# Eugene Taylor — Short Science Fiction character guide

> Eugene Taylor in Short Science Fiction by Isaac Asimov.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Taylor, Gene

**First appearance:** 0000-the-magnificent-possession

## Snapshot

Thirty, carefree, and happily broke, Gene Taylor bursts into Sills's laboratory with a joke and stays to watch a chemist chase the Nobel Prize.

## Who they are

Taylor is Sills's younger, cheerier foil — a man with no money and no worry about it, who teases his friend's bald head and gloomy outlook while genuinely marveling at the ammonium amalgam trick. His easy exuberance and his grab for the Ammonaline flask mark him as both audience and accomplice. He matters because his skepticism and appetite for risk pull Sills's private obsession out into the world.

## Relationships

### [Walter Sills](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_science_fiction_se/characters/walter_sills)

_rivalry_

Eugene Taylor and Walter Sills are antagonists, possibly competing for power or ideological dominance in a corporate or political setting.

### [J. Throgmorton Bankhead](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_science_fiction_se/characters/j_throgmorton_bankhead)

_professional_

Eugene Taylor and J. Throgmorton Bankhead are colleagues or rivals in a corporate or political environment, with frequent interactions suggesting negotiation or conflict.

### [Walter Sills](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_science_fiction_se/characters/walter_sills)

_rivalry_

Eugene Taylor and Walter Sills are antagonists, possibly competing for power or ideological dominance in a corporate or political setting.

### [Walter Sills](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_science_fiction_se/characters/walter_sills)

_rivalry_

Eugene Taylor and Walter Sills are antagonists, possibly competing for power or ideological dominance in a corporate or political setting.

### [J. Throgmorton Bankhead](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_science_fiction_se/characters/j_throgmorton_bankhead)

_professional_

Eugene Taylor and J. Throgmorton Bankhead are colleagues or rivals in a corporate or political environment, with frequent interactions suggesting negotiation or conflict.

### [J. Throgmorton Bankhead](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_science_fiction_se/characters/j_throgmorton_bankhead)

_professional_

Eugene Taylor and J. Throgmorton Bankhead are colleagues or rivals in a corporate or political environment, with frequent interactions suggesting negotiation or conflict.

## In the story

### [The Magnificent Possession](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_science_fiction_se/chapters/the-magnificent-possession)

Sills' cheerful friend who witnesses the discovery and urges him to keep it secret.

### [A Night of Trouble](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_science_fiction_se/chapters/a-night-of-trouble)

Sills' pragmatic associate who handles negotiations and helps fend off the burglars.

### [An Unexpected Surprise!](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_science_fiction_se/chapters/an-unexpected-surprise)

Assists Sills with the plating experiment; witnesses the catastrophic odor; escapes with Sills to the river.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_science_fiction_se/characters/eugene_taylor
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_science_fiction_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_science_fiction_se/characters