"Columbus Was a Dope" is a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

by American writer

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein ( ; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific acc ...

. It was first published in the May 1947 issue of ''

Startling Stories ''Startling Stories'' was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1955 by publisher Ned Pines' Standard Magazines. It was initially edited by Mort Weisinger, who was also the editor of '' Thrilling Wonder Stories ...

''. It later appeared in two of Heinlein's collections, ''

The Menace from Earth "The Menace From Earth" is a science fiction short story by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first published in the August 1957 issue of ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction''. Plot summary The story is set in the near future, when ...

'' (1959), and'' Off the Main Sequence: The Other Science Fiction Stories of Robert A. Heinlein'' (2005).

Plot summary

Two bar patrons and a bartender debate building a

generation ship A generation ship, generation starship or world ship, is a hypothetical type of interstellar ark starship that travels at sub- light speed. Since such a ship might require hundreds to thousands of years to reach nearby stars, the original occup ...

Proxima Centauri Proxima Centauri is the nearest star to Earth after the Sun, located 4.25 light-years away in the southern constellation of Centaurus. This object was discovered in 1915 by Robert T. A. Innes, Robert Innes. It is a small, low-mass st ...

. One favors space exploration as benefiting society like

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

discovery of the New World During the Age of Discovery, a large scale colonization of the Americas, involving a number of European countries, took place primarily between the late 15th century and the early 19th century. The Norse explored and colonized areas of Europe a ...

; the other insists that "Columbus was a dope" and should have stayed home. At the end of the story, it is revealed that the bar is on the Moon.

Release

"Columbus Was a Dope" was first published in the May 1947 issue of ''

''. It was subsequently released in the anthology collection Travelers of Space in 1951, through

Gnome Press Gnome Press was an American small-press publishing company active 1948 – 1962 and primarily known for fantasy and science fiction, many later regarded as classics. Gnome was one of the most eminent of the fan publishers of SF, producing 86 ...

Reception

William H. Patterson Jr. claimed that "Columbus Was a Dope," along with other stories collected in ''The Menace from Earth,'' occurs within Heinlein's World as Myth framework, stating that they "are happening somewhere else in the Multiverse, somewhere quite close by the Future History."

References

External links

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Columbus Was a Dope
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Short stories by Robert A. Heinlein 1947 short stories Works originally published in Startling Stories {{1940s-sf-story-stub