Errors in the Robot-Empire-Foundation Universe

Whenever an error is mentioned, I try to offer one (or more) suggestions for corrections.

The errors are classified as Errors in Time, Errors in Space, Errors in the Names of Characters, Character Errors, and Errors in Stars.

As usual, I recomend reading the books before reading my comments, since I may put spoilers here

Errors in Time

1. Second Foundation, Search by the Foundation many times mentions that it happens 50 years after the death of the Mule. A more accurate number is 60 years

2. Second Foundation, Search by the Foundation, Chapter 16. Beginning of War equates Year 376 of the Foundation Era to Year 11692 ( should be 12444) of the Galactic Era, and to Year 455 (should be 456) from the birth of Hari Seldon, and to Year 76 (should be 66) from the establishment of the First Citizenship by the Mule (which I presume is the conquer of Kalgan).

3. Second Foundation, Search by the Foundation terminates with the following quote (Chapter 22's last paragraph):

   Eight months earlier, the First Speaker had viewed those same crowding stars - nowhere as crowded as in the central regions of that huge cluster of matter Man calls the Galaxy - with misgivings, but now there was a somber satisfaction on the round and ruddy face of Preem Palver - First Speaker

   Eight months is wrong, because the previous reference to the First Speaker looking at the stars and worrying about the future happened in Chapter 10, ten months earlier.

4. In Foundation's Edge, Part 2, Mayor, Chapter 2 Trevize is discussing with Mayor Branno, and says:

   Can you believe it? The Second Foundation, according to the account, was located and its various members dealth with. That was 378 F.E., a hundred twenty years ago. (...)

   378 F.E. doesn't fit with the dates given in Second Foundation, Search by the Foundation, that suggests that this date should be 377 F.E.. Lalaith suggests a different explanation, by shifting all dates in the Second Foundation, Search by the Foundation Timeline by about 6 months.

   Errors in Space

5. Tyrann is mentioned in The Stars like Dust to be 500 light-years away from Earth. Tyrann lies behind the Horsehead Nebula, that is 1,600 light-years away from the Sun - this is close enough to 500 parsecs to allow us to suppose that Tyrann is 500 parsecs away from Earth.
6. The size of the Foundation-controlled area and the Kalgan-controlled area in Second Foundation - Search by the Foundation are ridiculously small. During the Indburs, the Foundation (Foundation and Empire, The Mule, Chapter 13, Lieutenant and Clown)

   ruled a quadrant of the Galaxy with despotism.

   The same chapter says that Kalgan controlled a province. The hyerarchy of the Galactic Empire enables us to estimate that a Quadrant might have up to 1/10 of the Galaxy (2.5 million solar systems), a Sector might have 250,000 solar systems, and a Province might have 2500 solar systems. However, in the Stettinian War, the Foundation loses all but the Four Kingdoms core (about 100 solar systems), and Kalgan controls 27 worlds. Kalgan and the Union of Worlds should be much bigger, maybe a Sector (250,000 solar systems) and the Foundation core should be the Anacreonian Sector (250,000 solar systems)
   • It's not surprising that the dimensions of the Kalgan space are also too small: the diameter of it is 800 parsecs, given as the distance from Santanni to Locris. There are two ways to save this information: one is supposing that Santanni and Locris lie at the opposite sides from Kalgan, and then try to calculate the diameter of the Union of Worlds based on its size. The alternative is supposing that Asimov made a confusion with Korell and Kalgan, and all geographical informations about Kalgan in Second Foundation - Search by the Foundation are, in fact, those of Korell.

7. In Foundation and Earth, there are other stars in Alpha's sky when Alpha Centauri B is visible. I think that this should not be possible: the sky would be almost blue, without other stars.

   Errors in Space - Galactic size and shape

   These errors are based on the form of the Milky-way. There are many sites in the Web describing the Milky-way, but what I need here is a short description: most stars of the Milky-way lie in a flat disc, of diameter 40,000 parsecs and height 700 parsecs, with a denser nucleous of diameter 4,000 parsecs. The spiral arms may extend up to 13,000 parsecs away from the Center.

8. In Foundation and Empire, The Mule, Chapter 21, Interlude in Space, Toran Darell gives the coordinates of Siwenna as 30000 parsecs, 80 deg west Trantor, 40 deg.... Two of these numbers are wrong: the distance from the center of the Galaxy and the Galactic Latitude: Siwenna should be close (but not very much) to Terminus, that is located in the plane of the Galaxy in the Periphery. Maybe Toran had made a deliberate confusion and Siwenna is 30000 light-years from the Center of the Galaxy.

   Errors in Names of Characters

9. In Prelude to Foundation. Chapter 9, Cleon I's father is given as Stanel VI. Since Stannel VI is mentioned in Foundation and Stannel V is mentioned in Second Foundation, both as post-Foundation Emperors, we might assume that Cleon I's father was Stannel IV. OTOH, Lalaith conjectured that Onum Barr's reference to Stannel VI as a Foundation Era Emperor might be wrong, and the correct Emperor would be Stannel VII (it's always safer to assume a Character's Error over a Narrator's Error).

   Character Errors

10. Salvor Hardin, in Foundation, says that nuclear power is 50,000 years old. It should be 20,000 to 25,000 years old.

    Errors in Stars

    Those errors come from the fact that Stars that are too big or bright would be short-lived, and thus they are unlikely to have a life-supporting planet around them. Also, this planet would have to be too far (see my page about building a planet around a main sequence star), and this might cause some orbital problems, specially if the star has a companion.
    
    

11. In Foundation's Edge, Trevize mentions that there's no planet around any A or M star. This seems reasonable, but it contradicts the references to habitable planets around A stars. The compromising solution is the supposition that those names are not the name of the star but the name of the Sector (or Province, or whatever) of which the planet is the Capital.

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• Asimov Timelines
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• Valter Hilden's page about goofs and inconsistencies in the Foundation Trilogy

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