title: Asimov's Chronology of the World
author:  Isaac Asimov 
description: The history of the world from the big bang to modern times
zlib_text: FOUNDATION
  
  ISAAC ASIMOV
  
  * * *
  
  Contents
  
   _Introduction_
  
  _Part I The Psychohistorians_
  
  _Part II The Encyclopedists_
  
  _Part III The Mayors_
  
  _Part IV The Traders_
  
  _Part V The Merchant Princes_
  
    
  
  * * *
  
  THE STORY BEHIND THE "FOUNDATION"
  
  By ISAAC ASIMOV
  
  * * *
  
  The date was August 1, 1941. World War II had been raging for two years.
  France had fallen, the Battle of Britain had been fought, and the Soviet Union
  had just been invaded by Nazi Germany. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was four
  months in the future.
  
  But on that day, with Europe in flames, and the evil shadow of Adolf Hitler
  apparently falling over all the world, what was chiefly on my mind was a
  meeting toward which I was hastening.
  
  I was 21 years old, a graduate student in chemistry at Columbia University,
  and I had been writing science fiction professionally for three years. In that
  time, I had sold five stories to John Campbell, editor of _Astounding,_ and
  the fifth story, "Nightfall," was about to appear in the Septe