Encyclopedia Galactica (Foundation)

''Encyclopedia Galactica'' is the name of a number of fictional or hypothetical encyclopedias containing all the knowledge accumulated by a galaxy-spanning civilization, most notably in Isaac Asimov's ''Foundation'' series. The concept of a "future encyclopedia" has become "something iconic among many lovers of the science fiction", and has been reused by numerous other writers.

Asimov's ''Encyclopedia Galactica''

''Encyclopedia Galactica'' first appeared in Isaac Asimov's short story "Foundation" (''Astounding Science Fiction'', May 1942), later republished as "The Encyclopedists" in the short-story collection '' Foundation'' (1951). Asimov's ''Encyclopedia Galactica'' was a compendium of all knowledge then available in the Galactic Empire, intended to preserve that knowledge in a remote region of the galaxy in the event of a foreseen galactic catastrophe. The ''Encyclopedia'' is later revealed to be an element in an act of misdirection, with its real purpose being to concentrate a group of knowledgeable scientists on a remote, resource-poor planet named Terminus, with the long-term aim of revitalizing the technologically stagnant and scientifically dormant empire. Originally published in a physical medium, it later becomes computerized and subject to continual change.

Asimov used the ''Encyclopedia Galactica'' as a literary device throughout his ''Foundation'' series, beginning many of the book sections or chapters with a short extract from the ''Encyclopedia'' as epigraphs, discussing a key character or event in the story. This provides the reader with a hazy idea of what is to come.

Theodore Wein considers the ''Encyclopedia Galactica'' as possibly inspired by a reference in H. G. Wells's '' The Shape of Things to Come'' (1933). The future world envisioned by Wells includes an "Encyclopaedic organization which centres upon Barcelona, with seventeen million active workers" and which is tasked with creating "the Fundamental Knowledge System which accumulates, sorts, keeps in order and renders available everything that is known". As pointed out by Wein, this Wells book was at its best-known and most influential in the late 1930s – coinciding with "the period of incubation" when the young Asimov became interested in science fiction, reading a lot of it and starting to formulate his own ideas.

Patricio Manns analyzed the ''Encyclopedia Galactica'' as a paratextual element of Asimov's work, intended to contextualize the action, to bring the trilogy closer to the historical novel and to inform the reader about a possible palimpsestic reading.

Later instances in fiction

Various authors have invoked the ''Encyclopedia Galactica'' in both science and science fiction. The first may have been author Frank Holby's short story "The Strange Case of the Missing Hero" in the July 1942 issue of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' which featured Sebastian Lelong, editor of the ''Encyclopedia''. It was also a common fixture in previous incarnations of the Legion of Super-Heroes comic books, and has appeared in the ''Star Wars'' expanded universe and Superman comics set in the future. The "Encyclopedia Galactica" was also mentioned as being a collection of all the knowledge of a galactic Empire in the 1989 science fiction short story " The Originist" by American novelist Orson Scott Card, and took place in Isaac Asimov's fictional "Foundation" Universe.

In the comic science fiction series by Douglas Adams, the ''Galactica'' is frequently contrasted with the apparently more popular '' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'':

Robert A. Heinlein mentioned the ''Encyclopedia'' in chapter three of '' To Sail Beyond the Sunset'' (1987): "... the computer that led the Lunar Revolution on time line three, code 'Neil Armstrong.' Let's skip the details; it's all in ''Encyclopedia Galacta'' (sic) and other books."

In Arthur C. Clarke's and Gentry Lee's novel ''Rama II'' (1989), Nicole des Jardins says to Richard Wakefield, "Just think, the sum of everything all human beings know or have ever known might be nothing more than an infinitesimal fraction of the ''Encyclopedia Galactica''."

''Encyclopedia Galactica'' is mentioned by Charlie Sheen's character in '' The Arrival'' (1996), and by Jodie Foster's character in '' Contact'' (1997).

The Orion's Arm worldbuilding project uses a fictional database called the Encyclopaedia Galactica as its primary framing device, each page presenting itself as an individual article of the ''Encyclopaedia'' and focusing on a specific aspect of the Orion's Arm universe.

Other uses

There was a series of five video documentaries in 1993, collectively called ''Encyclopædia Galactica'', with the episode titles “The Inner Solar System”, “The Outer Solar System”, “Star Trekking”, “Discovery”, and “Astronomy and the Stars”. The videos were produced by York Films of England and distributed by Encyclopædia Britannica (Australia). Other entities associated with the production of the video series were Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation, The Learning Channel (retitled ''Amazing Space''), The Discovery Channel Europe, S4C Wales, System TV France and Yleisradio Finland.

There was an ''Encyclopedia Galactica: from the Fleet Library aboard the Battlestar Galactica'' published in 1978. Aimed at a juvenile audience, this was a tie in to the ''Battlestar Galactica'' television series being broadcast at the time.

The term has been used in non-fictional contexts as well. One example is its use by Carl Sagan (1934–1996) in his 1980 book ''Cosmos'', and the 12th episode of his documentary of the same name, to refer to a text where hypothetical extraterrestrial civilizations could store all of their information and knowledge.

See also

*Future history
* Interplanetary Internet
* Library of Trantor
*Recorded history
*Web archiving

References

External links

''Encyclopedia Galactica'' - A Guide to Asimov's ''Foundation'' Universe
()
''Encyclopaedia Galactica'' - a guide to the Orion's Arm Universe

{{Authority control

Foundation universe
Galactica, Encyclopaedia
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Science fiction themes
Fictional elements introduced in 1942
Interstellar communication