemaker.
Gernsback emigrated to the United States in 1904 and later became a naturalized citizen.
He married three times: to Rose Harvey in 1906, Dorothy Kantrowitz in 1921, and Mary Hancher in 1951.
In April 1908 he founded Modern Electrics, the world's first magazine about both electronics and radio, called "wireless" at the time.
While the cover of the magazine itself states it was a catalog, most historians note that it contained articles, features, and plotlines, qualifying it as a magazine. Under its auspices, in January 1909, he founded the Wireless Association of America, which had 10,000 members within a year.
In 1912, Gernsback said that he estimated 400,000 people in the U.S.
In 1913, he founded a similar magazine, The Electrical Experimenter, which became Science and Invention in 1920.
In 1913, he founded a similar magazine, The Electrical Experimenter, which became Science and Invention in 1920.
The magazine contained many drawings and diagrams, encouraging radio listeners of the 1920s to experiment themselves to improve the technology.
He married three times: to Rose Harvey in 1906, Dorothy Kantrowitz in 1921, and Mary Hancher in 1951.
In 1925, he founded radio station WRNY, which was broadcast from the 18th floor of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.
Rider Publisher, New York around 1931. Gernsback made use of the magazine to promote his interests, including having his radio station's call letters on the cover starting in 1925.
In 1928, WRNY aired some of the first television broadcasts.
WRNY was often used as a laboratory to see if various radio inventions were worthwhile. Articles that were published about television were also tested in this manner when the radio station was used to send pictures to experimental television receivers in August 1928.
He also created the term "science fiction", though he preferred the term "scientifiction". In 1929, he lost ownership of his first magazines after a bankruptcy lawsuit.
He edited Radio News until 1929.
Such experiments were expensive, eventually contributing to Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing Company going into bankruptcy in 1929.
Rider Publisher, New York around 1931. Gernsback made use of the magazine to promote his interests, including having his radio station's call letters on the cover starting in 1925.
A year later, due to Depression-era financial troubles, the two were merged into Wonder Stories, which Gernsback continued to publish until 1936, when it was sold to Thrilling Publications and renamed Thrilling Wonder Stories.
"Everyday" dropped as March 1937 issue, and published as Science and Mechanics until 1976 Science Fiction Plus – March to Dec.
They originated and acquired the "Hugo" nickname during the 1950s and were formally defined as a convention responsibility under the name "Science Fiction Achievement Awards" early in the 1960s.
He married three times: to Rose Harvey in 1906, Dorothy Kantrowitz in 1921, and Mary Hancher in 1951.
Gernsback returned in 1952–53 with Science-Fiction Plus. Gernsback was noted for sharp (sometimes shady) business practices, and for paying his writers extremely low fees or not paying them at all.
That the founder of genre science fiction who gave his name to the field's most prestigious award and who was the Guest of Honor at the 1952 Worldcon was pretty much a crook (and a contemptuous crook who stiffed his writers but paid himself $100K a year as President of Gernsback Publications) has been clearly established.
They originated and acquired the "Hugo" nickname during the 1950s and were formally defined as a convention responsibility under the name "Science Fiction Achievement Awards" early in the 1960s.
The nickname soon became almost universal and its use legally protected; "Hugo Award(s)" replaced the longer name in all official uses after the 1991 cycle. In 1960 Gernsback received a special Hugo Award as "The Father of Magazine Science Fiction". The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted him in 1996, its inaugural class of two deceased and two living persons. Science fiction author Brian W.
Hugo Gernsback (; born Hugo Gernsbacher, August 16, 1884 – August 19, 1967) was a Luxembourgish–American inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher, best known for publications including the first science fiction magazine.
1958, was not published until 1971.
"Everyday" dropped as March 1937 issue, and published as Science and Mechanics until 1976 Science Fiction Plus – March to Dec.
The nickname soon became almost universal and its use legally protected; "Hugo Award(s)" replaced the longer name in all official uses after the 1991 cycle. In 1960 Gernsback received a special Hugo Award as "The Father of Magazine Science Fiction". The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted him in 1996, its inaugural class of two deceased and two living persons. Science fiction author Brian W.
The nickname soon became almost universal and its use legally protected; "Hugo Award(s)" replaced the longer name in all official uses after the 1991 cycle. In 1960 Gernsback received a special Hugo Award as "The Father of Magazine Science Fiction". The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted him in 1996, its inaugural class of two deceased and two living persons. Science fiction author Brian W.
He created dangerous precedents which many later editors in the field followed." The 2010 video game Mass Effect 2 contains a level involving a downed space charter that bears his name. == Influence in radio electronics and broadcasting == Gernsback made significant contributions to the growth of early broadcasting, mostly through his efforts as a publisher.
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