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Extraterrestrial Life In Popular Culture
An extraterrestrial or alien is a lifeform that did not originate on Earth. (The word ''extraterrestrial'' means 'outside Earth'.) Extraterrestrials are a common theme in modern science-fiction, and also appeared in much earlier works such as the second-century parody '' True History'' by Lucian of Samosata. History Antiquity The 2nd century writer of satires, Lucian, in his '' True History'' claims to have visited the Moon when his ship was sent up by a fountain, which was peopled and at war with the people of the Sun over colonisation of the Morning Star. The way people have thought about extraterrestrials is tied to the development of actual sciences. One of the first steps in the history of astronomy was to realize that the objects seen in the night sky were not gods or lights, but physical objects like Earth. This notion was followed by the one that celestial objects should be inhabited as well. However, when people thought about such extraterrestrials, they thought ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spock
Spock is a fictional Character (arts), character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. He first appeared in the Star Trek: The Original Series, original ''Star Trek'' series serving aboard the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), USS ''Enterprise'' as science officer and first officer (and Kirk's second-in-command) and later as commanding officer of the vessel. Spock's mixed human–Vulcan (Star Trek), Vulcan heritage serves as an important plot element in many of the character's appearances. Along with Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Dr. Leonard McCoy, Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley), he is one of the three central characters in the original ''Star Trek'' series and List of Star Trek films, its films. After retiring from active duty in Starfleet, Spock served as a United Federation of Planets, Federation ambassador, and later became involved in the ill-fated attempt to save Romulus (Star Trek), Romulus from a supernova, leading him to live out the rest of his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Godwin
Francis Godwin (1562–1633) was an English historian, science fiction author and priest, who was Bishop of Llandaff and of Hereford. Life He was the son of Thomas Godwin, Bishop of Bath and Wells, born at Hannington, Northamptonshire. He was the great-uncle of the writer Jonathan Swift. He was elected student of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1578, took his bachelor's degree in 1580, and that of master in 1583. After holding two Somerset livings he was in 1587 appointed subdean of Exeter. In 1590 he accompanied William Camden on an antiquarian tour through Wales. He was created bachelor of divinity in 1593, and doctor in 1595. In 1601 he published his ''Catalogue of the Bishops of England since the first planting of the Christian Religion in this Island'', a work which procured him in the same year the diocese of Llandaff. A second edition appeared in 1615, and in 1616 he published an edition in Latin with a dedication to King James, who in the following year conferred upon hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sentient Star
Stars outside of the Solar System have been featured as Setting (narrative), settings in works of fiction since at least the 1600s, though this did not become commonplace until the pulp era of science fiction. Stars themselves are rarely a point of focus in fiction, their most common role being an indirect one as hosts of planetary systems. In stories where stars nevertheless do get specific attention, they play a variety of roles. Their appearance as points of light in the sky is significant in several stories where there are too many, too few, or an unexpected arrangement of them; in fantasy, they often serve as omens. Stars also appear as sources of power, be it the heat and light of their emanating radiation or Superpower (ability), superpowers. Certain stages of stellar evolution have received particular attention: supernovae, neutron stars, and black holes. Stars being depicted as sentient beings—whether portrayed as supernatural entities, Personification, personified in hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Martian Odyssey
"A Martian Odyssey" is a science fiction short story by American writer Stanley G. Weinbaum originally published in the July 1934 issue of ''Wonder Stories''. It was Weinbaum's second published story (in 1933 he had sold a romantic novel, ''The Lady Dances'', to King Features Syndicate under the pseudonym Marge Stanley), and remains his best known. It was followed four months later by a sequel, " Valley of Dreams". These are the only stories by Weinbaum set on Mars. Plot summary Early in the 21st century, the ''Ares'' makes the first landing on Mars, in the Mare Cimmerium. A week later, Dick Jarvis, the ship's American chemist, sets out to photograph the landscape. Eight hundred miles out, the engine on Jarvis' rocket gives out, and he crash-lands. He starts walking back to the ''Ares''. Just after crossing into the Mare Chronium, Jarvis sees a tentacled creature attacking a large birdlike creature. He notices that the latter has a bag around its neck, and recognizing it as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanley G
Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series), an American situation comedy * ''Stanley'' (2001 TV series), an American animated series Other uses in arts and entertainment * ''Stanley'' (play), by Pam Gems, 1996 * Stanley Award, an Australian Cartoonists' Association award * '' Stanley: The Search for Dr. Livingston'', a video game Businesses * Stanley, Inc., an American information technology company * Stanley Aviation, an American aerospace company * Stanley Black & Decker, formerly The Stanley Works, an American hardware manufacturer ** Stanley Hand Tools, a division of Stanley Black & Decker * Stanley bottle, a brand of food and beverage containers * Stanley Electric, a Japanese manufacturer of electric lights * Stanley Furniture, an American furniture manufacturer * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tweel (A Martian Odyssey)
Tweel (also referred to as a "Tweerl", the exact pronunciation of the word is said to be impossible for humans) is a fictional extraterrestrial from the planet Mars, featured in two short stories by Stanley G. Weinbaum. The alien was featured in ''A Martian Odyssey'', first published in 1934, and '' Valley of Dreams'' four months later. Weinbaum died of lung cancer soon after, and a third installment in the series never saw fruition. Tweel remains one of the most recognised aliens in early science fiction, and is said to be an inspiration for aliens in the works of Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. Asimov described Tweel as being the first creation in science fiction to fulfill John W. Campbell's request for "(...)a creature that thinks ''as well'' as a man, or ''better'' than a man, but not ''like'' a man." According to Jacques Baudou, Tweel is the first non-anthropomorphic thinking creature represented in American science fiction.Jacques Baudou, Que sais-je : La science-ficti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The First Men In The Moon
''The First Men in the Moon'' by the English author H. G. Wells is a scientific romance, originally serialised in ''The Strand Magazine'' and '' The Cosmopolitan'' from November 1900 to June 1901 and published in hardcover in 1901. Wells called it one of his "fantastic stories". The novel recounts a journey to the Moon by the two English protagonists: a businessman narrator, Mr. Bedford; and an eccentric scientist, Mr. Cavor. Bedford and Cavor discover that the interior of the Moon is inhabited by a sophisticated extraterrestrial civilisation of insect-like creatures they call "Selenites". The novel is a major work in the long history of the Moon in science fiction, which dates back to classical antiquity and includes earlier encounters with lunar beings and civilisations, often satirical in nature. The scientific inspiration in large part would come from Jules Verne and his book From the Earth to the Moon in 1865, which used a cannon shot to launch a spacecraft with a human ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The War Of The Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was first published in hardcover in 1898 by William Heinemann. ''The War of the Worlds'' is one of the earliest stories to detail a conflict between humankind and an extraterrestrial race. The novel is the first-person narrative of an unnamed protagonist in Surrey and his younger brother who escapes to Tillingham in Essex as London and Southern England are invaded by Martians. It is one of the most commented-on works in the science fiction canon. The plot is similar to other works of invasion literature from the same period and has been variously interpreted as a commentary on the theory of evolution, imperialism, and Victorian era fears, superstitions and prejudices. Wells later noted that inspiration for the plot was the catastrophic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camille Flammarion
Nicolas Camille Flammarion FRAS (; 26 February 1842 – 3 June 1925) was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fiction novels, and works on psychical research and related topics. He also published the magazine '' L'Astronomie'', starting in 1882. He maintained a private observatory at Juvisy-sur-Orge, France. Biography Camille Flammarion was born in Montigny-le-Roi, Haute-Marne, France. He was the brother of Ernest Flammarion (1846–1936), the founder of the Groupe Flammarion publishing house. In 1858, he became a professional at computery at the Paris Observatory. He was a founder and the first president of the '' Société astronomique de France'', which originally had its own independent journal, ''BSAF'' (''Bulletin de la Société astronomique de France''), which was first published in 1887. In January 1895, after 13 volumes of '' L'Astrono ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theory Of Evolution
Evolution is the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certain characteristics becoming more or less common within a population over successive generations. The process of evolution has given rise to biodiversity at every level of biological organisation. The scientific theory of evolution by natural selection was conceived independently by two British naturalists, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, in the mid-19th century as an explanation for why organisms are adapted to their physical and biological environments. The theory was first set out in detail in Darwin's book ''On the Origin of Species''. Evolution by natural selection is established by observable facts about living organisms: (1) more offspring are often produced than can possibly survive; (2) traits vary among individuals with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a Common descent, common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental scientific concept. In a joint presentation with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this Phylogenetics, branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by Burials and memorials in Westminster Abbey, burial in Westminster Abbey. Darwin's early interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education at the University of Edinburgh Medical Schoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
On The Origin Of Species
''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life'')The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''. In the 1872 sixth edition, "On" was omitted, so the full title is ''The origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.'' This edition is usually known as ''The Origin of Species.'' The 6th is Darwin's final edition; there were minor modifications in the text of certain subsequent issues. See Freeman, R. B. In Van Wyhe, John, ed. ''Darwin Online: On the Origin of Species'', 2002. is a work of scientific literature by Charles Darwin that is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. It was published on 24 November 1859. Darwin's book introduced the scientific theory that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
