First Foundation

Limiting a 30,000-year dark age to just one thousand years through the science of psychohistory.

The Foundation series chronicles the future of a Galactic Empire encompassing the entire Milky Way during its waning days. Mathematician Hari Seldon devises psychohistory, a mathematical sociology using statistical laws to predict large-scale human behavior. He foresees an imminent fall of the Empire followed by a dark age lasting 30,000 years. To limit this interregnum to just one thousand years, Seldon creates two Foundations. The First Foundation is established on Terminus to preserve knowledge and eventually become the seed of a new empire.

Quick Facts

Founder: Hari Seldon (via the Seldon Plan)

Lore & Background

The original trilogy collects eight short stories and novellas published in Astounding Science-Fiction between May 1942 and January 1950. The premise, invented spontaneously by Isaac Asimov while walking to meet editor John W. Campbell, draws on Edward Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Hari Seldon was born in 11,988 GE, and the future emperor Cleon I is born 78 years before the Foundation Era (FE). The narrative focuses on the growth of the Foundation against the backdrop of the Empire's decline.

Key turning points include the 'Seldon Crises,' where specific resolutions are required for the Plan's success. The series introduces the unpredicted mutant known as the Mule, who defeats the Foundation using abilities that bypass psychohistory. This crisis is eventually averted by the hidden Second Foundation. Asimov notes his dating is approximate and inconsistent, admitting cross-references were made 'ad hoc' rather than from a systemized history.

Reader's Guide

The First Foundation operates on the principles of psychohistory, utilizing statistical laws of mass action to predict societal trends. Its strategy relies on 'deflecting' events rather than stopping them outright. The series was originally published as short stories and novellas before being collected into three novels by Gnome Press in 1951–1953. For nearly thirty years, it was known strictly as the Foundation Trilogy. Asimov later expanded the universe with two sequels (Foundation's Edge, 1982; Foundation and Earth, 1986) and two prequels (Prelude to Foundation, 1988; Forward the Foundation, 1993). The prequels explore the nascent idea of psychohistory and the life of Hari Seldon. The series won the one-time Hugo Award for 'Best All-Time Series' in 1966.