android n.
a robot or other artificial being made to resemble a human, esp. one made of synthetic flesh or a fleshlike material (in contrast to metal, plastic, etc.)
Robotics
-
1936
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Jack Williamson
bibliography
The traffic that brought him such enormous wealth was the production and sale of androids…. [He] had come upon the secret of synthetic life. He generated artificial cells, and propagated them in nutrient media, controlling development by radiological and biochemical means.
Cometeers in Astounding Science-Fiction Aug. 146/2 -
1940
Edmond Hamilton
bibliography
It was a manlike figure, but one whose body was rubbery, boneless-looking, blank-white in color…. Following this rubbery android, or synthetic man, came another figure, equally as strange—a great metal robot.
Captain Future & Space Emperor in Captain Future Winter 17/2 -
1954
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Alfred Bester
bibliography
‘I am not a machine,’ the android answered. ‘The robot is a machine. The android is a chemical creation of synthetic tissue.’
Fondly Fahrenheit in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Aug. 6 -
1957
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Chad Oliver
bibliography
Robots, of course—or androids, to give them their proper names. Brilliant ones. You couldn’t tell the difference unless you looked too close.
Didn’t He Ramble in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Apr. 125/1 -
1968
bibliography
One episode in the first season called for a seven-foot-tall android.
in S. E. Whitfield & G. Roddenberry Making of ‘Star Trek’ v. 352 -
1970
Anne McCaffrey
bibliography
He’s an android, complete with metal brainworks, programmed in a rarified atmosphere.
Ship who Sang (1991) v.175 -
1977
Sondra Marshak
Myrna Culbreath
bibliography
I suppose there’s no mistake…Androids, doubles, imposters, illusions.
Price of Phoenix (1985) ii. 13 -
1981
Vonda N. McIntyre
bibliography
An android duplicate. Clones. Clones, hell, maybe he had a twin brother.
Entropy Effect iii. 86 -
1983
Robert Sheckley
bibliography
At last he came to a momentous decision and called for his psychiatric android.
Dramocles (1984) 11 -
1992
Peter David
bibliography
Standing outside the field, staring at the Guardian, was an android.
Imzadi i. 7 -
1993
Greg Bear
bibliography
I was pretty sure he wasn’t an Earth-made android, but the suspicion never passed completely.
Moving Mars 134 -
1998
bibliography
When even an android reacted to his impatience, he knew he had gone too far.
Spectre ii. 22 -
2020
Elizabeth Bear
bibliography
Then it spoke, in stilted but correct Standard, in a smoky contrived alto that made me flinch. ‘I am Helen,’ the android said. ‘The distress signal—yes. There is a distress signal. And there are casualties. Please, come with me.’
Machine iii. 34
Research requirements
antedating 1936
Earliest cite
Jack Williamson, in Astounding
Research History
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2020 cite from Elizabeth Bear.
Last modified 2021-02-03 01:20:23
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entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.