On this day, August 16, 1884, Hugo Gernsback was born.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, the IEEE Spectrum

Hugo Gernsback


Gernsback portrait by Fabian, date unknown

Born: Hugo Gernsbacher; August 16, 1884; Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Died: August 19, 1967 (aged 83); Manhattan, New York City
Pen names: Beno Ruckshagg, Erno Shuckbagg, Grace G. Hucksnob, Grego Banshuck, Greno Gashbuck, Gus N. Habergock, Kars Gugenchob
Occupation: Inventor, magazine publisher, editor, writer
Genre: Science fiction


Gernsback demonstrating his television
goggles in 1963 for Life magazine


Gernsback watching a television broadcast
by his station WRNY on the cover of his
Radio News (Nov 1928)

Hugo Gernsback (/ˈɡɜːrnzbæk/; born Hugo Gernsbacher, August 16, 1884 – August 19, 1967) was an American editor and magazine publisher whose publications included the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories. His contributions to the genre as publisher were so significant that, along with the novelists Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, he is sometimes called "The Father of Science Fiction". In his honor, annual awards presented at the World Science Fiction Convention are named the "Hugos".

Gernsback emigrated to the U.S. in 1904 and later became a citizen. He was also a significant figure in the electronics and radio industries, even starting a radio station, WRNY, and the world's first magazine about electronics and radio, Modern Electrics. Gernsback died in New York City in 1967.

{snip}