Amazing

1934 - cover art by Howard Brown

Back when I decided to make Isaac Asimov a character in my Exode Saga, I faced the daunting task of learning about the life and times of Asimov. One particular mystery that needed investigation was how he decided that he wanted to become a doctor. In the end, I suppose we should all be happy that the doctor thing did not work out.

We know that Asimov grew up as an omnivorous reader; he read books that were available in the public library as well as the science fiction pulp magazines that were sold in the shop owned by his family. Many of those old magazines are now available to us by download over the internet, and one of the advantages of reading those old magazines is that they provide hints about the world beyond science fiction that Asimov was immersed in. One source of this cultural information is the advertisements that ran in the Sci Fi pulps.

1934

In the December 1934 issue of Astounding, there is an advertisement for Nacor. I don't particularly care about Nacor; there were many such frauds advertised in the old pulp magazines. I have to wonder if the science fiction genre could have come into existence without the financial support of scam artists. I've been able to determine that Nacor was being sold to people as far back as 1917. The "Nacor Medical Company" was eventually sent orders (by the FTC, in 1935) to stop their deceptive advertisements of this product (see this).

source

sex sells, nicotine addicts

Previously, the same concoction was marketed to the gullible as "Nature's Creation" (see above) and had been investigated by the American Medical Association in 1910. While on the topic of money-making scams, I also must wonder to what extent Asimov's family was supported through the depression years by selling tobacco products.

Asimov's old stories are full of characters who smoked tobacco. I wonder if Asimov felt any guilt over the fact that while growing up, he was fed and clothed off the profits of selling tobacco products to folks who were addicted to nicotine.

The End of Eternity

In The End of Eternity, here is how Asimov's character, Andrew Harlan, describes the value of advertisements: "These advertisements tell us more about Primitive times than the so-called news articles..."

Harlan is teaching ancient (20th century) history to another character, Cooper, who objects, "Isn't it rather disgusting the way these people blow their own horn? Who would be fool enough to believe a person's boasting about his own products?"

Interior art by William Dold.

interior art by William Dold.

In the December 1934 issue of Astounding, there was a story by John Campbell called "The Mightiest Machine". Supposedly this story by Campbell was widely read and influenced the work of people like Arthur Clarke (as mentioned here), but reading it here in 2020, I find it quite painful to slog through.

Unlike Edward E. Smith, who assumed the existence of a form of atomic power to propel his spacecraft (such as the Skylark), Campbell depicts future physicists as having failed to solve the atomic power problem. So how does Campbell move spacecraft into hyperspace? Using power from the sun, which is the titular "mightiest machine").

Interior artwork for
Skylark of Valeron. Festival
of imaginary technology.

By the way, one of Smith's Skylark stories is in the December 1934 issue of Astounding. In Smith's fictional universe you could travel through space at the speed of thought and there was always a force beam ready to be deployed for every emergency.

In Search of Amazing Aliens
What interests me most about "The Mightiest Machine" is the ancient astronauts plot thread. In this case, the "ancient astronauts" are not aliens, they are former residents of Earth (from a "lost continent") who went off into some parallel universe. I've previously blogged about Asimov's struggle to write stories featuring interesting aliens, a struggle which can be traced back to Campbell's own hangups.

"The Incredible Planet"

Star Wars
A big part of "The Mightiest Machine" is an endless war between the humans of this parallel universe and their arch rivals. Yawn. I'm not a fan of military Sci Fi.

Campbell went on to write a sequel to "The Mightiest Machine" that was called "The Incredible Planet". This book was compiled from a series of stories that Campbell could not publish in the pulp magazines. Here, our traveling heroes from "The Mightiest Machine" return from the parallel universe and while attempting to reach Earth, they find and visit another planet populated by humanoid aliens who are the last remnants of a crumbling civilization. The Earthlings provide advanced technology to the aliens that will presumably allow the suffering aliens to survive.

Isaac Asimov (right) and his mentor (Campbell, left)

Eventually, after having grown up reading Campbell's Sci Fi stories, Asimov met Campbell and received tutoring on how to craft his own science fiction stories. Asimov rebelled against Campbell's insistence that humans should always be depicted as superior to space aliens.

I suspect that Campbell was an inspiration for the young Isaac Asimov in several ways. One is that Campbell never completed his education. There were many challenges that stood in Asimov's path towards higher education. He was rejected from medical school. He was only granted admission to graduate school on a probationary basis. Asimov's graduate studies were interrupted by World War II.

The Case of the Superfluous Sedrons

Eventually, Asimov earned a PhD and became a university professor and teacher of science. After Asimov became a science (non-fiction) writer, he may have taught more science to Americans then anyone else in history. In contrast, during his career, Campbell may have promoted more pseudoscience than actual science.

In the Asimov Reality.
Original cover art by Robert Jones.
Other art by Michael Whelan.

I like to imagine that in the Asimov Reality, a "copy" of Isaac Asimov impersonated Campbell and took over as the editor of Astounding. After this "copy of Asimov" retired, he was still much in demand, as described in this fun little story.

Here in our Reality,  Asimov never did go to medical school, but that can't stop us from imagining an alternate Reality in which he did become an M.D.
Related Reading: the lost world Ver'la.
                             and another alternate Asimov.
Next: Uranium 235 and Jack Vance

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