The Scientific Adventures of Baron Münchausen

The 18th-century German folk hero, Baron Munchausen, is the protagonist in this classic science fiction tale. Braving the depths of space to explore the moon and Mars, the Baron discovers that the Martians make use of a variety of devices such as telepathy machines and molecular disintegrators. Many of the gadgets appearing in this story have since been adopted as standard science fiction elements used by other writers. Collected for the first time from the pages ofElectrical Experimentermagazine, this is the sole edition of the Munchausen story serialized by Gernsback. It includes all the original illustrations as well as an astute afterword showcasing Gernsback's clear influence on science in the 20th century.

Hugo Gernsback was a magazine editor, a writer, an electronics entrepreneur, a radio and television enthusiast, and a founding father of the science fiction genre and a cultivator of its community. He founded Amazing Stories magazine in 1926 and coined the term “science fiction.” The Science Fiction Achievement awards given to authors of exemplary works each year are named “Hugos” in his honor. Robert Godwin is the space curator at the Canadian Air and Space Museum and an advocate of the Space Frontier Foundation. He works closely with the National Space Society, the Mars Society, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the X-Prize Foundation. He is the author of Apollo 11, The Illustrated Collector’s Guide to Led Zeppelin, and The Lunar Exploration Scrapbook. He lives in Burlington, Ontario.