The Foundation series is a science fiction novel series written by American author Isaac Asimov. First published as a series of short stories and novellas in 1942–1950, and subsequently in three novel
First edition dust jacket of Foundation
Asimov (right) was inspired by the Future History stories of Heinlein (left – with L. Sprague de Camp in the middle), but self-consciously wrote that his was "not the beautiful job that Heinlein did, but was actually made up 'ad hoc'".