…painter and poet Josef Čapek, born on this date in 1887.
Nope, I never heard of him either until today, but Scott Edelman explains why he matters:
Because Josef was the older brother to Karel Čapek, the author of the 1921 play “R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots),” in which the term “robot” was introduced. And contrary to popular opinion, it was Josef, not Karel, who coined that word.
Edelman goes on to quote from an article written by Karel in 1933, in which Karel recounts how he told Josef that he had an idea for a play, but didn’t know what to call the artificial workers that were its focus:
“…I could call them Labori, but that strikes me as a bit bookish.”
“Then call them Robots,” the painter muttered, brush in mouth, and went on painting. And that’s how it was. Thus was the word Robot born; let this acknowledge its true creator.
And as Edelman points out, therefore, if not for Josef Čapek, Isaac Asimov’s famous collection (and Will Smith’s later movie) would have gone by the title, I, Labori.
(UPDATE January 3, 2017: Thanks to Sam Williamson of European Circuits for pointing out my original link about Josef had gone dead. Here’s a good article on the European Circuits site about “The Rise of Robotics,” which also credits Josef.)
