From the research desk of pulp encyclopedist Jess Nevins comes this incredible find: A story from 1932 about how roboticist Harry May was shot by his own robot on stage in England.
Nevins found the story, written in a way that suggests it is a confabulation of fiction and reality, in the Salt Lake Tribune, October 1932. The article begins with my new favorite first line ever: “It was going to be a very scientific evening.” The author goes on to describe the stage show of Harry May, whose robot Alpha could stand up, sit down, and apparently shoot a gun. But everything went terribly wrong when Alpha shot his gun too soon, hitting May and causing several ladies to scream. (The men “shouted warnings,” of course.)
The article concludes by talking a lot about “recent” science fiction about robots, and how all that SF is now coming true!
What you see above is the headline for the whole article, which you can read in totality here, via a PDF on Nevins’ blog.
via Jess Nevins’ Slouching Towards Bethlehem
