I am looking for a science fiction story I read in college (almost 20
years ago) in a literature class. I don't remember the name of the
story, but hopefully, with some description of some of the elements of
the story it can be found.

In the story the main character is an inventor, I think. He starts to
invent things that do well financially, but he doesn't care much about
money. A friend of his, who does care about money, offers to take the
inventors ideas to market. The inventions do very well and make the
friend very wealthy and powerful. The inventor creates things like an
airplane propellor that is so powerful and efficient that it cuts down
on fuel costs significantly, is very quiet, and moves airplanes along
faster than any jet engine available at the time.

The inventor is so obsessed with his work that he moves to an island
to be uninterrupted from his work. He also invents a pill he can take
so that he doesn't need sleep. He also invents some form of
nourishment that sustains him for long periods of time as well (I am
not positive about this detail).

He crowning achievement is the creation of a lifeform that is about 1
inch high (could be smaller, i don't remember). This lifeform is quite
intelligent (like humans), but has a very short lifespan so that he
can observe many generations over a short period of time. This
lifeform comes to think of the inventor as God.

The friend, meanwhile, is becoming impatient with the inventor because
of the lack of new inventions, and eventually orders an attack on the
island to take whatever the inventor has been working on. The inventor
orders his lifeform to protect him and they create an invisible,
inpenetrable forcefield around the island.

This is everything I remember from the story. Oh yes, one last thing,
the inventor has a funny last name like Jester, or Joker, or
Trickster, or something odd like that.

I would like the name of the story, the author and a source (where I
can get it today.)

Dear xclan-ga,
From your helpful description, I am sure the short story is
Microcosmic God by Theodore Sturgeon.
The inventor?s name is Kidder. The friend is a banker named Conant.
The species are called Neoterics.

These are some reviews or comments on the story.

"This is a short story published in 1941 about a man who creates
miniature life that evolves quickly into an advanced civilization (the
Neoterics) who think of him as a god. His financier turns against him,
and trys to destroy him and the Neoterics. In the story, the Neoterics
create an impeneratable shield to protect themselves."
(half-way down the page)
http://www.snpp.com/episodes/4F02.html

"Theodore Sturgeon depicts in the short story "Microcosmic God" an
ogre of a scientist, who invents a new miniature life form that lives
on timescales millions of times faster than our own. He acts as a
force of unnatural selection, forcing the development of an
intelligent species called Neoterics, and insuring their compliance to
his will via terrible punishments visited on whole populations."
http://www.dogchurch.org/scriptorium/scifi.html

"The first artificially evolved creatures appeared in Theodore
Sturgeon's "Microcosmic God" (1941), wherein a biochemist established
conditions allowing accelerated artificial evolution, creating the
Neoterics, a submillimeter-sized race of intelligent hypermetabolic
creatures which could accomplish tasks very rapidly."
http://www.nanomedicine.com/NMI/1.3.2.1.htm

Other sources also make reference to living on island, a pill to cure
the common cold and other inventions.

The story is available as part of a collection of his stories
Microcosmic God: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon (Sturgeon,
Theodore. Short Stories, V. 2.)

Amazon (you can use the ?search in the book? feature and view extracts)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1556433018/002-6540943-8898433?v=glance

Barnes and Noble
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookSearch/isbnInquiry.asp?sourceid=00009205639369597466&ISBN=1556433018&bfdate=03-23-2004+10:39:27

Or several other booksellers through this link
http://books.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c0/c767.htm?authorid=2818


I hope this answers your question. If it does not, or the answer is
unclear, then please ask for clarification of this research before
rating the answer. I shall respond to the clarification request as
soon as I receive it.
Thank you
answerfinder


Search strategy
sf inventor pill sleep ? led me to the title of the book

"microcosmic god" neoterics
://www.google.com/search?q=%22microcosmic+god%22+neoterics&btnG=Google+Search&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
"microcosmic god" sturgeon
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22microcosmic+god%22+sturgeon

Perfect and fast! Thank you very much.

Dear xclan-ga,
Thank you for the rating and the tip. Hope you enjoy the story again.
answerfinder-ga

This story was spoofed in a Simpson's epsidoe "The Genesis Tub":

"With an exhibition looming at school, Lisa is desperate for her
science experiment "will cola rot a tooth?" to succeed. However, in
"The Genesis Tub" she manages to create a miniature world whose tiny
population revere her as a God and invent a shrinking ray to bring her
to their world. Naturally, Bart the destroyer is on the war path."

http://www.dvd365.net/?simpsonstree.htm

Might want to ready the Bio about Nicoli Tesla.  Many people made a
lot of money out off him but he died pennyless (Think alternating
current).

Wow what a trip down memory lane.I read that in some anthology years
ago.Do you remember Country of the Kind by Damon Knight or We
Purchased People from the same era?

Don't think I ever read those, but they sound interesting from the
title. How are they similar?