Detail map of Manhattan, New York, New York, United States Overview map of Manhattan, New York, New York, United States

A: Manhattan, New York, New York, United States

"Pygmalion's Spectacles," Probably the First Comprehensive and Specific Fictional Model for Virtual Reality

1935

In 1935 American science fiction writer Stanley G.Weinbaum presented a comprehensive and specific fictional model for virtual reality in his short story Pygmalion's Spectacles. In the story, the main character, Dan Burke, met an elfin professor, Albert Ludwig, who invented a pair of goggles which enabled "a movie that gives one sight and sound [...] taste, smell, and touch. [...] You are in the story, you speak to the shadows (characters) and they reply, and instead of being on a screen, the story is all about you, and you are in it."

Weinbaum's career in science fiction was very short but influential. His first story, "A Martian Odyssey", was published to great, and enduring, acclaim in July 1934, but he died from lung cancer within eighteen months, and the age of only 33.

Timeline Themes