He needed a name, so he went to look for science fiction terms for inspiration. He was scrolling through Wikipedia when he saw the word “ether,” which he remembered from a childhood science book. Ether is the disproved concept that there’s a very subtle material that fills space and carries light waves in the same way that physical matter carries sound waves. That’s how he thought of the word “Ethereum.” Vitalik wanted his platform to be the underlying and imperceptible medium for every application, just what medieval scientists thought ether was. Plus, it sounded nice.
