The Foundation universe is the future history of humanity's colonization of the galaxy, spanning nearly 25,000 years, created through the gradual fusion of the Robot , Galactic Empire , and Foundation book series written by American author Isaac Asimov .
41-605: The Foundation series is set in the same universe as Asimov's first published novel, Pebble in the Sky , although Foundation takes place about 10,000 years later. Pebble in the Sky became the basis for the Galactic Empire series . Then, at some unknown date (prior to writing Foundation's Edge ) Asimov decided to merge the Foundation / Galactic Empire series with his Robot series . Thus, all three series are set in
82-484: A "Galactic Empire" within its story.) Asimov himself did not mention The End of Eternity in the series listing from Prelude to Foundation . As for Nemesis , it was written after Prelude to Foundation , but in the author's note Asimov explicitly states that the book is not part of the Foundation or Empire series, but that someday he might tie it to the others. In Forward the Foundation , Hari Seldon refers to
123-522: A "null field" that disorients humans, preventing anyone from approaching until the Vault itself allows them to. The exception is Salvor Hardin , the Warden and protector of Terminus, who possesses an inexplicable immunity to the field. The Star Bridge is a massive structure on Trantor that serves as a space elevator connecting the surface of the planet to a starship platform in geosynchronous orbit. Known as
164-529: A 20-thousand-year-old story of "a young woman that could communicate with an entire planet that circled a sun named Nemesis", a reference to Nemesis . In Nemesis , the main colony is one of the Fifty Settlements, a collection of orbital colonies that form a state. The Fifty Settlements possibly were the basis for the fifty Spacer worlds in the Robot stories. The implication at the end of Nemesis that
205-495: A device designed by Seldon, stores psychohistorical equations showing the future development of humanity. The Prime Radiant projects the equations onto walls in some unexplained manner, but it does not cast shadows, thus allowing workers easy interaction. As a tool of the Second Foundation, control operates through the power of the mind, allowing the user to zoom in to details of the equations, and to change them. The plan
246-556: Is Seldon's great work intended to achieve this goal, a huge work of mathematics that describes the pattern of events set in motion by Seldon's intervention and those of his successors; a plan that centres on the Foundation, but is far from Seldon's ostensible goal of setting up a repository of knowledge. The Time Vault , created and programmed by Seldon, is designed to open "at defining moments in galactic history", known as "Seldon Crises", and impart crucial knowledge through holographically recorded messages from Seldon. The Prime Radiant ,
287-455: Is a 1992 novel by American writers Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg , based on Asimov's 1976 novelette " The Bicentennial Man ". It is about a robot that begins to display characteristics, such as creativity, traditionally the province of humans; the robot is ultimately declared an official human being. The 1999 film Bicentennial Man , starring Robin Williams , was based both on
328-421: Is also a movement towards centralized processing, including centralized control of robots, which would avoid any more self-reflecting robots such as Andrew. Only when Andrew allows his positronic brain to "decay", thereby willfully abandoning his immortality, is he declared a human being. This event takes place on the two-hundredth anniversary of his creation, hence the title of the novella and film. This story
369-619: Is also in the same continuity; being referenced in Forward the Foundation , where Hari Seldon refers to a twenty-thousand-year-old story of "a young woman that could communicate with an entire planet that circled a sun named Nemesis". Commentators noted that Nemesis contains barely disguised references to the Spacers and their calendar system, the Galactic Empire, and even to Hari Seldon which seem to have been deliberately placed for
410-498: Is described in Foundation's Edge as containing acres of equations, starting with Seldon's own work and extended in colour-coded addenda by Seldon's successors. A Visi-Sonor is a multi-keyed musical instrument that produces holographic visual effects as well as music. By incorporating his own mental ability to manipulate emotions, The Mule is able to use the instrument to brainwash others in Foundation and Empire (1952). In
451-460: Is initially possessed only by the Empire, the Foundation is able to reverse-engineer their own version using the captured warship Invictus . Called whisper-ships , these starships are able to jump without requiring a Spacer to navigate. In the series, The Vault has been sent to Terminus ahead of the colonists who establish the Foundation. The object, which hovers above the ground, is surrounded by
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#1732779713723492-540: The "Author's Note" of Prelude to Foundation , the novels The End of Eternity (1955), Nemesis (1989), and The Positronic Man (1992) (written by Robert Silverberg) are related to the greater Foundation series. The End of Eternity is vaguely referenced in Foundation's Edge , where a Gaian character in Foundation and Earth mentions the Eternals, whose "task it was to choose a reality that would be most suitable to Humanity". ( The End of Eternity also refers to
533-522: The "tether" or the "stalk", transit from the platform to the surface of the planet takes 14 hours. When the Star Bridge is severed by a terrorist attack in " The Emperor's Peace ", the bulk of it crashes to the surface and kills 100 million citizens. Trader and con man Hober Mallow possesses a castling device which allows two people of similar mass to switch places via a form of teleportation . Imperial General Bel Riose uses it to switch places with
574-656: The Asimov estate announced the publication of a prequel to I, Robot under the working title Robots and Chaos , the first volume in a prequel trilogy featuring Susan Calvin by fantasy author Mickey Zucker Reichert . The first book was published in November 2011 under the title I, Robot: To Protect , followed by I, Robot: To Obey in 2013 and I, Robot: To Preserve in 2016. The following works are listed in chronological order by narrative: In Foundation (1951), famed mathematician and psychologist Hari Seldon has developed
615-936: The Emperor clone Brother Day in the season two finale " Creation Myths ", resulting in Day being vented into space and killed. Asimov notes in "The Psychohistorians" that there are "nearly twenty-five million inhabited planets in the Galaxy". Pebble in the Sky Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.237 via cp1104 cp1104, Varnish XID 211061274 Upstream caches: cp1104 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:41:53 GMT The Positronic Man The Positronic Man
656-542: The Empire series. The Caliban trilogy describes the terraforming of the Spacer world Inferno, a planet where an ecological crisis forces the Spacers to abandon many long-cherished parts of their culture. Allen's novels echo the uncertainties that Asimov's later books express about the Three Laws of Robotics , and in particular the way a thoroughly roboticized culture can degrade human initiative. After Asimov's death and at
697-450: The Foundation ; Foundation and Chaos (1998) is set at the same time as the first chapter of Foundation , filling in the background; Foundation's Triumph (1999) covers ground following the recording of the holographic messages to the Foundation, and ties together a number of loose ends. These books are now claimed by some to collectively be a " Second Foundation trilogy", although they are inserts into pre-existing prequels and some of
738-528: The Martin family assist him in his quest for humanity, but each is limited to what degree they are prepared to acknowledge Andrew's humanity. In The Positronic Man , the trends of fictional robotics in Asimov's Robot series (as outlined in the book I, Robot ) are detailed as background events, with an indication that they are influenced by Andrew's story. No more robots in Andrew's line are developed. There
779-414: The Martin family, a departure from the usual practice by U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men of leasing robots. Andrew's initial experiences with the Martin family are replete with awkward moments which demonstrate his lack of socialization . However, he is much better with inanimate objects and animals and begins to display sentient characteristics (such as creativity; emotion; self-awareness) traditionally
820-406: The Second Foundation, using their mentalic powers against them. The 2021 Apple TV+ television series adaptation Foundation deviates substantially from Asimov's source work, and includes technological elements not featured by Asimov in the novels. Though cloning does not factor in Asimov's novels, the television series introduces a "Genetic Dynasty", surreptitiously administered for centuries by
861-484: The books in his list "were not written in the order in which (perhaps) they should be read". In the Author's Note , Asimov noted that there is room for a book between Robots and Empire and The Currents of Space , and that he could follow Foundation and Earth with additional volumes. Forward the Foundation , Nemesis , and The Positronic Man do not appear in Asimov's list, as they were not yet published at
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#1732779713723902-400: The books in his list "were not written in the order in which (perhaps) they should be read." The following works are listed in chronological order by narrative: Asimov's novels covered only 500 of the expected 1,000 years it would take for the Foundation to become a galactic empire. The novels that were written after Asimov did not continue the timeline but rather sought to fill in gaps in
943-419: The earlier Foundation storylines and not generally recognized as a new Trilogy. In an epilogue to Foundation's Triumph , Brin noted he could imagine himself or a different author writing another sequel to add to Foundation's Triumph , feeling that Hari Seldon's story was not yet necessarily finished. He later published a possible start of such a book on his website. More recently, the Asimov estate authorized
984-419: The earlier stories. The Foundation universe was once again revisited in 1989's Foundation's Friends , a collection of short stories written by many prominent science fiction authors of that time. Orson Scott Card 's " The Originist " clarifies the founding of the Second Foundation shortly after Seldon's death; Harry Turtledove 's "Trantor Falls" tells of the efforts by the Second Foundation to survive during
1025-570: The event, and which had become distorted, due to the loss of much of their planetary history. This work is generally regarded as part of the Empire series, but does not directly mention either Trantor or the other Spacer worlds. One character is said to have a Visi-Sonor, the same musical instrument that is played by the clown Magnifico in Foundation and Empire . Asimov integrated the Robot series into his all-encompassing Foundation series , making
1066-728: The inhabitants of the off-Earth colonies are splitting off from Earthbound humans could also be connected to a similar implication about the Spacers in Mark W. Tiedemann 's Robot books. According to Alasdair Wilkins, in a discussion posted on Gizmodo, "Asimov absolutely loves weird, elliptical structures. All three of his non-robot/Foundation science fiction novels – The End of Eternity , The Gods Themselves , and Nemesis – leaned heavily on non-chronological narratives, and he does it with gusto in The Gods Themselves ." In The Robots of Dawn , Dr. Han Fastolfe briefly summarizes
1107-519: The novel Psychohistorical Crisis , set in the Foundation universe after the start of the Second Empire. Novels by various authors ( Isaac Asimov's Robot City , Robots and Aliens and Robots in Time series) are loosely connected to the Robot series, but contain many inconsistencies with Asimov's books, and are not generally considered part of the Foundation series. In November 2009,
1148-472: The original story and the novel. In the twenty-first century the creation of the positronic brain leads to the development of robot laborers and revolutionizes life on Earth. Yet to the Martin family, their household robot NDR-113 is more than a mechanical servant. "Andrew" has become a trusted friend, a confidant, and a member of the Martin family. The story is told from the perspective of Andrew (later known as Andrew Martin), an NDR-series robot owned by
1189-534: The prequel novel Prelude to Foundation (1988), Eto Demerzel , the First Minister and chief advisor to Emperor Cleon I , is revealed to be the ancient sentient robot R. Daneel Olivaw from Asimov's Robot series , one of the last of his kind. The Mind Static device is introduced in Second Foundation . It is a tool developed by a group within the Foundation for use against the members of
1230-452: The province of humans. He is taken off his mundane household duties, for which he was intended, and allowed to pursue his creativity, making a fortune by selling his creations. Andrew seeks legal protection stemming from his initial creative output and eventual full recognition as a human, by gradually replacing his robotic components with synthetic organs, and citing the process as a transformation from robot to human. Succeeding generations of
1271-466: The publication of another trilogy of robot mysteries by Mark W. Tiedemann . These novels, which take place several years before Asimov's Robots and Empire , are Mirage (2000), Chimera (2001), and Aurora (2002). These were followed by yet another robot mystery, Alexander C. Irvine 's Have Robot, Will Travel (2004), set five years after the Tiedemann trilogy. In 2001, Donald Kingsbury published
Foundation universe - Misplaced Pages Continue
1312-421: The purpose of later integration into the Foundation universe. The foreword to Prelude to Foundation contains the chronological ordering of Asimov's science fiction books. Asimov stated that the books of his Robot , Empire , and Foundation series "offer a kind of history of the future, which is, perhaps, not completely consistent, since I did not plan consistency, to begin with." Asimov also noted that
1353-435: The regal Lady Demerzel , an expanded and gender-swapped version of the character from Prelude to Foundation and its sequel, Forward the Foundation (1993). In the series, the 12,000-year-old Empire is ruled by a revolving trio of Cleon I clones: Brother Day, a Cleon in his prime; Brother Dawn, a young Cleon being trained to succeed Brother Day; and Brother Dusk, a retired and aging Cleon who serves in an advisory role. In
1394-549: The request of Janet Asimov and the Asimov estate's representative, Ralph Vicinanza approached Gregory Benford and asked him to write another Foundation story. He eventually agreed, and with Vicinanza and after speaking "to several authors about [the] project", formed a plan for a trilogy with "two hard SF writers broadly influenced by Asimov and of unchallenged technical ability: Greg Bear and David Brin ." Foundation's Fear (1997) takes place chronologically between part one and part two of Asimov's second prequel novel, Forward
1435-534: The robot R. Daneel Olivaw appear again twenty thousand years later in the age of the Galactic Empire, in sequels and prequels to the original Foundation trilogy; and in the final book of the Robots series, Robots and Empire , Asimov describes how the worlds that later formed the Empire were settled, and how Earth became radioactive (which was first mentioned in Pebble in the Sky ). The stand-alone novel Nemesis
1476-548: The sacking of Trantor, the imperial capital and Second Foundation's home; and George Zebrowski 's "Foundation's Conscience" is about the efforts of a historian to document Seldon's work following the rise of the Second Galactic Empire. Also, shortly before his death in 1992, Asimov approved an outline for three novels by Roger MacBride Allen , known as the Caliban trilogy, set between Robots and Empire and
1517-457: The same universe, giving them a combined length of 18 novels, and a total of about 1,500,000 words. The merge also created a time-span of the series of around 20,000 years. The Stars, Like Dust states explicitly that the Earth is radioactive because of a nuclear war. Asimov later explained that the in-universe reason for this perception was that it was formulated by Earthmen many centuries after
1558-416: The science of psychohistory , which uses sophisticated mathematics and statistical analysis to predict future trends on a galactic scale. He has predicted the unavoidable and relatively imminent fall of the Galactic Empire, and intends to establish the Foundation, "a repository of crucial, civilization-preserving knowledge" that will enable society to revive itself more quickly and efficiently. The Seldon Plan
1599-508: The story from " The Bicentennial Man " (1976), which was later expanded by Robert Silverberg into the novel The Positronic Man (1992). The foreword to Prelude to Foundation contains the chronological ordering of Asimov's science fiction books. Asimov stated that the books of his Robot , Galactic Empire , and Foundation series "offer a kind of history of the future, which is, perhaps, not completely consistent, since I did not plan consistency to begin with." Asimov also noted that
1640-542: The television series, an aura is depicted as a protective force shield technology forbidden to everyone except the Emperors, but in season two it is revealed that the Foundation also possesses the technology and has distributed it to their envoys. Jumpships are starships capable of faster-than-light travel, operated by Spacers , genetically engineered and cybernetically enhanced humans made capable of remaining conscious and functional during jumps. Though jump technology
1681-477: The time, and the order of the Empire novels in Asimov's list is not entirely consistent with other lists. For example, the 1983 Ballantine Books printing of The Robots of Dawn lists the Empire novels as: The Stars, Like Dust , The Currents of Space , and Pebble in the Sky . Given that The Currents of Space includes Trantor and that The Stars, Like Dust does not, these two books possibly were accidentally reversed in Asimov's list. While not mentioned in