An innocent viewer of the new Apple TV+ series “Foundation”—a lavish production complete with clone emperors, a haunted starship, and a killer android who tears off her own face—might be surprised to learn that the novels it’s based on inspired Paul Krugman to become an economist. Isaac Asimov’s classic saga revolves around the dismal science of “psychohistory,” a hybrid of math and psychology that can predict the future.

Science fiction history has its share of disputes and disagreements, but there’s only one that left a plane crash, untold awards ceremony speeches, and the world’s first combination war treaty/book dedication in its wake.