PART I THE PSYCHOHISTORIANS

1.

HARI SELDON?.. born in the 11,988th year of the Galactic Era; died 12,069.
The dates are more  commonly given in terms of the current Foundational Era as  ?79  to  the year  1 F.E.  Born  to middle-class  parents  on Helicon,
Arcturus sector  (where his  father, in a legend  of doubtful authenticity,
was  a tobacco  grower in the  hydroponic plants  of the planet),  he early showed amazing ability in mathematics. Anecdotes concerning his ability are innumerable, and  some are contradictory. At the age of  two, he is said to have ...

...  Undoubtedly   his  greatest   contributions  were  in   the  field  of psychohistory.  Seldon found  the  field little  more than  a set  of vague axioms; he left it a profound statistical science....

... The best existing  authority we have for the details of his life is the biography written by Gaal Dornick who. as a young man, met Seldon two years before  the  great mathematician's  death.  The  story of  the meeting  ...



ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA*

* All quotations from  the Encyclopedia Galactica here reproduced are taken from the 116th Edition published in 1020 F.E. by the Encyclopedia Galactica Publishing   Co.,   Terminus,    with   permission   of   the   publishers.

心理史学家
哈里·谢顿……生于银河纪元一一九八八年，卒于一二○六九年。他的生卒年分较常以目前通用的基地纪元记载，即生于基地纪元负八十一年，卒于基地元年。
谢顿的故乡为大角星区的赫利肯星，父母为中产阶级的平民。（根据并不可靠的传说，谢顿的父亲是该行星水耕区的烟草农夫。）他自幼就显露出惊人的数学天分，关于这些天分的传闻轶事不胜枚举，有些甚至互相矛盾。
据说他才两岁的时候，就会……
谢顿一生最大的贡献，无疑是心理史学的开拓。当他刚接触这门学问时，心理史学只能算是一组含糊的公设。谢顿则从这些公设出发，导出了一个深奥的统计科学……
关于谢顿生平的详细记载，目前保有的最权威资料是盖尔·多尼克所著的传记。在这位伟大的数学家去世之前两年，仍是年轻小伙子的多尼克才与他结识，关于他们相遇的故事……
——《银河百科全书》*
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*本书所引用的《银河百科全书》资料，皆取自基地纪元一○二○年出版的第一一六版。发行者为端点星银河百科全书出版公司，作者承蒙发行者授权引用。