Bel Arvardan

Bel Arvardan is a fictional character in Pebble in the Sky, a part of Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series of stories and novels.

He was born in the year 792 of the Galactic Era (792 G.E.) on the planet Baronn, located in the Sirius sector. At age 23, Arvardan became the youngest person to graduate as Senior Archaeologist at the University of Arcturus. He was also the first person to have his senior dissertation, entitled "On the Antiquity of Artifacts in the Sirius Sector with Considerations of the Application There of to the Radiation Hypothesis of Human Origin," rejected for print by the Journal of the Galactic Archaeological Society.

Later, Arvardan became a senior research associate at the Imperial Archaeological Institute. As a member of the institute, he led an archaeological expedition to Earth in the year 827 G.E. Whilst there, Arvardan helped Joseph Schwartz (himself a temporally displaced Earthman from the year 1949 AD), Affret Shekt, and daughter Pola Shekt discover and foil a plot to destroy the galaxy by Earthling zealots.