The final science-fiction novel by the legendary Asimov--a prequel to his widely acclaimed Foundation Trilogy, written in the 1940's. The story begins on Trantor, capital planet of a Galactic Empire that has stood for millennia; only a few citizens suspect that the Empire is about to collapse. Among them is Hari Seldon, mathematics professor and inventor of psychohistory: a science that allows him to predict and control the future. Psychohistory proves that the fall of the Empire is inevitable; but it also suggests ways to ameliorate the coming Dark Ages, and to lay the foundation for a Second--more stable--Empire. Luckily, Seldon has made important allies: the Emperor himself, who heard an early lecture by Seldon and has maintained an interest in him ever since; and Eto Dermerzel, long the power behind the throne.