1921: A new play premieres at the National Theater in Prague, the capital of what was then Czechoslovakia. R.U.R, (which stands for Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Capek, marks the first use of ...

In the past five months, wire news services have carried stories about new robots that can fetch bread, help the elderly out of bed, track whales, play violins, fill gas tanks and act like a monkey.

On March 15 1939, as German occupying forces advanced on Prague, the Gestapo arrived at the home of No 3 on their most wanted list – only to discover that Karel Capek had been dead for three months.

I have two confessions to make — long-hidden nerd secrets about which I simply have to come clean. One: I read science fiction. A lot. And two: If things aren't funny, I tend to ignore them. I realize ...

Prepare for rebellious automatons, a 300-year-old opera singer, and a pack of newts taking a page from Ira Glass. These and other inventions will unfold locally this fall courtesy of the Czech writer ...

A key aspect of the mid-20th century, one might say, was the quarrel between popular and serious culture. For George Orwell no artefact was too lowly for considered analysis. In a legendary essay of ...

Two things keep Karel Capek’s “War With the Newts” from getting the recognition it deserves: its cover and its title. The best translation’s cover design, black text on teal, has all the panache of a ...

“Taking the first picture is one of the most thrilling moments in one’s life,” Čapek said in his column Man and Camera, published in October 1930. Karel Čapek, who was born in 1890 and died in 1938, ...

L is for Look explores the place of photography in children's books. From their rise in the 1930s, the exhibition traces the history of a medium that has seen images become a universal language.

Karel Capek of Berwyn, Age 82; beloved husband of Vlasta; loving father of Karel “K.C.” (Julie) Capek and Daniela (Navid) Shadlou; proud grandfather of Mikulas, Tomas and Jonas Capek and Navid Shadlou ...