--- description: A new book about the cultural evolution of Frankenstein explains how the real science of the 19th century helped inspire the horror tale. title: The Real Science That Created Frankenstein's Monster image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltafef5cd817a3d967/6988e1c4196cf4b5b2042505/frankenstein-04.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Real Science That Created Frankenstein's Monster  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Oct 31, 2017 2:00 PM CUT  Original French billboard poster for Frankstein by artist Jacques Faria (1931). Original French billboard poster for Frankstein by artist Jacques Faria (1931).Mary Evans Picture Library  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Oct 31, 2017 2:00 PM CUT In the centuries since the legendary 1816 evening when Mary Shelley — then still the teenaged Mary Godwin — first began to tell the tale of Victor Frankenstein and his monster, that story of horror and hubris has become one of the world’s most recognizable narratives. It also, these days, stars one of the world’s most recognizable characters. The monster is a Halloween mainstay, and the modern version of his likeness — with his green-tinged and seamed skin — is instantly recognizable. That recognition is the product of a steady visual evolution, as explored in the forthcoming book [_Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years_](http://www.artbook.com/9781909526464.html "undefined") by Christopher Frayling. But it’s also the product of a very specific moment in history, in which the educated elite class to which Shelley belonged would have understood the idea of reanimating a jumble of human parts had serious scientific backing.  Frankenstein Courtesy of Reel Art Press The idea of a human being as merely a mechanical assortment of bones and muscles has been explored since the 18th century by scientists and philosophers, and plays and stories of the time reflect the fascination with the idea. William Godwin, Mary’s father, had exposed her to cutting-edge science from her childhood on — at a time when many were captivated by the mysterious role of electricity in nature, and the record shows that she attended scientific demonstrations. And, as Frayling notes, when Percy Shelley was a student at Oxford, he had even tried to bring a cat back to life. During the summer of 1816, when Mary, Percy and their friends (including Lord Byron) gathered near Geneva and challenged each other to tell ghost stories, that science would have also been a frequent topic of discussion. As Frayling writes: --- > “” --- While Mary was perhaps not an active participant in those conversations, it’s not hard to see that the subject wormed its way into her mind. And, processed through her remarkable imagination, it emerged as _Frankenstein._ Though the electrical science that fascinated Shelley is no longer current, her story has meant the questions of that age are still alive — or at least as alive as a reanimated monster can be.  Reputed to be Mary Godwin at age eighteen, copied from a miniature painted in Geneva, summer 1816. Mary Evans Picture Library  Mary Godwin’s manuscript draft of the ‘creation’ chapter of Frankenstein, written in a notebook purchased in Geneva, and copied from the story she told on the night of 17th/18th of June 1816—the earliest surviving version, dating from that same summer. The Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford, MS. Abinger c.56, fol. 21v  Sketch by Richard Wynn Keene—later known as the designer Dykwynkyn—of the actor O. Smith as the Monster in the first revival of Presumption! or the Fate of Frankenstein, at the English Opera House, Lyceum, in summer 1828, published for the first time in Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years. Jennie Bisset Collection  Original French billboard poster for Frankstein by artist Jacques Faria (1931). Mary Evans Picture Library  Colin Clive as Dr. Henry Frankenstein, in a publicity still for James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931). TCD  Makeup artist Jack Pierce combs the Monster’s wig: according to Boris Karloff, ‘it took from four to six hours a day to make me up . . .’ (1931). mptvimages.com  Jack Pierce’s makeup for Elsa Lanchester as the Bride, based on visual ideas supplied by James Whale and Ernest Thesiger. 1935. TCD  Original American poster for I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957), illustrated by Reynold Brown R|A|P Archive  Studio Portrait of Peter Boyle as the increasingly debonair Monster in Young Frankenstein (1974). TCD  The creature enjoys Winchell’s Donuts (1977) with photograph by Sid Avery. Sid Avery/mptvimages.com ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4980454/frankenstein-monster-history-mary-shelley/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4980454/frankenstein-monster-history-mary-shelley/"},"headline":"The Real Science That Created Frankenstein's Monster","datePublished":"2017-10-31T14:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:58:24.387Z","description":"A new book about the cultural evolution of Frankenstein explains how the real science of the 19th century helped inspire the horror tale","url":"https://time.com/4980454/frankenstein-monster-history-mary-shelley/","keywords":["Books","movies","Pop Culture","photography","Literature","halloween","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltafef5cd817a3d967/6988e1c4196cf4b5b2042505/frankenstein-04.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltafef5cd817a3d967/6988e1c4196cf4b5b2042505/frankenstein-04.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years","caption":"Original French billboard poster for Frankstein by artist Jacques Faria (1931).","creditText":"Mary Evans Picture Library","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4980454/frankenstein-monster-history-mary-shelley/","name":"The Real Science That Created Frankenstein's Monster"}}]}] ```