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Karel Capek (1890 - 1938)

Karel Čapek was a critic, playwright, and novelist who wrote science fiction before it was officially a genre. He is known for several novels and plays including, War with the Newts that was published in 1936 and the play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) in January 1921. This particular play introduced the word “robot” for the first time.
Čapek also wrote several political works that dealt with difficult and emotionally charged issues of his time. He was a strong supporter of free expression and opposed both communism and fascism in Europe. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature a total of seven times, but never won. There are, however, several awards associated with his name. He also worked in close collaboration on many projects with his brother, Josef Čapek.