Stanley G. Weinbaum 
Ideal 

After making science-fiction history with his beloved and broadly influential tale "A Martian Odyssey, " Stanley G. Weinbaum turned his creative powers to a series of stories starring a mismatched pair of protagonists: legend-in-his-own-mind Professor Haskel van Manderpootz and dashing aristocrat Dixon Wells. In the engaging short story "The Ideal, " the two develop a device that allows the user to catch a fleeting glimpse of his or her ideal in any category — person, place or thing.