No single person named "space." The term's evolution involved multiple contributors over time.
The History of the Term "Space"
The word "space," referring to the region beyond Earth's sky, first appeared in John Milton's Paradise Lost in 1667. Later, Alexander von Humboldt used the term "outer space" in 1845, with H. G. Wells popularizing it in 1901. Therefore, the naming of "space" was a gradual process involving literary and scientific contributions.
- John Milton (1667): First used "space" to describe the region beyond Earth's sky in Paradise Lost.
- Alexander von Humboldt (1845): Coined the term "outer space" as an astronomical term.
- H. G. Wells (1901): Popularized the use of "outer space" in his writings.
While individuals have named specific spacecraft (like the Endeavour shuttle, named by schoolchildren, or the Ingenuity Mars helicopter, named by a student), or specific space objects (as in the renaming of WFIRST to the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope), no one person "named space" itself. The term evolved organically through its usage in literature and science.
