''Pâté de Foie Gras'' is a 1956

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 unive ...

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 yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

, originally published by ''

Astounding Science Fiction ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William C ...

''. Like Asimov's " The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline", "Pâté de Foie Gras" is a scientific spoof article, updating one of

Aesop's Fables Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to ...

, The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs.

Plot

A Department of Agriculture employee tells of the discovery on a farm in Texas of a goose that lays golden eggs, and how US government and academic researchers try to solve the mystery of the goose. While its eggs are valuable as pure gold, learning how the bird produces the metal is more important. After the scientists realize that the goose is unharmed despite the enzyme-catalyzed nuclear process that converts

oxygen-18 Oxygen-18 (, Ω) is a natural, stable isotope of oxygen and one of the environmental isotopes. is an important precursor for the production of fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) used in positron emission tomography (PET). Generally, in the radiopharmaceu ...

gold-197 Gold (79Au) has one stable isotope, 197Au, and 36 radioisotopes, with 195Au being the most stable with a half-life of 186 days. Gold is currently considered the heaviest monoisotopic element. Bismuth formerly held that distinction until alpha-deca ...

producing gamma rays, they discover that it is immune to all radioactivity, converting any unstable isotope to a stable isotope. The goose is "the perfect defense against the

atomic age The Atomic Age, also known as the Atomic Era, is the period of history following the detonation of the first nuclear weapon, The Gadget at the ''Trinity'' test in New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, during World War II. Although nuclear chain reactio ...

", one researcher observes; large-scale industrial reproduction of its biological transmutation process would ease

nuclear waste disposal Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons r ...

and defend against

radioactive fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...

, and modifying the mechanism would produce any element as needed. The bird poses a dilemma, however. A

biopsy A biopsy is a medical test commonly performed by a surgeon, interventional radiologist, or an interventional cardiologist. The process involves extraction of sample cells or tissues for examination to determine the presence or extent of a diseas ...

of the liver provides no useful results; to learn more, it will be necessary to dissect an intact liver and study developing embryos, but there is only one goose. Since its eggs contain a lot of gold, the bird cannot reproduce due to a heavy-metal poisoning. The narrator decides to contact Isaac Asimov—who is both an experienced writer and biochemist, and whose

thiotimoline Thiotimoline is a fictitious chemical compound conceived by American biochemist and science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It was first described in a spoof scientific paper titled "The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline" in ...

articles received much public attention—and have him write up the story, soliciting the readers of ''Astounding'' for ideas.

Solution

In a commentary on the story, Asimov wrote that it was his intention for there to be a single solution discoverable by the reader. The hint dropped in the story is the description of an experiment in which the goose's gold production goes up when it is given water enriched with oxygen-18, which would indicate a possible source of the gold produced. This implies that if the goose is maintained in a closed environment, it will convert all the oxygen-18 to gold, while still being able to breathe the predominant oxygen nuclide (oxygen-16). It will excrete all the gold in its eggs, at which point it can be expected to start producing fertile eggs. Advances in science have led to other proposed solutions, such as cloning the goose.

Publication history

The story was first published in the September 1956 issue of ''

''. It appeared in Asimov's 1957 science essay collection ''

Only a Trillion ''Only a Trillion'' is a collection of ten science essays and three scientific spoof articles by Isaac Asimov. It was the first collection of science essays published by Asimov. It was first published by Abelard-Schuman in 1957. A paperback edition ...

'', in his 1968 short story collection ''

Asimov's Mysteries ''Asimov's Mysteries'', published in 1968, is a collection of 14 short stories by American writer Isaac Asimov, almost all of them science fiction mysteries (although, as Asimov admits in the introduction, some are only borderline). The stories w ...

'', and in '' The Complete Stories, Vol. 2''. It also appeared in the anthology '' Where Do We Go from Here?'' edited by Asimov and in '' The Edge of Tomorrow''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pate De Foie Gras (Short Story) Short stories by Isaac Asimov Humorous hoaxes in science Chemistry in fiction Oxygen Gold Foie gras Fictional geese Works originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact 1956 short stories