Chronological Chart of the History of SF

• 4thC BC  Plato, The Republic; Atlantis
• 1627 Bacon, Sir Francis, The New Atlantis 
• 1724 Swift,Gulliver's Travels 

• 1898 -- Radium discovered

• Experiments in mixing science and romance
• Utopias

  ---

  1818 Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

• 1843 Nathaniel Hawthorn, "The Birthmark"
• 1862 Jules Verne, Five Weeks in a Balloon
• 1864 Jules Verne, Journey to the Center of the Earth, 2,000 Leagues Under the Sea, From Earth to Moon
• 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde
• 1887 H. Rider Haggard, She
• 1888 Bellamy, Edward, Looking Backward 
• 1889 Morris, William, News From Nowhere 

1900-1920

• 1900--Quantum Theory formulated by Max Plank
• 1903--Wright Bros-- 1 flight
• 1905-- Enistein, Special Theory of Relativity
• 1908 -- Model-T developed
• 1912 -- Titanic sinks
• WWI 1914-1916
• 1915 -- Einstein, General Theory of Relativity

• 1895 H.G. Wells, The Time Machine
• 1896 H.G. Wells,The Island of Dr. Moreau 
• 1897 H.G. Wells,The Invisible Man
• 1898 H.G. Wells,The War of the Worlds
• 1899 H.G. Wells,When the Sleeper Wakes 
• 1901 Butler, Samuel, Erewhon  
• 1905 Wells, H.G. A Modern Utopia 
• 1908 H.G. Wells,The War in the Air
• 1909 Forster. E. M. "The Machine Stops"
• 1911 Hugo Gernback, Ralph I24C 4I+
• 1912 E.R.R. Burroughs, A Princess of Mars, Tarzan
• 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, THe Lost World
• 1914 E.R.R. Burroughs, At the Earth's Core 
• 1915 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland
• 1919 A.A. Merrit, The Moon Pool

1920's

• 1920-- Women get the Vote in US
• 1921 -- first coast-to-coast airmail
• 1921 -- Hitler becomess leader of Nazi Party
• 1924 -- first use of insecticides
• 1926 -- first liquid fuel rocket launched
• 1926 -- first talking movies
• 1927 -- Lindberg flies Atlantic
• 1928 -- Penicillin discovered
• 1928 -- Bakelite: 1st commercial plastic
• 1929 Stock Market crash

• 1921 Carl Capek, R.U. R.
• 1923 Weird Tales founded
• 1926 Amazing Founded by Gernsback
• 1928 E. "Doc" Smith The Skylark of Space
• 1928 "Armageddon -- 2419 AD" (first Buck Rogers)
• 1929 Edmund Hamilton, Crashing Suns, Outside the Universe

1930's

• The Depression
• 1932 FDR elected; starts "New Deal"
• 1933 Hitler takes over in Germany
• 1933 -- 
• prohobotion repealed
• 1934 -- Jews begin to be seny to Concentration Camps
• 1935 -- Docial Security Act
• 1936 Spanish Civil War
• 1938 Orson Wells broadcast of War of the Worlds
• 1939 Germany invades Poland; 
• England and France declare war
• 1939 World's Fair
• 1939: invention of ball point pen, FM radio, nylon stockings, helicopter

• 1930 Olaf Stapeldon, Last and First Men
• 1930, Charles Williams, War in Heaven 
• 1931 Charles Williams, Many Dimensions, The Greater Trumps
• 1932 Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
• 1933  H.G. Wells,The Shape of Things to Come
• 1934 Jack Williamson The Legion of Space"
• 1934 Stanley G. Weinbaum, "A Martian Odyssey" 
• 1937 E.E "Doc Smith" Galactic Patrol
• 1937 C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet

The 1940's

• 1940 Germans enter Paris
• 1941, Dec. 7 Pearl Harbor 
• US enters WWII
• 1941  Manhattan Project begins
• 1942 Germans invade Russia
• 1942: Fermi splits atom; magnetic recording tape invented; first working computer built; first jet plane tested
• 1944-- D-Day
• 1945 US drops atom bomb 
• 1946 -- ENIAC computer at Penn
• 1947 Roswell -- UFO scare
• 1947 HUAAC hearings: Hollywood Ten
• Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier
• Cold War begins
• 1948 -- transistor invented; LP albulm;
• 1949 Chinese Communist Revolution

• March 1938 --John W.Campbell in full control of Astounding Science Fiction
• 1938 Campbell, John, "Who Goes There?" 
• 1939 E.E "Doc Smith" Grey Lensman
• 1940 L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt: "The Compleat Enchanter" [Fantasy]
• 1940 Robert Heinlein, "The Roads Must Roll" 

1940 A. E. Van Vogt: "Slan" serialized in Astounding
1941 L. Sprague de Camp: "Lest Darkness Fall"; Heinlein: "Methuselah's Children"
• 1942 Asimov, Isaac, "Runaround" 
• 1942. Asimov, Foundation
• 1942  Lester del Rey "Nerves"
• 1942 Austin Tappan Wright: Islandia
• 1944, Clifford Simak "City" serialized
• 1943 Fritz Leiber: "Conjure Wife" "Gather, Darkness!"
• 1943 C.S. Lewis: Perelandra
• 1943 A.E. Van Vogt: "The Book of Ptath"

"The Weapon Makers"
• 1944 Frederic Brown "Arena" 
• 1944 Olaf Stapledon: Sirius
• 1945, George Orwell, Animal Farm
• 1947, New Worlds Mag appears in UK
• 1947 Pilgrims Through Space and Time
• 1944 Frederic Brown "Arena"
• 1945 C.S. Lewis: That Hideous Strength
• 1945 A.E. Van Vogt: The World of Null-A
• 1947 Ray Bradbury: "Dark Carnival"
• 1947 Robert A. Heinlein: Rocketship Galileo
• 1947 E. E. Smith: Children of the Lens
• 1948. Judith Merill, " That Only a Mother"
• 1948 Arthur C. Clarke: Against the Fall of Night
• 1948 Robert A. Heinlein: Space Cadet
• 1949 Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With a Thousand Faces 
• 1949 George Orwell 1984
• 1949     George R. Stewart: Earth Abides
• 1949 Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction begins

• 1950 Korean War begins
• 1951 15 million TV sets in USA; color TV introduced
• 1951 elctricity produced from atomic power
• 1952 US explodes hydrogen bomb
• 1954 Brown v. Board of Education begins to strike down legal segregation
• 1954 Polio vaccine begins to be used
• 1955 Rosa Parks begins Montgomery Bus boycott
• 1955 First nuclear power plant built
• 1957 Russians launch sputnik
• 1958 US launches Explorer; NASA founded
• 1959 Castro takes over in Cuba
• 1959 Russin Lunik program gets to moon and takes pictures

• 1950 --Doubleday begins publishing SF hardbacks
• 1950--15 new SF mags begin
• 1950 Ray Bradbury, "There Will Come Soft Rains" 
• 1950 Isaac Asimov: "I, Robot" 
• 1950 James Blish: "Earthman, Come Home"
• 1950 Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles
• 1950 Judith Merrill: Shadow on the Heath
• 1950 Theodore Sturgeon: The Dreaming Jewels
• 1951 Ray Bradbury: Farenheit 451; The Illustrated Man
• 1951     Arthur C. Clarke: Prelude to Space 
• 1951     Philip Jose Farmer: The Lovers 
• 1951     Robert A. Heinlein: The Green Hills of Earth; The Puppet Masters
• 1951     John Wyndham: The Day of the Triffids 
• 1952     Alfred Bester: The Demolished Man magazine
• 1952     Frederik Pohl & C.M. Kornbluth: Space Merchants 
• 1952     Kurt Vonnegut Jr.: Player Piano 
• 1952 Arthur C. Clarke, "The Sentinel"; "The Nine Billion Names of God";Bradbury, Ray, "The Sound of Thunder" 
• 1953 Blish, James. "Common Time" 
• 1953 -- Ballantine begins publishing SF paperbacks
• 1953 -- first Hugo award
• 1953 Isaac Asimov: The Caves of Steel
• 1953 James Blish: A Case of Conscience 
• 1953 Arthur C. Clarke: Childhood's End
• 1953 Hal Clement: Mission of Gravity (magazine appearance) 
• 1953 Robert A. Heinlein: Starman Jones
• 1953 Ward Moore: Bring the Jubilee 
• 1953 Theodore Sturgeon: More Than Human
• 1953 John Wyndham: The Kraken Wakes
• 1954 Jerome Bixby, "It's a Good Life";  Tom Godwin, "The Cold Equations" 
• 1954 J.R.R. Tolkein: The Lord of the Rings
• 1954 Wilson Tucker: Wild Talent
• 1955 Isaac Asimov: The End of Eternity
• 1955 Leigh Brackett: The Long Tomorrow
• 1955 James Blish: Earthman, Come Home
• 1955 Philip K. Dick: Solar Lottery
• 1955 Jack Finney: The Body Snatchers
• 1955 Frank Herbert: Under Pressure (magazine appearance)
• 1956 Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism 
• 1957 James Blish: The Seedling Stars
• 1957 Philip K. Dick: Eye in the Sky
• 1957 Robert Heinlein: Citizen of the Galaxy
• 1957 Fred Hoyle: The Black Cloud 
• 1957 Fritz Leiber: The Big Time 
• 1957 Nevil Shute: On the Beach 
• 1957 John Wyndham: The Midwich Cuckoos
• 1958 Bester, Alfred, "The Men Who Murdered Mohammed" 
• 1958 James Blish: A Case of Conscience
• 1958 Robert A. Heinlein: Have Spacesuit Will Travel
• 1959 Edmond Cooper: Seed of Light 
• 1959 Gordon Dickson: Dorsai!
• 1959 Walter M. Miller: A Canticle for Leibowitz
• 1959 Kurt Vonnegut, Jr,: The Sirens of Titan
• 1959 Heinlein, Robert, "All You Zombies"; STARSHIP TROOPERS 

 

The 1960's

• 1960 JFK elected; pledge to go to moon
• 1961 Berlin Wall goes up
• 1961 Russian put 1st man in space; US follows
• 1962 Cuban Missle Crisis
• 1962 Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
• Telstar -- first Satellite photos relayed
• 1963 JFK assasinated
• 1964 The Twist hits and the Beatles come to the US
• 1965 Escalation of war in Viet Nam
• 1965 Assassination of Malcolm X
• 1967 First human heart transplant
• 1968 Tet Offensive; begin large-scale anti-war protests
• 1968 Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy assasinated
• 1969 Niel Armstrong walks on the moon
• 1969 Woodstock
• 1969 Cyclamates and DDT banned

• 1960 Philip Jose Farmer: Strange Relations
• 1960 Harry Harrison: Deathworld (New York: Bantam) Hugo nominee.
• 1960 Theodore Sturgeon: Venus Plus X (New York: Pyramid Books)
• Astounding become Analog Science Fact and Fiction
• 1961 Heinelin, Stranger in a Strange Land
• 1962 Philp K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle
• 1965 Frank Herbert, Dune; Ellison, Harlan. "Repent, Harlequin, Said the Ticktock Man" 
• 1966 Nebula Awards begin
• 1966 Star Trek series begns
• 1966 Dick, Philip K, "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale"; Delany, Samuel, "Aye and Gomorrah" 
• 1967 Kate Wilhelm, "Baby, You Were Great!"
• 1968 Dick, Philip K., BLADE RUNNER/ DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP;  James Tiptree, Jr. "Mamma Come Home" 
• 1969 Anne McCaffrey, "Apple"; Le Guin, Ursula, THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS 

 

• 1970's
• 1970 Conservative Party wins in Britain
• 1970 Kent State -- 4 students shot; Student Strikes
• 1971 U.S. bombs Cambodia
• 1971 Lt. Calley found gulity of Mylai Massacre
• 1971 Pentagon Papers begin to appear
• 1972 Watergate Break-in; Nixon re-elected
• ERA passes Congress but not ratified
• 1973: Watergate Hearings; Nixon resigns
• 1973: Cease-Fire in Vietnam; Arab Oil Embargo
• 1973: AIM occupies Wounded Knee
• 1974: Nixon resigns
• 1975: Indictment of leading figures in Nixon administration
• First VCR
• 1976: Bicentennial; Carter elected
• 1977 Test flight of first shuttle, Enterprise
• 1978: Leftist Sandanistas in Nicaragua try to take over from Samoza 
• 1979  Three Mile Island
• 1979  First Test-tube baby born

• 1973  Brian Aldiss, Billion Year Spree
• 1976 Tiptree, James, "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" 
• 1977 Tiptree, James, "The Screwfly Solution" 
• 1978 Omni Mag founded
• 1979 Varley, John. "Options" 

 

The 1980's

• 1980 Iran/ Iraq War
• 1980 world wide erradication of Smallpox
• 1981 Columbia, first re-usable space shuttle
• 1981  IBM intoduces 1st PC
• 1981  AIDs recognized 
• 1983 Music CD's first appear
• 1984 Apple introces Macs and mouse
• 1985 Gorbachev begins glasnost
• 1986 Challenger Shuttle explodes on take off
• 1986 Chernobyl partial meltdown
• 1989 Tiananmen Sq.
• 1989 Berlin Wall comes down

• 1980 Joanna Russ, "Amor Vincit Foeminam: The Battle of the Sexes in SF"
• 1981 Carol Pearson and Katherine Pope, The Female Hero in British and American Literature 
• 1981 William Gibson, "Johnny Mnemonic" 
• 1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer
• 1985 Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game
• 1987 Star Trek The Next Generation begins
• 1988 Larry McCaffrey, "The Desert of the Real: The Cyberpunk Controversy"

 

• 1990: Mandela freed; Germany reunified
• 1990 Hubble Spacetelescope launched
• Voyager I tanmits pictues of entire solar system
• 1991 Opeartion Desert Storm; Gulf War
• 1991 Societ Union disolved
• 1992 Earth Summit Rio de Janoro
• 1993 Waco; 1st World Trade Center bombing
• 1997 first cloning of mammal (Dolly)

• 1992 Kim Stanley Robinson, RED MARS 
• 1993 X-Files begins
• 1995 John Clute and Peter Nicholls, THE SCIENCE FICTION ENCYCLOPEDIA