MICROMEGAS (1752) – Written by Voltaire. The famed philosopher’s contribution to the nascent science fiction genre dealt with one of the earliest known instances of beings from other planets depicted visiting the Earth. Amid the fantastic elements of the story Voltaire fits in examinations of the philosophies of Aristotle, Locke, Descartes and others.

The title character comes from the star system Sirius and from a huge planet that dwarfs the Earth. He himself is 20,000 feet tall, has a thousand senses to our five and is 450 years old. Micromegas was banished from his home world for scientific heresy and took to roaming the cosmos in search of knowledge.