In the history of science fiction, the Golden Age is the period in which the genre is considered to have matured in American science fiction magazines, in particular Astounding Science Fiction; the period is usually referred to as the Golden Age of Science Fiction (as a whole), though sometimes more specifically as the Golden Age of Astounding. Its beginning is marked by John W. Campbell's assumption of the editorship of the magazine in the late 1930s. The end date is less agreed upon: it is often placed in the mid-1940s, though it ranges from 1941 to the early 1960s. Historiographically, the Golden Age follows the pulp era and precedes the New Wave.
Other eras have also been referred to as golden ages of science fiction in more specific contexts. For instance, the 1950s are considered to be the golden age of science fiction cinema. A common humorous statement is that "The Golden Age of science fiction is twelve" years old, or thereabouts.
History
From Gernsback to Campbell
alt=Refer to caption|thumb|Sketch of [[John W. Campbell 1932]]
The first science fiction magazine was Hugo Gernsback's Amazing Stories, which was launched in 1926. This is usually considered the beginning of the pulp era of science fiction, though definitions vary. Several additional magazines by Gernsback and others appeared (and in some cases disappeared again) in the years that followed; by 1937, seven science fiction pulp magazines remained in publication. In October 1937, John W. Campbell became editor of Astounding Stories. He finished the already in-progress December 1937 issue and started exercising direct editorial control from the January 1938 issue onwards alongside outgoing editor F. Orlin Tremaine, changing the title to Astounding Science Fiction for the March 1938 issue, when he gained full editorial control.
, in the 1964 book A Requiem for Astounding, writes that the period was both the Golden Age of science fiction as a whole and of Astounding in particular, and identifies the July 1939 issue as "the first real harbinger of Astounding Golden Age". The July 1939 issue of Astounding has been adopted by others as the starting point of the Golden Age, and The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction writes that "The beginning of Campbell's particular Golden Age of SF can be pinpointed as the summer of 1939" more broadly. Mike Ashley—who comments that the Golden Age of science fiction may be more appropriately referred to as the Golden Age of Astounding—similarly finds the July 1939 date arbitrary, viewing the change that happened as occurring gradually during 1938–1939 with each successive issue of Astounding contributing.