[NetBehaviour] Nine Words You Might Think Came from Science but Which Are Really from Science Fiction.

[Corrado Morgana]

Asimov may indeed have come up with the term 'robotics', however the word
robot was introduced to the public by Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play
R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)1921- it's a derivation of the Czech word
for worker/slave

This has come up in the forum posts

So there

C

-----Original Message-----
From: netbehaviour-bounces at netbehaviour.org
[mailto:netbehaviour-bounces at netbehaviour.org] On Behalf Of marc garrett
Sent: 07 April 2009 10:15 AM
To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity
Subject: [NetBehaviour] Nine Words You Might Think Came from Science but
Which Are Really from Science Fiction.

Nine Words You Might Think Came from Science but Which Are Really from 
Science Fiction.

1. Robotics. This is probably the most well-known of these, since Isaac 
Asimov is famous for (among many other things) his three laws of 
robotics. Even so, I include it because it is one of the only actual 
sciences to have been first named in a science fiction story ("Liar!", 
1941). Asimov also named the related occupation (roboticist) and the 
adjective robotic.

2. Genetic engineering. The other science that received its name from a 
science fiction story, in this case Jack Williamson's novel Dragon's 
Island, which was coincidentally published in the same year as "Liar!" 
The occupation of genetic engineer took a few more years to be named, 
this time by Poul Anderson.

3. Zero-gravity/zero-g. A defining feature of life in outer space (sans 
artificial gravity, of course). The first known use of "zero-gravity" is 
from Jack Binder (better known for his work as an artist) in 1938, and 
actually refers to the gravityless state of the center of the Earth's 
core. Arthur C. Clarke gave us "zero-g" in his 1952 novel Islands in the 
Sky.

4. Deep space. One of the other defining features of outer space is its 
essential emptiness. In science fiction, this phrase most commonly 
refers to a region of empty space between stars or that is remote from 
the home world. E. E. "Doc" Smith seems to have coined this phrase in 
1934. The more common use in the sciences refers to the region of space 
outside of the Earth's atmosphere.

more...
http://blog.oup.com/2009/03/science-fiction/
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