On the Origins of the Term "Science Fiction"

I find myself wondering when the term for the genre of "science fiction" emerged. Lord Wikipedia seems to suggest that, in the American context at least, Hugo Gernsback's preference for the term "scientifiction" stands as an inaugural gesture. Gernsback founded the pulp magazine, Amazing Stories in 1926. And so, it seems that "science fiction" as a distinct genre might be argued to have emerged in 1926. But "scienctificion" is not "science fiction." Hmm...

My gut impression of "science fiction" is of something that achieved "critical mass" in the early to mid twenties. But the term used to describe the work of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Arthur Conan Doyle, makes me question this. Their work was labeled "scientific romances." Were they advertised as "scientific romances"? When did Wells, Verne, and Doyle cease to be writers of "scientific romances" and begin to be considered "science fiction" writers? That's important. 

The issue for me is that of tradition and community. When did the tradition of "science fiction" become firmly established in the popular lexicon? 

The first entry of its use in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1851 from a book by W. Wilson titled,  Little Earnest Bk. upon Great Old Subject. He writes, 

"Campbell says that ‘Fiction in Poetry is not the reverse of truth, but her soft and enchanting resemblance.’ Now this applies especially to Science-Fiction, in which the revealed truths of Science may be given, interwoven with a pleasing story which may itself be poetical and true—thus circulating a knowledge of the Poetry of Science, clothed in a garb of the Poetry of Life." (OED).

The next entry comes from 1929:

"The editor of this publication [sc. H. Gernsback] addressed a number of letters to science fiction lovers. The editor promised to pay $50.00 for the best letter each month on the subject of ‘What Science Fiction Means to Me.’"  (OED).

So, we glimpse the first reference to "science fiction" in 1851, and the next official reference to it in 1929, 78 years later. I'm interested in the strange alchemy that took place over those 78 years, as the idea of "science fiction" evolved, become firmly established, and basically came to become what it is we know and love.

Hmm...