Gaal Dornick

Gaal Dornick is a fictional character in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series. It is Gaal Dornick that introduces the Foundation series, appearing in the first chapter of Foundation [ [http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553803716&view=excerpt Excerpt from Foundation] ] , describing his meeting with Hari Seldon. He eventually went on to be his biographer. He makes appearances in other of the stories, including Foundation's Triumph [ [http://www.davidbrin.com/foundationstriumphsample2.html Sample of Foundation's Triumph] ] .

Fictional history

Gaal is together with Hari Seldon the main character of part I of Foundation. He is described as a naive young mathematician originating from Synnax and invited to Trantor by Hari Seldon to become part of his psychohistory team. The novel begins with Gaal traveling to Trantor on a spaceship. On his arrival to Trantor he shows in a few occasion his clumsiness:he does not know how taxi system works nor he is acquainted with gravitic elevators . He meets Seldon on his first day on Trantor; Seldon reveals to him that psycohistory can predict future events of mankind and in fact the fall of current Empire is unavoidable. The day after Gaal is arrested together with Seldon and trialled in front of Commission of Public Safety. The trial ends with the banishment of the encyclopedists to Terminus.On their way back to University Seldon explains to Gaal that the exile to the remote planet of Terminus was in fact Seldon's goal and events have been directed to achieve this.

Further details of Gaal's life are given in Forward the Foundation After the exile, he carried the crises tapes recorded by Hari Seldon there. He also oversaw the construction and installation of the Time Vault. Gaal Dornick became one of the key workers with Stettin Palver on Seldon's Plan reporting directly to Seldon on its progress as they refined it. After Seldon's death, he moved permanently to Terminus. Seldon's own version of the Prime Radiant was bequeathed to him and shipped after Seldon's death.

Pyschohistory

Gaal Dornick, using non-mathematical concepts, defined psychohistory to be :"...that branch of mathematics which deals with the reactions of human conglomerates to fixed social and economic stimuli."

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