Foundation universe

Works set in the universe

The Foundation series shares its setting with Asimov's first published novel, Pebble in the Sky, though Foundation takes place roughly 10,000 years later. Pebble in the Sky became the basis for the Galactic Empire series. At an unknown date before writing Foundation's Edge, Asimov decided to merge the Foundation and Galactic Empire series with his Robot series, making all three part of the same universe. The Stars, Like Dust states that Earth is radioactive due to nuclear war; Asimov later explained that this perception was formulated by Earthmen centuries after the event and had become distorted through loss of planetary history.

That work is regarded by Asimov as part of the Empire series but does not directly mention Trantor or the Spacer worlds. Asimov integrated the Robot series by having the robot R. Daneel Olivaw reappear twenty thousand years later in the age of the Galactic Empire, in sequels and prequels to the original Foundation trilogy. In Robots and Empire, Asimov describes how the worlds that later formed the Empire were settled and how Earth became radioactive.

The novels The End of Eternity (1955), Nemesis (1989), and The Positronic Man (1992) are related to the greater Foundation series, though Asimov did not mention The End of Eternity in the series listing from Prelude to Foundation. A Gaian character in Foundation and Earth vaguely references the Eternals from The End of Eternity. Asimov stated in the author's note of Nemesis that it is not part of the Foundation or Empire series but that he might someday tie it to the others.

Technology

Mathematician and psychologist Hari Seldon developed psychohistory, a science using sophisticated mathematics and statistical analysis to predict future trends on a galactic scale. He predicted the unavoidable fall of the Galactic Empire and established the Foundation as a repository of crucial knowledge to enable society to revive more quickly. The Seldon Plan is his mathematical work describing the pattern of events set in motion by his intervention and that of his successors.

The Time Vault, created and programmed by Seldon, opens on each anniversary of the Foundation and, at crucial moments called Seldon Crises, plays a holographic message from Seldon confirming the plan's course. The Prime Radiant stores psychohistorical equations showing humanity's future development; it projects the equations onto walls without casting shadows. As a tool of the Second Foundation, control operates through the power of the mind, allowing the user to zoom in on details and change the equations.

A Visi-Sonor is a multi-keyed musical instrument that produces holographic visual effects and music; the Mule uses it to brainwash others by incorporating his own mental ability to manipulate emotions. In Prelude to Foundation, Eto Demerzel, the First Minister to Emperor Cleon I, is revealed to be the ancient sentient robot R. Daneel Olivaw. The Mind static device is a tool developed by a group within the Foundation for use against members of the Second Foundation, using their mentalic powers against them.

Planetary systems, stars and planets

Asimov notes that there are nearly twenty-five million inhabited planets in the Galaxy. 61 Cygni was advanced by Lord Dorwin as a potential site for the planet of origin of the human species, along with Sol and three other systems in the Sirius Sector and Arcturus in the Arcturus Sector. Achilles is a gas giant planet in the Anacreon system, between Saturn and Neptune in size, with a strong equatorial bulge and several moons. Alpha orbits Alpha Centauri A, 4.2 light-years from Sol; the Empire terraformed it to hold Earth's inhabitants after Earth was devastated by radiation, but the project was never completed.

It is covered almost entirely with water except for a fifteen-thousand-square-kilometer island. Lord Dorwin considered it the original system of humanity. The inhabitants call it New Earth and live a simple lifestyle; Golan Trevize ventured there in his search for Earth. Anacreon is a planet near the outer end of the periphery, capital of the Anacreon subprefecture, prefecture, and province, and later the Anacreon Kingdom.

It is a binary star system with an orbital period of 181 years, 84 days and 14 hours. Arcturus is a major planet and capital world of the Sirius Sector in the Galactic Empire.

Selected awards

In 1966, the Foundation trilogy took home a special Hugo Award for Best All-Time Series, surprising even its author, Isaac Asimov, who thought the prize was meant for The Lord of the Rings. The runners-up included the Barsoom series, the Future History series, the Lensman series, and Tolkien's work. The series has since earned five more Hugo Awards, one Nebula Award, and three Locus Awards. The Foundation trilogy ranked third in a 2012 Locus poll of the best 20th-century science fiction novels, behind Dune and Ender's Game. Its acclaim continues, with its most recent award coming in 2023.