On November 27, 1754, German naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist, and revolutionary Georg Forster was born. At an early age, he accompanied his father on several scientific expeditions, including James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific. His most famous work 'A Voyage Round the World' is considered as the beginning of modern scientific travel literature, which also made him a member of the famous Royal Society.
On August 16, 1884, Luxembourgian American inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher Hugo Gernsback was born. Gernsback best known for publications including the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as publisher were so significant that, along with the novelists H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, he is often referred to as "The Father of Science Fiction". In his honor, annual awards presented at the World Science Fiction Convention are named the "Hugos".
On May 10, 1521, German humanist and satirist Sebastian Brant passed away. He is best known for his book of satire entiteled 'Das Narrenschiff" (The Ship of Fools) published in 1494 in Basel, Switzerland. It is most likely that you might have never heard of Brant nor of his famous book. Anyway, if you continue reading, you won't regret...
On May, 6, 1719 (julian calendar, April 25), Daniel Defoe's famous novel 'Robinson Crusoe' was published under the title 'The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pirates.' Robinson Crusoe was well received in the literary world and is often credited as marking the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre.
On 16 March 1938, at about 22:00, two SA men arrived at the house of prominent Austrian philosopher, historian, journalist and critic Egon Friedell to arrest him. While they were still arguing with his housekeeper, Friedell committed suicide by jumping out of the window. Before leaping, he warned pedestrians walking on the sideway where he hit by shouting "Watch out! Get out of the way!". This was the tragic end of a brilliant mind.
On February 1812, the English writer and social critic known as one of the greatest novelists of the Victorian period, Charles John Huffam Dickens was born.
On January 27, 1832, British mathematician, photographer, and children's book author Lewis Carroll, creator of the stories about 'Alice in Wonderland', was born.
On January 2, 1920, the Russian-born author and professor of biochemistry Isaac Asimov was born. He was best known for his science fiction works in which he coined the term 'robotics' and his popular science books.
On December 9, 1602, English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant John Milton, was born. He is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost, the Biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden
On November 30, 1835, famous American author Samuel Longhorn Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was born in the tiny village of Florida, Missouri. He is most noted for his humorous novels about the mischievous boys Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and their adventures on the mighty Mississippi River.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's novel 'Frankenstein or The new Prometheus' has influenced popular culture ever since and the story of its origin itself also holds for another gothic novel.
The character of Shakespeare's MacBeth is based on the historic Mac Bethad mac Findlaich, Mormaer of Moray, an 11th century Scottish nobleman, who commited regicide to become Kink of Scottland.
Author J.K. Rowling became an international literary sensation when the first three installments of her Harry Potter children's book series took over the top three slots of The New York Times best-seller list.