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R.U.R.
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<p><i>R.U.R.</i> is a 1920 <a href="/facts/Science_fiction/d9hE2Lwt">science fiction</a> play by the Czech writer <a href="/facts/Karel_%C4%8Capek/Ak5gs92Y">Karel Čapek</a>. "R.U.R." stands for <i>Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti</i> (Rossum's Universal Robots, a phrase that has been used as a subtitle in English versions). The play had its world premiere on 2 January 1921 in <a href="/facts/Hradec_Kr%C3%A1lov%C3%A9/EatEapmY">Hradec Králové</a>; it introduced the word "<a href="/facts/Robot/S5mDzWYk">robot</a>" to the English language and to <a href="/facts/Science_fiction/d9hE2Lwt">science fiction</a> as a whole. <i>R.U.R.</i> became influential soon after its publication. By 1923, it had been translated into thirty languages. <i>R.U.R.</i> was successful in its time in Europe and North America. Čapek later took a different approach to the same theme in his 1936 novel <i><a href="/facts/War_with_the_Newts/v6BPP8o6">War with the Newts</a></i>, in which non-humans become a servant-class in human society. </p>