The term "Rare Earth" originates from Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe (2000), a book by Peter Ward, a geologist and paleontologist, and Donald E. Brownlee, an astronomer and astrobiologist, both faculty members at the University of Washington.
Pojam "rijetka Zemlja" potječe od knjige Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe (2000.), koju su napisali Peter Ward, geolog i paleontolog, i Donald E. Brownlee, astronom i astrobiolog.