He's best known, in April 1926, for launching the first magazine fully-dedicated to science fiction, Amazing Stories, the debut issue featured works by HG Wells, Jules Verne and Edgar Allen Poe and although Gernsback lost control of the publishing rights in 1929, the magazine was in publication up until 2005, and has been resurrected online since 2012.
Gernsback was noted for his sharp (and sometimes dodgy) business practices, and for paying his writers extremely low fees or not paying them at all. HP Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith referred to him as 'Hugo the Rat'.
He is also credited as first coining the phrase ‘scientifiction‘, which would later become the term we know and love. His definition of the term being - "a charming romance interwoven with scientific fact and prophetic vision."
The Hugo Awards or 'Hugos', the annual achievement awards presented at the World Science Fiction Convention, were named after him, Gernsback himself received a special Hugo Award in 1960 as 'The Father of Magazine Science Fiction'.
In honour of the birth of one of the most influential figures in the history of science fiction, and as I totally love the artwork, here are a few of my favourite covers from 'Amazing Stories', starting with the very first issue.
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