5 Greatest “Firsts” in Science Fiction Literature

Science fiction has a long history filled with impressive firsts that you may or may not have heard of. Where did robots and supercomputers and alien invasions come from anyway? Today, I want to write an article discussing those firsts. Read below to discover how science fiction became what it is today.

First Piece of Science Fiction Literature in English

This first in science fiction appeared much earlier in time than you might think. Appearing in 1638 and possibly written during the 1620s, the book The Man in the Moone stands as the first piece of true science fiction literature written in English. The book comes from Francis Godwin, a bishop in the Church of England.

The book describes a fictional author named Domingo Gonsales, who goes on a series of fantastic adventures after accidentally killing a man in a duel. He eventually ends up traveling to the moon, where he encounters a race of beings that live in a utopia. The book includes references to astronomy, especially Copernicus, while the story appeared largely inspired by Galileo’s work.

First Piece of Science Fiction Written by a Woman

Before Mary Shelley and Frankenstein, there was Margaret Cavendish and The Blazing World. Written in 1666 by Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, this book is both a satire and a utopia. It’s also an important first in that it’s the first piece of science fiction written by a woman and one where the author uses their real name.

In the story, a woman’s lover kidnaps her and takes her onto a ship. The ship blows off course and lands in the North Pole, where the rest of the crew dies. The woman, now alone, finds a portal and enters a parallel world filled with people-animal hybrids. The woman becomes an empress and establishes her own religion in this world.

The First Science Fiction Novel

While Margaret Cavendish wrote The Blazing World in 1666, the first true science fiction novel appeared in 1818. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein at the age of nineteen and changed science fiction forever. However, the difference between Shelley’s work and Cavendish’s is that it focuses on scientific experiments rather than supernatural events. The focus on science makes Shelley’s work the first true science fiction novel in this case.

You likely already know the story of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. In the book, Victor Frankenstein, a chemistry student, builds a person out of spare cadaver parts, then abandons his creation. He returns home only to find that the people he knows and loves are dying one by one. What begins is a hunt instigated by Frankenstein’s own creation.

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First Alien Invasion in Science Fiction Literature

Before I begin with this one, I admit it’s a little tricky to pinpoint. Technically, H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds introduced the first alien invasion with advanced technology. However, some stories included alien invasions before this book appeared. Either way, The War of the Worlds acts as a major milestone in science fiction for including a thorough alien invasion.

I’m currently reading this book right now, and I plan to do a review on it soon! Published fully in 1898 by H. G. Wells, the story follows an unnamed protagonist who is one of the first people to encounter a strange aircraft that has crashlanded in southern England. It turns out that creatures from the planet Mars have come to conquer Earth and its less advanced life forms.

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First Robot Introduced in Science Fiction

Lastly, we can’t forget this important first in science fiction, and it comes sooner than you might think. Before Isaac Asimov introduced robots, in his own work, Karel Čapek, a Czech writer and playwright, introduced robots in his play R. U. R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). This remains the first use of artificial machine life as well as the first use of the term “robot.”

The play was written in 1920 and performed in Czechoslovakia in 1921, followed by a New York City premiere the following year. In the play, humanity invents robots, though they eventually revolt, making this the first piece of literature to include a robot revolution as well. The term robot actually comes from the Czech word robota, which means “drudgery.”

There are many more firsts in science fiction, and I’m considering doing another article on it. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed reading, and I’ll see you all next week for another book review. Happy reading!

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