My Son, the Physicist is a science-fiction short story by Isaac Asimov.
Part of the Multivac series, it was first published in the February 1962 issue of Scientific American. It was later collected in 1969's Nightfall and Other Stories, 1986's The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov, 1989's The Asimov Chronicles, and 1990's The Complete Stories Volume I.
Summary[]
Gerard Cremona, a communications engineer for a space agency, is struggling with a critical problem. After four years in space, an expedition has reached Pluto and established contact, but the immense distance creates a twelve-hour delay for a radio signal to travel each way. This delay makes any meaningful, timely conversation with the crew impossible.
While Gerard is wrestling with this issue, his mother visits his office. After he explains the problem to her, she offers a solution based on her own experience: the secret to spreading news is to "just keep talking." She advises that both ends, the agency on Earth and the crew on Pluto, should transmit continuously. By constantly sending data and messages, and inserting responses or new questions into their ongoing transmission streams, they can create a continuous flow of communication without waiting for a reply to a specific message before sending the next one.
Gerard implements his mother's advice, and her simple, practical solution successfully resolves the complex communications dilemma.
See Also[]
List of short stories by Isaac Asimov
External Links[]
- Full text (at [Scribd] pp 110)