The Ultimate Crime

Last updated
"The Ultimate Crime"
Author Isaac Asimov
Country United States
Language English
Series Black Widowers
Genre(s) Science fiction and mystery short story
Published in More Tales of the Black Widowers
Publisher Doubleday
Media type Print
Publication date 1976
Preceded by "The Unabridged"
Followed by "The Cross of Lorraine"

"The Ultimate Crime" is a short story by Isaac Asimov, dealing with a minor aspect of one of the Sherlock Holmes stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is the 24th of Asimov's Black Widowers mystery stories, and it appeared in his anthology More Tales of the Black Widowers (Doubleday, 1976), which collects the second dozen stories of the series. It was written specially for that book. It subsequently appeared again in Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space (Severn House, 1985), an anthology of stories written by different authors and co-edited by Asimov, [1] and Another Round at the Spaceport Bar (Avon 1989).

Short story Brief work of literature, usually written in narrative prose

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, however there are many exceptions to this.

Isaac Asimov American science-fiction and non-fiction writer

Isaac Asimov was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. He was known for his works of science fiction and popular science. Asimov was a prolific writer who wrote or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. His books have been published in 9 of the 10 major categories of the Dewey Decimal Classification.

Sherlock Holmes fictional private detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional private detective created by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, forensic science, and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard.

Contents

Background

In 1973 Asimov became a member of The Baker Street Irregulars (BSI), a fan club for Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts. A requirement for membership was that each new member should write and deliver a paper dealing with some question concerning any of the Sherlock Holmes stories, but this was waived in Asimov's case since he did not know the stories well enough. However, in 1975 the BSI decided to publish a collection of such articles, and members Banesh Hoffmann and Michael Harrison asked Asimov to write one. Hoffmann suggested that he write about The Dynamics of an Asteroid , a fictional treatise on astronomy written by Holmes's arch-enemy, Professor Moriarty. The Dynamics of an Asteroid is mentioned only once in Doyle's novel The Valley of Fear (1914), where it is described as a book renowned for containing such rarefied mathematics that there was supposedly no other scientist capable of fully understanding it. However, there were no other clues as to what its contents might be, since Doyle had written no more about it. Hoffmann therefore asked Asimov to speculate about what Moriarty might have written. This idea appealed to Asimov, and he wrote a 1,600-word essay on the matter, "Dynamics of an Asteroid," which was published in Beyond Baker Street: A Sherlockian Anthology (Bobbs-Merrill, 1976). [2] [3] [4]

The Baker Street Irregulars is an organization of Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts founded in 1934 by Christopher Morley. The nonprofit organization currently numbers some 300 individuals worldwide. The group has published The Baker Street Journal — an "irregular quarterly of Sherlockiana" — since 1946.

A fan club is a group that is dedicated to celebrities group, or idea. Most fan clubs are run by fans who devote considerable time and resources to support them. There are also "official" fan clubs that are run by someone associated with the person or organization the club is centered on. This is the case for many musicians, sports teams, etc.

Banesh Hoffmann American mathematician and physicist

Banesh Hoffmann was a British mathematician and physicist known for his association with Albert Einstein.

Asimov was so pleased with the result that he decided that his ideas deserved a wider audience, and so as soon as he finished writing the article he expanded it into a Black Widowers mystery story, "The Ultimate Crime," for publication in More Tales of the Black Widowers. [2] [3] [4]

Plot

Ronald Mason is the guest at the monthly dinner of the Black Widowers club. He is a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, but he has never contributed an article on the subject of Sherlock Holmes, and this omission is causing him increasing embarrassment. He is determined to write something about The Dynamics of an Asteroid, but as he does not know very much about astronomy he has not been able to, so he appeals to the Black Widowers for their help.

Astronomy natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects

Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It applies mathematics, physics, and chemistry in an effort to explain the origin of those objects and phenomena and their evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and comets; the phenomena also includes supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, all phenomena that originate outside Earth's atmosphere are within the purview of astronomy. A related but distinct subject is physical cosmology, which is the study of the Universe as a whole.

The Black Widowers suggest various ideas, none of which are satisfactory. Finally Henry, the waiter, proposes a solution which meets with the approval of everyone, and which Mason decides to use. Henry's conclusion, which he works out from the title of Moriarty's treatise, the presumed date of publication (around 1875), and what was known about astronomy at the time, is that Moriarty must have written that the likely origin of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter was a planet which exploded in the distant past. Henry further postulates that Moriarty may have intended to repeat such an event by calculating how to destroy Earth in a similar manner — the ultimate crime — and that for this reason the horrified scientific community, on finally realising what Moriarty had written, suppressed his work.

Asteroid belt the circumstellar disk (accumulation of matter) in an orbit between those of Mars and Jupiter

The asteroid belt is the circumstellar disc in the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets. The asteroid belt is also termed the main asteroid belt or main belt to distinguish it from other asteroid populations in the Solar System such as near-Earth asteroids and trojan asteroids. About half the mass of the belt is contained in the four largest asteroids: Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea. The total mass of the asteroid belt is approximately 4% that of the Moon, or 22% that of Pluto, and roughly twice that of Pluto's moon Charon.

Phaeton was the hypothetical planet theorized by the Titius–Bode law to have existed between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, the destruction of which supposedly led to the formation of the asteroid belt. The hypothetical planet was named for Phaethon, the son of the sun god Helios in Greek mythology, who attempted to drive his father's solar chariot for a day with disastrous results and was ultimately destroyed by Zeus.

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More Tales of the Black Widowers is a collection of mystery short stories by American author Isaac Asimov, featuring his fictional club of mystery solvers, the Black Widowers. It was first published in hardcover by Doubleday in October 1976, and in paperback by the Fawcett Crest imprint of Ballantine Books in November 1977. The first British edition was issued by Gollancz in April 1977.

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References

  1. ↑ Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space at Jerry's House of Everything
  2. 1 2 Asimov, Isaac. More Tales of the Black Widowers, Fawcett-Crest, 1976, page 223.
  3. 1 2 Asimov, Isaac. In Joy Still Felt, Avon, 1980, pages 699–700.
  4. 1 2 Asimov, Isaac. I. Asimov: A Memoir, Bantam Books, 1995, pages 390–392.

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