"A Statue for Father" is a humorous science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 by 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...

. The story first appeared in the February 1959 issue of Satellite Science Fiction

Satellite Science Fiction

Satellite Science Fiction was a science fiction digest-sized magazine that was published in the United States in the late 1950s.The first edition of Satellite Science Fiction was published in October 1956. It published a total of 18 editions and ceased publication after the May 1959 edition.The...

and was reprinted in the 1975 collection Buy Jupiter and Other Stories

Buy Jupiter and Other Stories

Buy Jupiter and Other Stories is a 1975 collection of short stories by American writer Isaac Asimov.It includes the following stories:*"Darwinian Pool Room"* "Day of the Hunters" * "Shah Guido G." * "Button, Button"...

.

Plot summary

A theoretical physicist and his son work on the theory of time travel, and experiment with a method of reaching back into time and retrieving objects (as also occurs in "The Ugly Little Boy

The Ugly Little Boy

"The Ugly Little Boy" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the September 1958 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction under the title "Lastborn", and was reprinted under its current title in the 1959 collection Nine Tomorrows. The story deals with a Homo...

" and "Button, Button

Button, Button (Asimov short story)

Button, Button is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in a January 1953 issue of Startling Stories, and reprinted in the 1975 collection Buy Jupiter and Other Stories...

").

More by serendipity

Serendipity

Serendipity means a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful without looking for it. The word has been voted as one of the ten English words hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company. However, due to its...

 than design, they manage to retrieve a nest of dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

eggs which in due course hatch. They keep on working but are unable to repeat the experiment. In the meantime, the dinosaurs grow and are kept as pets. But when one of them accidentally gets electrocuted, they can't resist tasting the flesh beneath the scales and find that it tastes delicious.

The two men decide to raise the dinosaurs to be killed for food and open the first of a successful chain of restaurants dedicated to serving "dinachicken".

The ironic twist of the title is that the physicist is remembered not for his scientific achievements, but for his culinary discovery.