He introduced several of the bestknown science-fiction writers of his time and later, such as David H. Keller, Jack Williamson, Edward E. Smith, Stanley G. Weinbaum, John W. Campbell, Jr., and Fletcher Pratt, and showcased the delightfully amusing and fanciful cartoon work of Frank R. Paul, doyen of science-fiction magazine illustrators for more than a quarter of a century. A remarkable and memorable figure, briefly sullied now and again by happenstance and personal foibles, but of enormous importance to the development of the twentieth-century science-fiction field, Gernsback has yet to be evenly assessed in a full-length biography or in a detailed study of his publishing work. Sam Moscowitz's informative but somewhat biased short studies in
Explorers of the Infinite (1960) whet the reader's interest but leave much unsaid and unresearched. Shorter entries on Gernsback in such works as Donald Tuck's
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1974), merely echo Moscowitz's data without fresh additions.
Born in Luxembourg, Gernsback came to the United States in February 1904. His early interest in electronics led to a partnership in late 1905 to design and manufacture a Gernsback invention which was nothing less than the first home radio set. The introduction of the first effective walkie-talkie followed in 1908.
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