In Science and Science Fiction
In several modern Romance languages, terra (or French terre) is the name of planet Earth. Many science fiction authors call the planet Terra, following post-classical Latin astronomical terminology. In Warhammer 40,000 this is taken a step further, with Earth being referred to as Holy Terra. The term Terran is used by Philip K. Dick in many of his short stories. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Solar System is called the Terran system.
Authors who have used Tellus include C. S. Lewis in his Space Trilogy; E. E. Smith in his Lensman series; and Robert A. Heinlein in several of the stories in his Future History sequence. The chemical element Tellurium was named after Tellus by Martin Heinrich Klaproth in 1798.
Read more about this topic: Terra (mythology)
Famous quotes containing the words science fiction, science and/or fiction:
“Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not.”
—Isaac Asimov (1920–1992)
“Religions die when they are proved to be true. Science is the record of dead religions.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“The purpose of a work of fiction is to appeal to the lingering after-effects in the reader’s mind as differing from, say, the purpose of oratory or philosophy which respectively leave people in a fighting or thoughtful mood.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)