author
John Taine
1883–1960
A pioneering science-fiction writer with a mathematician’s imagination, John Taine brought scientific ideas and cosmic speculation into early genre fiction. The name was the pseudonym of mathematician Eric Temple Bell, whose work bridged imaginative storytelling and serious mathematical thought.
1 Audiobook
White Lily
by John Taine
About the author
John Taine was the fiction-writing pseudonym of Eric Temple Bell (February 7, 1883–December 21, 1960), a Scottish-born mathematician, educator, and science-fiction author who spent most of his life in the United States. Bell studied at Stanford University, the University of Washington, and Columbia University, and later taught at the University of Washington and the California Institute of Technology.
As John Taine, he wrote science-fiction novels during the early 20th century, exploring ambitious ideas about science, invention, and the future. His books were among the period’s efforts to move science fiction beyond simple interplanetary adventure and toward stories shaped by genuine scientific thinking.
Under his own name, Bell became known for his work in number theory and for books such as Men of Mathematics. His mathematical legacy includes the Bell numbers and Bell polynomials, while his fiction remains a distinctive part of early science-fiction history.