Brainiac
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- Brainiac is a fictional supervillain in DC Comics, most often appearing as an opponent of Superman.
- Brainiac was an American indie rock band.
- Brainiac: Science Abuse is a television programme showing in the UK on Sky One (and repeated on Sky Mix), which was then spun off into the (similar) Brainiac: History Abuse which gave a more prominent role to (rrr) Charlotte Hudson.
- Brainiac was a later, lower-priced, reduced-functionality version of the Geniac, a 1950s toy, billed as a "computer" (but actually no more than a rotary-switch construction set).
- Brainiac is also a slang term, indicating a highly intelligent person. It can be used in a complimentary manner, or it can be used pejoratively when describing so-called "nerds".
All of these names derive from the name of the 1946 ENIAC computer, whose name was an acronym for "Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer." A number of early computers had names ending in -IAC, notably the 1952 MANIAC and 1953 JOHNNIAC. The -IAC ending entered pop culture by way of science fiction, and was understood by the public to refer to computers, which at the time were often called "giant brains."