Hard science fiction

Hard SF or more precisely hard science fiction (because SF is used in its narrow "science fiction" sense, not in the broader "speculative fiction" or "supernatural fiction") is a categorization of SF relating primarily to the role of, and type of, technologies that are central to the work. The first print publication of the term was in 1957, P. S. Miller, Astounding Science Fiction As initially used, it meant scientifically accurate. For instance, the Mars ("Barsoom") novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs were not intended to be scientifically accurate, so they were not hard science fiction.

Over time, however, "hard science fiction" came to refer to not just scientific accuracy, but as a conflation with the so-called "hard sciences" and in juxtaposition with the so-called "soft sciences". This distinction, which places physics as the quintessential "hard" science and "other" sciences (ranging from quasi-science, to social science, to biology) as "soft" science, has significant gender implications in the sciences. In literature, the "hard science fiction" and "soft science fiction" distinction has been similarly used in a significantly genderized fashion. The "women write soft SF, men write hard SF" stereotype is the successor stereotype to "women write fantasy, men write science fiction", which is itself a successor stereotype to "women don't write science fiction, men do". Each of these ideas, successively disproven, operates to render female creators and fans invisible, to minimize their existing contributions, and to discourage new women from entering the field as fans, creators, or other professionals.

As it is currently used today, "hard science fiction" includes science fiction with significant scientific content relating to physics, astronomy and perhaps chemistry; "soft science fiction" includes science fiction with scientific content relating to anthropology, sociology, or psychology, and typically biology. There are some indications that "hard science fiction" is being studied and treated as a distinct genre.

Further reading

• Chris Moriarity's essay on Hard SF
• David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, editors, The Hard SF Renaissance, 2002, ISBN 0-312-87635-1
• Gary Westfahl, Cosmic Engineers: A Study of Hard Science Fiction (Greenwood Press: ISBN 0-313-29727-4)
• hardSF.net