"A Statue for Father" is a humorous

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one 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 oldest ...

by American writer Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the February 1959 issue of ''

Satellite Science Fiction ''Satellite Science Fiction'' was an American science-fiction magazine published from October 1956 to April 1959 by Leo Margulies' Renown Publications. Initially, ''Satellite'' was digest sized and ran a full-length novel in each issue with a ...

'' and was reprinted in the 1975 collection '' Buy Jupiter and Other Stories''.

Plot summary

A theoretical physicist and his son work on the theory of

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a ...

, and experiment with a method of reaching back into time and retrieving objects (as also occurs in "

The Ugly Little Boy "The Ugly Little Boy" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the September 1958 issue of ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' under the title "Lastborn", and was reprinted under its current title in ...

" and " Button, Button"). More by serendipity than design, they manage to retrieve a nest of

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

eggs which in due course hatch. They keep on working but are unable to repeat the experiment. In the meantime, the dinosaurs grow and are kept as pets. But when one of them accidentally gets electrocuted, they can't resist tasting the flesh beneath the scales and find that it tastes delicious. The two men decide to raise the dinosaurs to be killed for food and open the first of a successful chain of restaurants dedicated to serving "dinachicken.". The ironic twist of the title is that the physicist is remembered not for his scientific achievements, but for his culinary discovery.

External links

* Short stories by Isaac Asimov Novels about dinosaurs 1959 short stories Science fiction short stories Works originally published in Satellite Science Fiction {{1950s-sf-story-stub