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In contrast to the archetypical mad scientist, there are a lesser number of heroic scientists and engineers depicted in western culture who go above and beyond the regular demands of their professions to use their skills and knowledge for the betterment of others, often at great personal risk. In this list of heroic fictional scientists and engineers, an annotated alphabetical overview is given of some of the best-known beings in this category.
Individual scientist/engineer heroes
- Eleanor Arroway (Contact) – A scientist who searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.
- Martin Arrowsmith (Arrowsmith)
- Buckaroo Banzai (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension) – Particle physicist, neurosurgeon, test pilot, martial artist and rock star.
- Blankman (Blankman) – Science wiz-nerd who believes he is a superhero, and becomes one.
- Brains (Thunderbirds) – Engineer.
- Dr. Emmett Brown, a.k.a. Doc Brown (Back to the Future) – Inventor of a time machine.
- Professor Cuthbert Calculus (Tintin) – A brilliant, if distracted, scientist. He is responsible for developing numerous potions and devices, but is most notably known as the leader of the first manned lunar mission.
- Dr. Susan Calvin (I, Robot and other stories by Isaac Asimov) – Chief robot-psychologist of U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men
- Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter (Stargate SG-1) – An officer of the United States Air Force whose scientific knowledge frequently helps to resolve the various threats to her team and to Earth.
- Captain Hagbard Celine (Illuminatus trilogy) – Fights the Illuminati from his submarine and with his computer, both designed by himself.
- Norma Cenva (Legends of Dune) - Inventor of the space folding engine.
- Martin Crane (Skylark) – Engineer.
- Dexter (Dexter's Laboratory) – Young wiz-nerd.
- The Doctor (Doctor Who) – A superintelligent alien who was educated as a scientist and uses his skills extensively in his adventures.
- Dr. Miles Bennett Dyson ( Judgment Day) – When he learns of the destructive destiny of his future creation, Dyson destroys his research.
- Dr. Clayton Forrester (1953 The War of the Worlds movie)
- Gordon Freeman (Half Life) – The goateed theoretical physicist fights a one-man battle against invading aliens with a crowbar and other weapons.
- Leonid Gorbovsky (Noon Universe), a genius scientist, a progressor and a spaceship captain who is known for his ability to land on even the most dangerous planets, to survive planetwide catastrophes and easily making contact with any non-human civilization
- Gadget Hackwrench (Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers) - Female mouse tinkerer/scientist.
- Professor Roy Hinkley, aka The Professor (Gilligan's Island) – He is the respected de facto leader of the Castaways and usually represents the only real continual hope of rescue.
- Franz Hopper, (Code Lyoko) - Genius in Quantum Physics and Computer Programming responsible for the creation of the virtual reality Lyoko, Malevolent AI XANA and the advanced hardware that support both.
- Dr. Daniel Jackson (Stargate and Stargate SG-1) – Archaeologist and linguist who figures out how to open the Stargate.
- Indiana Jones (Indiana Jones movies and TV shows) – Adventurous archaeologist.
- Maxim Kammerer (Noon Universe) – Goes on a quest for traces of an enigmatic alien race called Wanderers.
- Gennady Komov (Noon Universe), a xenopsychologist whose main occupation is engaging contact with and studying alien (especially, non-human) civilizations, e.g. Headies and Ark Megaforms
- Angus "Mac" MacGyver (MacGyver) – A secret agent who fights the forces of evil using his scientific and engineering knowledge to his advantage.
- Pardot Kynes (Prelude to Dune) - Planetologist.
- Liet-Kynes (Prelude to Dune and Dune) - Planetologist.
- Ian Malcolm (Jurassic Park) – Mathematician who survives numerous encounters with dinosaurs, although it is hardly clear how his mathematical and scientific training helps.
- Dr. Rodney McKay (Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis) – Brilliant-but-whiny astrophysicist who manages to save the lost city of Atlantis on a regular basis (and never lets anyone forget it).
- Professor Nebulous (Nebulous) – Leader of an eco-troubleshooting team.
- Captain Nemo (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Mysterious Island) – An ambiguous-to-villainous figure, who later took on a heroic role.
- Jimmy Neutron ( Boy Genius) – Boy genius.
- Dr. Juliet Parrish (V) – A scientist who becomes the principal leader of the resistance against the genocidal alien Visitors.
- Q (James Bond) – Makes all the gadgets 007 uses. Q is most often portrayed using the conventional literary trappings of a scientist (white lab coat etc), even though his activities are closer to engineering.
- Professor Bernard Quatermass (various TV series and movies)
- Dr. Benton Quest (Jonny Quest)
- Leonard of Quirm (Discworld) – Superintelligent clockpunk engineer.
- Doctor Clark Savage Jr. aka Doc Savage (Doc Savage) – Surgeon, scientist, adventurer, inventor, explorer and musician.
- Dr. Richard Seaton (Skylark) – Super Scientist.
- Hari Seldon (Foundation Series) – The mathematician who invents psychohistory.
- Dr. Serizawa (Gojira/Godzilla) - Scientist who invents the Oxygen Destroyer, uses it to destroy Godzilla, then destroys his notes and sacrifices his own life so his creation can never be misused.
- Cyrus Smith (Mysterious Island) – Great literary example of 19th century engineer.
- Tom Strong (Tom Strong) – Science hero.
- Tom Swift and Tom Swift, Jr. (children's stories) – A father-and-son team of inventors.
- Prof. Utonium (The Powerpuff Girls) – The creator of the Powerpuff Girls, among several other wacky things.
- Professor Abraham van Helsing (Dracula) – Nemesis of Bram Stoker's Dracula. In later incarnations, the professor has not fared so well, and, in some adaptations, is himself a villain.
- Mrs. Wakeman (My Life as a Teenage Robot) – XJ-9's creator.
- Dr. Hans Zarkov (Flash Gordon)
Heroic scientists and engineers in anime and Japanese video games
- Naoko Akagi (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
- Dr. Ritsuko Akagi (Neon Genesis Evangelion) is the daughter of the above.
- Dr. Hiroshi Agasa aka Dr. Hershel Agasa (Case Closed) – An absent-minded professor who invents several devices to help out Jimmy Kudo.
- Jeff Andonuts (EarthBound) - One of the Chosen Four.
- Kiranin Colbock (Space Runaway Ideon) – A member of a science academy.
- Professor Kouzou Fuyutsuki (Neon Genesis Evangelion) – Right hand man to Supreme Commander Gendo Ikari and second in command of Nerv.
- some Characters named Cid in the Final Fantasy series
- Professor E. Gadd (Nintendo games)
- Ri Kohran (Sakura Wars)
- Dr. Emil Lang (Robotech) – Responsible for much of the Earth based Robotechnology. Briefly seen in the original series, he played a much larger role in the aborted series Robotech II: The Sentinels which was adapted as a comic book series.
- Dr. Thomas Light (Mega Man) – Creator of the revolutionary robot Mega Man.
- Lucca (Chrono Trigger) – Fighter and inventor, who, among other things, builds a time-machine and repairs a robot from over a millennium in the future.
- Tochiro Oyama (Captain Harlock) – He is the designer and some say the soul of Harlock's spaceship Arcadia.
- Perceptor (Transformers) - An Autobot scientist.
- Dr. Tem Ray (Mobile Suit Gundam) – Along with being the father of Amuro Ray, he led the design team that created the RX-78 Gundam.
- Dr. Aki Ross ( The Spirits Within), a biologist vowing to stop the aliens that plague the Earth
- Shiro Sanada (Star Blazers) – Chief Technician or Chief Mechanic of the Space Battleship Yamato, called Sandor in Star Blazers.
- 'Professor Noriyasu Seta (Love Hina'')
- James Ray Steam (Steamboy) - Boy genius who helps his father and grandfather save Victorian London from a greedy corporation's superweapons.
- Citan Uzuki (Xenogears)
- Shion Uzuki (Xenosaga)
- Wheeljack (Transformers) - An Autobot engineer and inventor.
- Bulma (Dragon Ball) - Creator of the Dragon Radar and a time machine allowing Trunks to avert the conquest of the world by evil androids.
Heroic scientists and engineers in comics
The universes created by DC Comics and Marvel Comics abound with scientists who became superheroes. They include:
- Agatha Heterodyne, (Airship Entertainment, Girl Genius) - The heiress to the political background and scientific understanding of the Heterodyne Family.
- Bruce Wayne, aka Batman (Detective Comics, Batman) - The World's Greatest Detective (reputedly) with incredible scientific knowledge and forensic and memory skills that are second to none.
- Barry Allen, aka The Flash (The Flash) – Police scientist and superhero.
- Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) – The most intelligent of the four Turtles, he builds a lot of advanced devices, often in the heat of battle.
- Querl Dox, aka Brainiac 5 (Legion of Super-Heroes) – He is reputed to have a brain exponentially more powerful than a normal human.
- Jay Garrick, aka The Flash (The Flash) – Research scientist, superhero and founding member of the Justice Society of America.
- Professor Ochanomizu, surrogate father of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy''
- Ted Knight, aka Starman (Starman) – Astronomer, expert scientist and superhero.
- Will Magnus (Metal Men) – Creator of a team of advanced artificially intelligent robots.
- Dr. Henry (Hank) Philip McCoy, aka Beast (X-Men) – World-renowned biochemist and mutant superhero.
- Othar Tryggvassen (Girl Genius) - A powerful "spark", or mad scientist, bent on destroying all sparks, including himself.
- Peter Parker aka Spider-Man (Spider-Man) – Superhero with great knowledge of advanced sciences, who now teaches at the High School he went to.
- Ratchet (Transformers series) – Very skilled Autobot medic. In the UK G1 Comics, he sacrifices himself to kill Megatron.
- Reed Richards, aka Mister Fantastic (Fantastic Four) – Scientist and inventor, regarded as one of the most intelligent people on Earth, leader of the Fantastic Four.
- Alan Scott (Green Lantern) - Engineer and the first Green Lantern
- Angela Spica, aka Engineer II (The Authority)
- Tony Stark, aka Iron Man (Iron Man) – An industrialist of incredible ingenuity and inventive genius. He suffers from alcoholism.
- Professor Charles Francis Xavier, aka Professor X (X-Men) – The founder, mentor, and sometime leader of the X-Men.
- Dr. Bruce Banner, aka The Incredible Hulk (Hulk) – Scientist who developed the "Gamma Bomb" for the US Government. An accident at the site of a test led to his becoming the Hulk. For a long period after, while in the form of Bruce Banner, he would look for scientific ways to rid himself of the transformation.
Heroic scientists and engineers in Star Trek
The Star Trek universe abounds with scientific and engineering heroes. Thanks to the fact that the Starfleet Academy's curriculum includes a large portion of scientific and engineering training, pretty much all Starfleet officers on the various ST series can be considered to fit in the current category. More specifically, Starfleet has several specialised scientific branches. The Starfleet Engineering Corps produced its share of heroic engineers, and the doctors of Starfleet Medical are responsible for discovering the cures of several diseases and developing a number of groundbreaking medical procedures. Starfleet Science Officers are responsible for all kinds of scientific research not covered by the two other branches. Thus, a list of scientific and engineering heroes in Star Trek might be as long as the list of Star Trek characters.
However, by narrowing the search to the set of main characters from each of the five series whose primary duty was science officer, chief medical officer or chief engineer, and adding the handful of scientists who've invented the technologies crucial to the stories, we can come up with a more manageable list:
- Julian Bashir ( Deep Space Nine) – Chief medical officer on Deep Space 9.
- Zefram Cochrane (Metamorphosis (Star Trek) and First Contact) – Inventor of the warp drive.
- Beverly Crusher ( The Next Generation) – Chief medical officer of the Enterprise-D.
- Data ( The Next Generation) – Second officer and chief operations officer of the Enterprise-D, but his duties covered that of a science officer.
- Jadzia Dax ( Deep Space Nine) – Science officer on Deep Space 9.
- Dr. Richard Daystrom (The Ultimate Computer) – Inventor of the duotronic computer systems, the basic principles behind the computers on all Starfleet vessels.
- The Doctor ( Voyager) – Voyager's Emergency Medical Hologram.
- Geordi LaForge ( The Next Generation) – Chief engineering officer of the Enterprise-D.
- Miles O'Brien ( Deep Space Nine) – Chief operations officer on Deep Space 9, which doubles as a chief engineer.
- Hoshi Sato ( Enterprise) – Communication officer of the Enterprise-NX and inventor of the universal translator.
- Montgomery Scott ( The Original Series) – Chief engineer of the Enterprise.
- Noonien Soong (Brothers (TNG episode)) – Inventor of the positronic brain, which makes intelligent androids possible.
- Mr. Spock ( The Original Series) – Science officer and second-in-command of the Enterprise.
- Leonard McCoy ( The Original Series) – Chief Medical Officer of the Enterprise.
- Phlox ( Enterprise) – Chief Medical Officer on the Enterprise-NX.
- Seven of Nine ( Voyager) – Borg drone with no official rank or post, but due to her access to advanced Borg knowledge, she was used as an acting science officer on Voyager.
- T'Pol ( Enterprise) – Second-in-command of the Enterprise-NX, though the crew relied on her as an acting science officer as well.
- B'Elanna Torres ( Voyager) – Chief engineer of the Voyager.
- Charles "Trip" Tucker III ( Enterprise) – Chief engineer of the Enterprise-NX.
Teams of scientist/engineer heroes
- The Andromeda Strain – A team of scientists who investigate a deadly disease.
- Crime Scene Investigation – Forensic scientists who use their skills to solve crimes.
- Challengers of the Unknown – A quartet of scientific explorers.
- Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric - Duo of alchemist brothers who seek the legendary Philosopher's Stone, and end up saving their country with their alchemical skills.
- Ghostbusters – Most of the central characters are parapsychologists who battle ghosts and other supernatural menaces with equipment of their own design.
- Unorthodox Engineers – A misfit bunch of engineers who solved problems of alien technology/weird planets in the future.
See also
Compare:
Fictional scientists | Lists of fictional characters by occupation
"List of heroic fictional scientists and engineers"