First use of the word "cyborg"

The term "cyborg" was coined by Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline (both USA) in an article entitled "Cyborgs and Space", published in the September 1960 issue of the journal Astronautics. The word was used to describe "the exogenously extended organizational complex functioning as an integrated homeostatic system unconsciously" specifically in regard to adapting humans for long-term space flight, and has since become popularly applied to the notion of augmenting the human body with technology.

The introduction to Clynes and Kline's article reads: "Altering man’s bodily functions to meet the requirements of extraterrestrial environments would be more logical than providing an earthly environment for him in space… Artifact-organism systems which would extend man’s unconscious, self-regulatory controls are one possibility." The word is a portmanteau of "cybernetics" – the science of communications and automatic control systems – and "organism".