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| Isaac Asimov - Courtesy Wikipedi |
Isaac Asimov (02.01.1920 – 06.04.1992) had popularised science more than any one else in the 20th century. This article was written as a tribute to him, on his death.
This post is part of the series 'IT LIES IN THE HEART'. For other posts in the series, please see at the end of the article.
This post is part of the series 'IT LIES IN THE HEART'. For other posts in the series, please see at the end of the article.
In his book ‘Report on Planet three’, Arthur C Clarke comments that ‘In accordance with the terms of the Clarke-Asimov treaty, the second best science writer dedicates this book to the second best science fiction writer.’ This may not be true, for Asimov is reckoned by many, as the best science fiction writer, if not of all times then, at least of the 20th century.
One should also, not compare him with Jules Verne, the father of modern science fiction. He was of a different era; of the 19th century. The progress of Science makes the comparison unfair. But what Jules Verne was to his generation, Asimov was to present one. He inflamed the imagination of many and inspired others to be aware and interested in Science.
Asimov was born in Russia in 1920, ninety-two years after Jules Verne. His parents moved to the USA within three years of his birth. Unlike Jules Verne, who was a lawyer, Asimov chose Chemistry; taught Biochemistry for a few years in the School of Medicine, Boston University before retiring in 1958 to devote full time to his writing.
Asimov was a prolific writer. At the time of his death in April 1992, he had written about 500 books and thousands of articles ranging from Science to Shakespeare, but one will do well to ignore his writings apart from popular Science and Science fiction.
An incident happened after Asimov became famous. This is narrated in the article ‘Bridging the Gaps’ by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in ‘The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction’, March 1970 issue then republished in his book ‘The Stars In Their Courses’. His parents retired from the Candy shop that they were running. His mother could write Russian and Yiddish; she could read English but didn’t know the written script: so she took a course in writing. Soon she made good progress. Then, one evening, her teacher asked her,
‘Pardon me, Mrs. Asimov, but are you related to Isaac Asimov, by any chance?’
When she told him that Isaac Asimov was her son. He said,
‘Oh, then no wonder you’re such a good writer.’
This is how Asimov describes her response,
‘Upon which my mother, well-aware of the unidirectional flow of genes, drew herself up to her full four-feet-ten and said, freezingly, “I beg your pardon, sir. No wonder he’s a good writer.’’’
Asimov's writing career began at the age of 19 with the appearance of his short story ‘Marooned off Vesta’ in ‘Amazing Stories’. ‘Night Fall’, regarded by many as his finest story, was written two years thereafter. Since then, he never looked back.
Asimov chose simple themes for his stories. His stories, unlike Clarke's who once said about his film ‘2001 Space Odyssey’, ‘If you understand 2001 (space odyssey) on the first viewing (then) we will have failed’, are easy to understand and are fast moving―be it a short story or a novel.
Independent Stories
'The Fantastic Voyage' was a science fiction film based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby. Bantam Books purchased the rights for a paperbook novelisation of the film and requested Asimov to write it. The novel by the same name was released six months before the film and people are mistaken that it inspired the film. In fact it was other way around.
'The Fantastic Voyage' has an interesting plot. In future, a technique is found to decrease the size but smaller the size, lesser is the time for which it can remain so. Thereafter, it comes back to its original size. A scientist finds a way to beat the principle. It can remain in smaller size for any amount of time. It has tremendous applications. Imagine, the entire army could be kept in a match box and taken to the enemy country.
The scientist defects from the country, where he was living to another one but meets with a deliberate accident. A blood clot is formed in his brain and he goes in coma. A submarine with four men and a woman is reduced in size and injected inside the scientist's body to reach the brain to destroy the blood clot. It has to finish the job within a stipulated time otherwise it will return to the original size and kill the scientist.
One of the persons in the submarine is a villain. He does not want the scientist to survive. The result is that the submarine instead of going to the brain, travels to different parts of human body. And the story is, whether they succeed or not.
It is easy and fast moving and grips you from the beginning. But Asimov was never satisfied with it. He wrote another one ‘The Fantastic Voyage-II: Destination Brain'. But I liked the first one.
Asimov wrote three other independent novels: 'The End of the Eternity' in 1955, 'The Gods Themselves' in 1972 and 'Nemesis' in 1989.
Foundation Series
Asimov's best-known work is the ‘Foundation Series’. ‘Foundation’, the first one from the point of view of publication, was initially published in the form of four stories between 1942 and 1944. Later (1951), they appeared as a novel.
Two more were added ‘Foundation and the Empire' (1952) and ‘The Second Foundation' (1953). For twenty-five years the Foundation Trilogy remained the best science fiction ever written.
It is only later, that two more were added to the series ‘Foundation’s Edge' (1982) and ‘Foundation and Earth' (1983). One thought it was the end of the matter but then he came up with two more ‘Prelude to Foundation' (1988) and 'Forward the Foundation' (1993).
'Prelude to Foundation' is later in time of publication but is first in foundation series.
It is not apt to call the seven books as Foundation Series for he was writing other series as well and connecting them.
George Lucas has made films in star war series. To me, these films and characters therein seem to be inspired by Asimov's 'Foundation Series'.
Robot Series
The Robot series consists of ‘The Complete Robot’ (short stories about robots published from 1940 to 76), ‘The Caves of Steel' (1954) (The first Robot novel), ‘The Naked Sun' (1959), ‘The Robot of Dawn' (1983) and ‘Robots and Empire' (1985).
Asimov had written a short robot story by the name of 'The Bicentennial Man'. It was converted into a novel titled 'The Positronic Man'. This novel has been made into a film titled 'Bicentennial Man'.
In the film 'Bicentennial Man', Robin Williams has acted as robot Andrews. The film is a touching love story between a girl and a robot and can be enjoyed with family.
Empire Series
The Empire Series consist of ‘The Currents of Space' (1952) (The first Empire novel though again written in the last), ‘Pebble in the Sky' (1950) and ‘The Star Like Dust' (1951).
The stories and novels in the 'Foundation', 'Robot' and Empire' series are independent of each other and have been written at different times without any intention of connecting them. But Asimov did connect them all; forming what one may call the ‘Foundation Universe’. They have references to one another.
The stories and novels of the 'Foundation Universe' have some inconsistency as they were not planned to be connected. Nonetheless, they offer a kind of picture of the future, painted through stories that are gripping and are enjoyable to read. It is difficult to put them down. This holds for any Science fiction written by him. And if any certificate is needed, it is sufficient to say, Asimov won the Hugo Award four times and the Nebula award once.
Other Series
Apart from the above mentioned three series, Asimov wrote Lucky Star Series, under the pen name of Paul French; Norby Series with his second wife Jenet; Black Widowers Series; and Mysteries Series, but they are not as good as the stories of 'Foundation Universe'.
Non-Fiction Science Book
It was not that Asimov has been busy in writing Science fiction only. He was also writing books on popular science meant for laymen and school going students.
He has written almost on all subjects relating to Science. ‘Asimov's Guide to Science’, ‘The well springs of life’, ‘The left hand of Electron’, 'The Star in their courses', 'Asimov on Physics' and ‘The collapsing universe’ are some of his best.
Autobiography
Asimov also wrote his autobiography in three volumes- 'In memory yet Green: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov 1920 – 54', 'In joy still felt: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov 1954 – 78', and ' I Asimov: A Memoir 1954 – 78'.
Robotic Laws
Asimov's books are good. He popularised science more than any one else in the 20th century but the future might not remember him for his Foundation Universe or for that matter his books on popular science, but for his three laws of Robotics that he framed as early as 1941.
Like the three laws of motion, the three laws of Robotics will endure time and will be his true contribution to the field of Science and future Robotics.
The three laws, framed at the beginning of Robot series not only guided him through his robot series, but through all of his stories. They are,
- A Robot may not ignore a human being or through inaction allow human being to come to harm
- A Robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law
- A Robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law.
Trailer of the film 'Fantastic Voyage'
IT LIES IN THE HEART
(These articles were written before I was elevated as the High Court judge on 5th February 1999 and were also published. Since then they have been updated.)
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