Timeline of science fiction


This is a timeline of science fiction. While the date of the start of science fiction is debated, this list includes events included in timelines published by expert sources.

16th century

17th century

18th century

YearEvent
1726Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift is published.
1741Niels Klim's Underground Travels by Ludvig Holberg is published.
1752Micromégas by Voltaire is published.
1771The Year 2440 by Louis-Sébastien Mercier is published.

19th century

YearEvent
1805The Last Man by Jean-Baptiste Cousin de Grainville is published.
1818Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley is published.
1826The Last Man by Mary Shelley is published.
1838The [Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket] by Edgar Allan Poe is published.
1864Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne is published.
1865From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne is published.
1868The Steam Man of the Prairies by Edward S. Ellis, the first SF dime novel, is published.
1869–1870Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne is published in serial form.
1871The Battle of Dorking by George Tomkyns Chesney is published.
1871The Coming Race by Edward Bulwer-Lytton is published.
1872Erewhon by Samuel Butler is published.
1872Récits de l'infini by Camille Flammarion, a work of fiction expanding upon the concepts of extraterrestrial life previously covered in his 1864 non-fiction book Real and Imaginary Worlds, is published; these works are later compiled and published as Lumen in 1887.
1876 onwardsThe Frank Reade dime novel series by Harry Enton, and later Luis Senarens, is published.
1884Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott is published.
1886Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is published.
1887A Crystal Age by W. H. Hudson is published.
1888Looking Backward, 2000–1887 by Edward Bellamy is published.
1889A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain is published.
1890News from Nowhere by William Morris is published.
1895The Time Machine by H. G. Wells is published.
1896The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells is published.
1898The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells is published.

1900s

YearEvent
1901The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells is published.
1901The Purple Cloud by M. P. Shiel is published.
1902Georges Méliès shows the film A Trip to the Moon.
1904"The Country of the Blind" by H. G. Wells is published.
1905A Modern Utopia by H. G. Wells is published.
1907The Iron Heel by Jack London is published.
1909The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster is published.

1910s

YearEvent
1910Thomas Edison's film company produces Frankenstein.
1911Ralph 124C 41+ by Hugo Gernsback is published in serial form in Modern Electrics; it is published in book form in 1925.
1911The Hampdenshire Wonder by J. D. Beresford is published.
1912Under the Moons of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs is published.
1912The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle, which gives the name to the lost world subgenre of science fiction, is published.
1912–1914Darkness and Dawn by George Allan England is published in three separate serializations across 1912 and 1913, and in book form in 1914.
1918Moon Pool">Moon (2009 film)">Moon Pool by A. Merritt is published.

1920s

YearEvent
1920The play R.U.R. by Karel Čapek is published, introducing the word "robot". It is first performed in 1921.
1923The Clockwork Man by E. V. Odle is published.
1923Men Like Gods by H. G. Wells is published.
1923Weird Tales is launched.
1923Hugo Gernsback dedicates the August issue of Science and Invention to "scientifiction".
1924We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is published.
1924The film Aelita, based on the 1922 novel Aelita by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, is released.
1926Hugo Gernsback launches Amazing Stories, the first specialized science fiction magazine.
1927Fritz Lang releases the film Metropolis based on von Harbou's 1925 novel.
1928The Skylark of Space by E. E. Smith is published, launching the Skylark series.
1929Buck Rogers in the 25th Century begins publication as a comic strip.
1929Fritz Lang releases the film Woman in the Moon.
1929Hugo Gernsback loses control of Amazing Stories alongside his other magazines as Experimenter Publishing goes bankrupt. He then launches the Wonder Stories family of magazines consisting of Science Wonder Stories, Air Wonder Stories, and Science Wonder Quarterly.

1930s

YearEvent
1930Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon is published.
1930The Iron Star by John Taine is published.
1930Astounding Stories of Super-Science begins publication.
1930The film Just Imagine is released.
1930The Comet, the first science-fiction fanzine, is launched.
1931Abel Gance's film End of the World is released.
1931James Whale releases the film Frankenstein.
1931Astounding Stories of Super-Science changes its title to Astounding Stories.
1932Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is published.
1933"Shambleau" by C. L. Moore is published.
1933The film The Invisible Man, directed by James Whale and based on the 1897 novel by H. G. Wells, is released.
1934"Twilight" by John W. Campbell is published.
1934"Sidewise in Time" by Murray Leinster is published.
1934"A Martian Odyssey" by Stanley G. Weinbaum is published.
1934"Triplanetary" by E. E. Smith is published, launching the Lensman series.
1934The Legion of Space by Jack Williamson is published, launching the Legion of Space series.
1934The Flash Gordon comic strip begins publication.
1935Odd John by Olaf Stapledon is published.
1936Things to Come, directed by William Cameron Menzies, is released.
1936War with the Newts by Karel Čapek is published.
1936The first Flash Gordon film serial is released.
1936At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft is published.
1936Hugo Gernsback sells Wonder Stories, which is retitled Thrilling Wonder Stories.
1937John W. Campbell becomes editor of Astounding Stories, launching the so-called Golden Age of Science Fiction.
1937Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon is published.
1938"Helen O'Loy" by Lester del Rey is published.
1938Orson Welles produces a radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds, resulting in panic when it is mistaken for a news broadcast.
1938Superman first appears in the first issue of Action Comics.
1938"The Legion of Time" by Jack Williamson is published.
1939"Lest Darkness Fall" by L. Sprague de Camp is published in Unknown. It is published in an expanded novel form in 1941.
1939The first annual World Science Fiction Convention is held in conjunction with the 1939 New York World's Fair.

1940s

YearEvent
1940The Future History stories "If This Goes On—" and "The Roads Must Roll" by Robert A. Heinlein are published in Astounding Science Fiction.
1940Slan by A. E. van Vogt is published as a serial; it is later published in book form in 1946.
1941"Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov is published.
1942"Foundation" by Isaac Asimov, the first story in what would become the 1951 fix-up novel Foundation and later the broader [Foundation (novel series)|Foundation series], is published.
1942Beyond This Horizon by Robert A. Heinlein is published.
1944"City" by Clifford D. Simak, the first story in what would become the 1952 fix-up novel City, is published.
1944Sirius by Olaf Stapledon is published.
1945"Contact (novelette)|First Contact]" by Murray Leinster is published.
1945The World of Null-A by A. E. van Vogt is published as a serial; it is later published in book form in 1948.
1946The Best of Science Fiction anthology, edited by Groff Conklin, is published.
1946Adventures in Time and Space, an anthology edited by Raymond J. Healy and J. Francis McComas, is published.
1947Rocket Ship Galileo by Robert A. Heinlein, the first of his juvenile novels, is published.
1949The Best Science Fiction Stories, an anthology edited by E. F. Bleiler and T. E. Dikty, is published.
1949Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is published.
1949Earth Abides by George R. Stewart is published.
1949The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction begins publication.

1950s

YearEvent
1950I, Robot by Isaac Asimov, a fix-up of stories in his Robot series, is published.
1950The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury is published.
1950Galaxy Science Fiction begins publication.
1950The film Destination Moon, directed by Irving Pichel, is released.
1951The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham is published.
1951The film The Day the Earth Stood Still is released.
1951The film When Worlds Collide is released.
1952The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth is published in serial form as Gravy Planet; it is published in book form in 1953.
1953The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester is published and wins the first Hugo Award for Best Novel.
1953Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is published.
1953Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke is published.
1953Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement is published in serial form; it is published in book form in 1954.
1953Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore is published.
1953More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon is published.
1953The 11th World Science Fiction Convention awards the first Hugo Awards.
1953The film The War of the Worlds is released.
1954The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov is published.
1954I Am Legend by Richard Matheson is published.
1954"The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin is published.
1954The film Them! is released.
1955Earthman, Come Home by James Blish is published.
1955"A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller Jr., the first story in what would become the 1959 fix-up novel A Canticle for Leibowitz, is published.
1955The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov is published.
1955The film This Island Earth is released.
1956The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester is published.
1956Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein is published.
1956The film Invasion of the Body Snatchers is released.
1956The film Forbidden Planet is released.
1956The first annual Milford Science Fiction Writers' Conference is organized by Damon Knight, James Blish, and Judith Merril.
1957Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is published.
1958Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss is published.
1958Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale by Ivan Yefremov is published.
1959Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick is published.
1959Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein is published.
1959"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes is published as a novella; it is published in expanded novel form in 1966.
1959The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut is published.
1959Dorsai! by Gordon R. Dickson is published.
1959The journal Extrapolation begins publication.

1960s

YearEvent
1960The film The Time Machine is released.
1960Astounding Science Fiction is retitled Analog Science Fact and Fiction.
1961The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison is published.
1961Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein is published.
1961Solaris by Stanisław Lem is published.
1961The film The Day the Earth Caught Fire is released.
1962The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard is published.
1962The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick is published.
1962A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle is published.
1963Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle is published.
1963Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut is published.
1963Doctor Who begins airing.
1964Martian Time-Slip by Philip K. Dick is published.
1964Farnham's Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein is published.
1964Michael Moorcock becomes editor of New Worlds.
1964The film Dr. Strangelove is released.
1965We Got Along After the Bomb">We (novel)">We Got Along After the Bomb by Philip K. Dick is published.
1965Dune by Frank Herbert is published and wins the first Nebula Award for Best Novel.
1965""Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison is published.
1965The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein is published.
1965The Science Fiction Writers of America is founded.
1966Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany is published.
1966Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison is published.
1966Orbit 1, the first in a series of anthologies edited by Damon Knight, is published.
1966The film Fahrenheit 451 is released.
1966Star Trek begins airing.
1967Dangerous Visions, a New Wave anthology edited by Harlan Ellison, is published.
1968Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner is published.
1968Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick is published.
1968Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch is published.
1968The film 2001: A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick, is released.
1968The film Planet of the Apes is released.
1968Locus begins publication.
1969The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin is published.
1969Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is published.

1970s

YearEvent
1970Ringworld by Larry Niven is published.
1970The Science Fiction Research Association is founded.
1971The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin is published.
1971Donald A. Wollheim founds DAW Books.
1971The film THX 1138, directed by George Lucas, is released.
1971The film A Clockwork Orange, directed by Stanley Kubrick, is released.
1972The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin is published.
1972"When It Changed" by Joanna Russ is published.
1972Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg is published.
1972Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky is published.
1972The Science Fiction Foundation begins publishing the journal Foundation.
1972The film Solaris is released.
1973Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke is published.
1973"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin is published.
1973"The Girl Who Was Plugged In" by James Tiptree Jr. is published.
1973The journal Science Fiction Studies begins publication.
1973The film Soylent Green is released.
1974The Forever War by Joe Haldeman is published.
1974The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin is published.
1975Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany is published.
1975The Female Man by Joanna Russ is published.
1976Triton by Samuel R. Delany is published.
1976Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy is published.
1976The film Logan's Run is released.
1977The film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, directed by Steven Spielberg, is released.
1977The film Star Wars, directed by George Lucas, is released.
1977Gateway by Frederik Pohl is published.
1977Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine begins publication.
1979The [Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (novel)|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy] by Douglas Adams, adapted from the 1978 radio series, is published.
1979Kindred by Octavia E. Butler is published.
1979The film Alien, directed by Ridley Scott, is released.
1979The film Star Trek: The Motion Picture is released.
1979Metamorphoses of Science Fiction by Darko Suvin, translated from the original 1977 French version, is published.

1980s

YearEvent
1980Timescape by Gregory Benford is published.
1980The film The Empire Strikes Back is released.
1981Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh is published.
1981VALIS by Philip K. Dick is published.
1981"True Names" by Vernor Vinge is published.
1981The film Mad Max 2 is released.
1982Helliconia Spring by Brian Aldiss is published.
1982The film Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, is released.
1982The film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, directed by Steven Spielberg, is released.
1982The film The Thing, directed by John Carpenter, is released.
1983Startide Rising by David Brin is published.
1983The film Return of the Jedi is released.
1984"Bloodchild" by Octavia E. Butler is published.
1984Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany is published.
1984Neuromancer by William Gibson, one of the earliest works of the cyberpunk subgenre, is published.
1984Divine Endurance by Gwyneth Jones is published.
1984The Wild Shore by Kim Stanley Robinson is published.
1984The film Dune, directed by David Lynch, is released.
1984The film The Terminator, directed by James Cameron, is released.
1985The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is published; it wins the inaugural Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987.
1985Blood Music by Greg Bear is published.
1985Eon by Greg Bear is published.
1985Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is published.
1985Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling is published.
1985The film Back to the Future is released. Two sequels—Back to the Future Part II and Part III—are released in 1989 and 1990, respectively.
1986A Door into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski is published.
1986Mirrorshades, an anthology edited by Bruce Sterling, is published.
1986The film Aliens, directed by James Cameron, is released.
1987Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks is published.
1987Dawn by Octavia E. Butler, the first novel in the Lilith's Brood or Xenogenesis trilogy, is published. The sequels Adulthood Rites and Imago are published in 1988 and 1989, respectively.
1987The film RoboCop, directed by Paul Verhoeven, is released.
1989The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman is published.
1989Hyperion by Dan Simmons is published.

1990s

YearEvent
1990The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling is published.
1990Pacific Edge by Kim Stanley Robinson is published.
1990The film Total Recall, directed by Paul Verhoeven, is released.
1991White Queen by Gwyneth Jones is published.
1991The film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, directed by James Cameron, is released.
1992Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, the first book in the Mars trilogy, is published.
1992Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson is published.
1992A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge is published.
1993Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler is published.
1993The Giver by Lois Lowry is published.
1993Vurt by Jeff Noon is published.
1993The film Demolition Man is released.
1993The film Jurassic Park, directed by Steven Spielberg, is released.
1993The X-Files begins airing.
1993The second edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, edited by John Clute and Peter Nicholls, is published.
1994The film Stargate, directed by Roland Emmerich, is released.
1995The Star Fraction by Ken MacLeod is published.
1995Chaga by Ian McDonald is published.
1995Northern Lights by Philip Pullman is published.
1995The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson is published.
1995The film 12 Monkeys, directed by Terry Gilliam, is released.
1995The anime film Ghost in the Shell is released.
1996The Reality Dysfunction, the first entry in Dawn Trilogy">Lilith's Brood">Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton, is published.
1996The film Independence Day, directed by Roland Emmerich, is released.
1997Diaspora by Greg Egan is published.
1997The film Contact, directed by Robert Zemeckis, is released.
1997The film Gattaca, directed by Andrew Niccol, is released.
1997The film Men in Black, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, is released.
1997The film Starship Troopers, directed by Paul Verhoeven, is released.
1998Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson is published.
1998Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick is published.
1998The film City (1998 film)|Dark City] is released.
1998The film The Truman Show is released.
1999Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear is published.
1999Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson is published.
1999The film The Matrix, directed by The Wachowskis, is released.
1999The film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, directed by George Lucas, is released.
1999The film Galaxy Quest, directed by Dean Parisot, is released.

2000s

YearEvent
2000Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle is published.
2000The Telling by Ursula K. Le Guin is published.
2000Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson is published.
2000Perdido Street Station by China Miéville is published.
2001The film Donnie Darko is released.
2002The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson is published.
2002The film Minority Report, directed by Steven Spielberg, is published.
2002The film Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, directed by George Lucas, is released.
2003Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood is published.
2003Pattern Recognition by William Gibson is published.
2003The films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, directed by The Wachowskis, are released.
2004Forty Signs of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson is published.
2005Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler is published.
2005Accelerando by Charles Stross is published.
2005The film The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, directed by Garth Jennings, is released.
2005The film Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, directed by George Lucas, is released.
2005The film Serenity, directed by Joss Whedon and based on the television series Firefly, is released.
2005Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions by Fredric Jameson is published.
2006The Road by Cormac McCarthy is published.
2006The film A Scanner Darkly, directed by Richard Linklater, is released.
2006The film V for Vendetta, directed by James McTeigue, is released.
2007The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon is published.
2007The film I Am Legend, directed by Francis Lawrence, is released.
2007The film Sunshine, directed by Danny Boyle, is released.
2008The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is published.
2008The film Cloverfield is released.
2008The film Sleep Dealer is released.
2008The film WALL-E is released.
2009The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi is published.
2009The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman is published.
2009The City & the City by China Miéville is published.
2009The film Avatar, directed by James Cameron, is released.
2009The film District 9, directed by Neill Blomkamp, is released.
2009The film Moon, directed by Duncan Jones, is released.
2009The film Star Trek, directed by J. J. Abrams, is released.

2010s

YearEvent
2010The film The Book of Eli, directed by the Hughes brothers, is released.
2010The film Inception, directed by Christopher Nolan, is released.
2010The film Tron: Legacy, directed by Joseph Kosinski, is released.
2011Embassytown by China Miéville is published.
2011The film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, directed by Rupert Wyatt, is released.
2012Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders by Samuel R. Delany is released.
20122312 by Kim Stanley Robinson is published.
2012The film The Hunger Games, directed by Gary Ross, is released.
2012The film Prometheus, directed by Ridley Scott, is released.
2013We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler is published.
2013The film Elysium, directed by Neill Blomkamp, is released.
2013The film Gravity, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, is released.
2013The film Pacific Rim, directed by Guillermo del Toro, is released.
2013The film Star Trek Into Darkness, directed by J. J. Abrams, is released.
2014Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor is published.
2014The film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, directed by Matt Reeves, is released.
2014The film Ex Machina, directed by Alex Garland, is released.
2014The film Guardians of the Galaxy, directed by James Gunn, is released.
2014The film Interstellar, directed by Christopher Nolan, is released.
2015The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi is published.
2015The film Jurassic World, directed by Colin Trevorrow, is released.
2015The film Mad Max: Fury Road, directed by George Miller, is released.
2015The film The Martian, directed by Ridley Scott, is released.
2015The film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, directed by J. J. Abrams, is released.
2016The film Arrival, directed by Denis Villeneuve, is released.
2016The film Independence Day: Resurgence, directed by Roland Emmerich, is released.
2016The film Rogue One, directed by Gareth Edwards, is released.
2016The film Star Trek Beyond, directed by Justin Lin, is released.
2017The film Blade Runner 2049, directed by Denis Villeneuve, is released.
2017The film Get Out, directed by Jordan Peele, is released.
2017The film Star Wars: The Last Jedi, directed by Rian Johnson, is released.
2018The film Annihilation, directed by Alex Garland, is released.

Timelines

Additional sources