Professor Tarantoga xenozoologist, traveller, and inventor, is a fictional character from science fiction works by Stanislaw Lem

Stanislaw Lem

Stanisław Lem was a Polish writer of science fiction, philosophy and satire. He was named a Knight of the Order of the White Eagle. His books have been translated into 41 languages and have sold over 27 million copies. He is perhaps best known as the author of the 1961 novel Solaris, which has...

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Tarantoga is the main character of four plays (published and broadcast by radio; some adapted for TV). Originally he appeared in The Star Diaries

The Star Diaries

Dzienniki gwiazdowe is a 1971 collection of short stories by Polish writer Stanisław Lem around the character of space traveller Ijon Tichy...

as a friend of the space adventurer Ijon Tichy

Ijon Tichy

Ijon Tichy is a fictional character who appears in several works of Stanisław Lem, including The Futurological Congress, Peace on Earth, Observation on the Spot, The Star Diaries and Memoirs of a Space Traveller .-Character:Tichy is a space explorer whose interplanetary...

 and later appeared in some other works of Lem.

Tarantoga is professor of xenozoology at the University at Fomalhaut

Fomalhaut

Fomalhaut is the brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus and one of the brightest stars in the sky. Fomalhaut can be seen low in the southern sky in the northern hemisphere in fall and early winter evenings. Near latitude 50˚N, it sets around the time Sirius rises, and does not...

, chairman of the editorial committee for Ijon Tichy Opera Omnia ("Działa Wszystkie Ijona Tichego"), inventor and creator of various fascinating devices (most of which being parodies of common science fiction tropes).