time traveller n.
one who travels through time n.
SF Encyclopedia
Time Travel
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1894
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H. G. Wells
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‘But,’ said the medical man, ‘even if man in the future no longer need [sic] strength to fight against other men or beasts, he will still need a sufficient physique to resist disease.’ ‘That is the queer thing,’ said the Time Traveller; ‘there was no disease. Somewhen between now and then your sanitary science must have won the battle it is beginning now. Bacteria, or at least all disease causing bacteria, must have been exterminated. I can explain it in no other way.[’]
Refinement of Humanity in National Observer 21 Apr. 582/1 -
1894
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H. G. Wells
‘There,’ said the Time Traveller, ‘I am unable to give you an explanation. All I know is that the climate was very much warmer than it is now.’
Sunset of Mankind in National Observer 28 Apr. 608/1 -
1895
H. G. Wells
The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us.
Time Machine i. 1 -
1927
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Francis Flagg
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You must realize that a time traveler runs certain hazards. At any place on the road, he may materialize inside of a solid of some sort. In that case, he is almost certain to be blown up or otherwise destroyed.
Machine Man of Ardathia in Amazing Stories Nov. 801/1 -
1933
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Hugo Gernsback
It is now up to the professional time travellers to defend their devices for exploring the past and the future.
in Wonder Stories Feb. 734/3 -
1943
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Thaedra Alden
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The Supreme Council has ruled that all Time Travellers must be sent back immediately and their particular method of passage through Time closed from this end.
Two-Timing Man in Thrilling Wonder Stories June 91/2 -
1951 Galaxy May 160 (advt.)
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Into this world goes the Time Traveler, a man of our era—a barbaric alien in comparison with the possessors of a science vastly superior to ours.
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1966
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Dannie Plachta
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‘You’re a spaceman,’ Smith decided. ‘I only came a few hundred miles, shrugged the stranger modestly. ‘Mostly, I’m a time traveller.’
Man From When in Worlds of If 78/1 -
1974
Philip K. Dick
What in your mind is the greatest terror facing a time traveler? That there will be an implosion due to coincidence on reentry?
Little Something for Us Tempunauts in We Can Remember It for you Wholesale (1994) 336
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1974
John Brunner
It wasn’t only the embarrassing experience of being shown off around the hall by her—as it were, a real live time-traveller, exclamation point, in the same tone of voice as one would say, ‘A real live tiger’.
Times Without Number (1981) 10
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1984
Michael Bishop
‘The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door….’ A traditional SF writer would conclude this story by opening that door to reveal 1) the last woman on Earth, or 2) a time traveler from the past, or [etc.].
Viewpoint in Asimov’s Science Fiction Apr. 52/1 -
2001 Dreamwatch Oct. 85/1
As any self-respecting time traveller will confirm, going backwards in time to change history is a dodgy business, fraught with the possibility of temporal anomalies, rips in the space/time continuum, etc.
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2013
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Sheila Williams
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My father liked some Bradbury. He’d read ‘A Sound of Thunder’ to me and we’d spend a few hours discussing the consequences of a time traveler stepping on a butterfly, but he didn’t care for stories about ordinary life or fiction that held a surreal edge.
Poet of Mars in Asimov’s Science Fiction Jan. 2/1
Research requirements
antedating 1894
Earliest cite
H.G. Wells, "The Refinement of Humanity" (i.e. the first magazine appearance of 'The Time Machine')
Research History
Lloyd Kilford examined "The Chronic Argonauts", by H.G. Wells (an early (1888) version of "The Time Machine"), and determined that it does not contain the term "time traveller".
Last modified 2021-10-28 20:37:29
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.