Karel Čapek

Karel Čapek, the pride of Bohemia, was a man of letters whose most enduring contribution wasn't just a book, but a word. He introduced "robot" to the global lexicon in his 1920 play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), inadvertently launching a thousand sci-fi tropes and countless existential crises about artificial intelligence. One might say he was, in fact, quite good at predicting the future, or at least at naming it.

Born to a doctor and a folk art collector, Čapek’s intellectual bona fides were impeccable. He studied philosophy in Prague, Berlin, and Paris, which, one assumes, helped him ponder the deeper implications of mechanical men doing all our dirty work. He was a prolific writer, penning plays, novels, travelogues, and essays, often with a keen, albeit somewhat melancholy, eye on society and politics.

Alas, for those hoping for a hidden Jewish lineage, Čapek was thoroughly Czech, and as far as the historical record shows, about as Jewish as a ham sandwich. His contributions to literature and his prescient vision for technology, however, are undoubtedly kvell-worthy, even if they don't come with a side of challah.