Breeds There a Man...?

Infobox short story |
name = Breeds There a Man...?
title_orig =
translator =
author = Isaac Asimov
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Science fiction short story
published_in = "Astounding Science Fiction"
publication_type = Periodical
publisher = Street & Smith
media_type = Print (Magazine, Hardback & Paperback)
pub_date = June 1951
english_pub_date =
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Breeds There a Man...?" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the June 1951 issue of "Astounding" and reprinted in the 1967 collection "Through a Glass, Clearly" and the 1969 collection "Nightfall and Other Stories ."

Plot Summary

Elwood Ralson, a brilliant but psychologically disturbed physicist, becomes convinced that humanity is a kind of genetics experiment being run by an alien intelligence. His behaviour becomes more erratic and suicidal as his thoughts become more entrenched in this idea, and his health fails.

He claims that the aliens want him to die before he can help produce a defence against atomic weapons, since a defence against atomic weapons would protect humanity against an extinction at the hands of the aliens, and humanity, analogous to bacteria when faced with the advanced technology and power of the aliens, would have developed an immunity against the penicillin that the aliens use to control the experiment.

Under the care of a psychiatrist, Dr Blaustein, Ralson is able to provide guidance to the scientists carrying out the research. Once the experiment is complete and the defence (a force-field generator) is built and tested, he commits suicide.

Notes

Commenting on the story in "In Memory Yet Green", Asimov noted, "I thought it was a particularly good story. It was set in the near future and dealt with current problems — the need to work up a defense against the atom bomb — which is something I don't usually do."