Gaal Dornick is a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 in Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...

's Foundation Series

The Foundation Series

The Foundation Series is a science fiction series by Isaac Asimov. There are seven volumes in the Foundation Series proper, which in its in-universe chronological order are: Prelude to Foundation, Forward the Foundation, Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation, Foundation's Edge, and...

. It is Gaal Dornick that introduces the Foundation series, appearing in the first chapter of Foundation

Foundation (novel)

Foundation is the first book in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy . Foundation is a collection of five short stories, which were first published together as a book by Gnome Press in 1951...

, describing his meeting with Hari Seldon

Hari Seldon

Hari Seldon, a fictional character, is the intellectual hero of Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series. In his capacity as mathematics professor at Streeling University on Trantor, he developed psychohistory, allowing him to predict the future in probabilistic terms...

. He eventually went on to be his biographer. He makes appearances in several other stories of the Foundation series, including Foundation's Triumph

Foundation's Triumph

Foundation's Triumph is a science fiction novel by David Brin, set in Isaac Asimov's Foundation universe. It is the third book of the Second Foundation trilogy, which was written after Asimov's death by three authors, authorized by the Asimov estate...

.

Fictional history

Gaal is together with Hari Seldon, the main character of part I of Foundation

Foundation (novel)

Foundation is the first book in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy . Foundation is a collection of five short stories, which were first published together as a book by Gnome Press in 1951...

. He is described as a naïve young mathematician originating from Synnax and invited to Trantor

Trantor

Trantor is a fictional planet in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series and Empire Series of science fiction novels.Trantor was first described in a short story by Asimov appearing in Early Asimov Volume 1. Later Trantor gained prominence when the 1940s Foundation Series first appeared in print . Asimov...

 by Hari Seldon to become part of his psychohistory

Psychohistory (fictional)

Psychohistory is a fictional science in Isaac Asimov's Foundation universe which combines history, sociology, and mathematical statistics to make general predictions about the future behavior of very large groups of people, such as the Galactic Empire...

 team. The novel begins with Gaal traveling to Trantor on a spaceship. On his arrival to Trantor he shows in a few occasion his clumsiness: he does not know how taxi system works nor he is acquainted with gravitic elevators. He meets Seldon on his first day on Trantor; Seldon reveals to him that psychohistory can predict future events of mankind and in fact the fall of current Empire is unavoidable. The day after, Gaal is arrested with Seldon and tried in front of the Commission of Public Safety. The trial ends with the banishment of the encyclopedists to Terminus

Terminus (planet)

Terminus is a fictional planet at the edge of the Galaxy in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series, home of the Foundation .-Position in the universe:Terminus is the sole planet orbiting an isolated star...

.
On their way back to the University, Seldon explains to Gaal that the exile to the remote planet of Terminus was in fact Seldon's goal and events have been directed to achieve this.

Further details of Gaal's life are given in Forward the Foundation

Forward the Foundation

Forward the Foundation is a novel written by Isaac Asimov. It is the second of two prequels to the Foundation Series. It is written in much the same style as the original novel Foundation, a novel composed of chapters with long intervals in between...

. After the exile, he carried the crises tapes recorded by Hari Seldon there. He also oversaw the construction and installation of the Time Vault. Gaal Dornick became one of the key workers with Stettin Palver on Seldon's Plan

Seldon Plan

The Seldon Plan is the central theme of Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series of stories and novels.-Psychohistory:According to Asimov's novels, Hari Seldon devised the Seldon Plan using a mathematical analysis he originally developed and called psychohistory...

 reporting directly to Seldon on its progress as they refined it. After Seldon's death, he moved to Terminus. Seldon's own version of the Prime Radiant was bequeathed to him and shipped after Seldon's death. Since Bort Alurin is stated to be the only social scientist present in the First Foundation, and the Prime Radiant appears later in possession of the Second Foundation, it's likely that he didn't stay permanently in Terminus.

Pyschohistory

Gaal Dornick, using non-mathematical concepts, defined psychohistory

Psychohistory

Psychohistory is the study of the psychological motivations of historical events. It attempts to combine the insights of psychotherapy with the research methodology of the social sciences to understand the emotional origin of the social and political behavior of groups and nations, past and present...

to be

...that branch of mathematics which deals with the reactions of human conglomerates to fixed social and economic stimuli.