Etymology

overview effect

Today it means: The transcendental change of perception when one can view the Earth, or any other planetary object, within the universal context. Full definition →

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The story

Coined by Frank White in the 1980s, author of the 1987 book The Overview Effect — Space Exploration and Human Evolution, to describe the experience of astronauts when they see Earth from space. The first public use of the term was in a poster at a Space Studies Institute meeting in 1985.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.