List of heroic fictional scientists and engineers
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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.
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Individual scientific heroes
- Dr. Ritsuko Akagi (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
- Martin Arrowsmith (Arrowsmith)
- 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.
- Dr. Susan Calvin (I, Robot and other stories by Isaac Asimov) Chief robot-psychologist of U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men
- Captain 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.
- 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 (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) When he learns of the destructive destiny of his future creation, Dyson destroys his research.
- Dr. Clayton Forrester (The War of the Worlds) His is one of the few examples of a character name used for both heroic and evil scientists, as the TV comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000 reused it for the mad scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester.
- Gordon Freeman (Half Life)
- Professor Kouzou Fuyutsuki (Neon Genesis Evangelion) Right hand man to Supreme Commander Gendo Ikari and second in command of Nerv.
- Professor E. Gadd (Nintendo games)
- Professor Roy Hinkley, a.k.a. 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.
- Indiana Jones (several movies) Adventurous archaeologist.
- Maxim Kammerer, (Strugatsky brothers) Goes on a quest for traces of a enigmatic alien race called Wanderers.
- Doctor 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 century in the future.
- MacGyver (MacGyver) A secret agent who fights the forces of evil using his scientific and engineering knowledge to his advantage.
- Ian Malcolm (Jurassic Park) Mathematician who survived numerous encouters with dinosaurs, although it is hardly clear how his mathematical and scientific training helps.
- Professor Nebulous (Professor Nebulous) Leader of an eco-troubleshooting team.
- Captain Nemo (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mysterious Island) An ambiguous-to-villainous figure, who later took on a heroic role.
- Jimmy Neutron (The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius) Boy genius.
- Tochiro Oyama (Captain Harlock) He is the designer and some say the soul of Harlock's spaceship Arcadia.
- 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.
- 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.
- Shiro Sanada (Star Blazers) Chief Technician or Chief Mechanic of the Space Battleship Yamato called Sandor.
- Doctor Clark Savage Jr. a.k.a. 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.
- Tom Strong (Tom Strong) Science hero.
- Tom Swift and Tom Swift, Jr. (children's stories) A father-and-son team of inventors.
- Citan Uzuki (Xenogears)
- Shion Uzuki (Xenosaga)
- 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)
Teams of scientific heroes
- The Andromeda Strain - A team of scientists who investigate a deadly disease.
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Forensic scientists who use their skills to solve crimes.
- Challengers of the Unknown - A quartet of scientific explorers.
- 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.
Heroic scientists in Star Trek
The Star Trek universe abounds with scientific and engineering heroes. Thanks to the fact the Starfleet curriculum includes a large portion of scientific and engineering training, pretty much all Starfleet officers on the 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. This branch counts as members two of the most famous Starfleet officers, Mr. Spock and Lieutenant Commander Data.
Heroic scientists in comics
The universes created by DC Comics and Marvel Comics abound with scientists who became superheroes. They include:
- Barry Allen, a.k.a. The Flash (Flash (comics)|The Flash) Police scientist and superhero.
- Querl Dox, a.k.a. Brainiac 5 (Legion of Super-Heroes) He is reputed to have a brain exponentially more powerful than a normal human.
- Jay Garrick, a.k.a. The Flash (Flash (comics)|The Flash) College student and superhero.
- Ted Knight, a.k.a. 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, a.k.a. Beast (X-Men) World-renowned biochemist and mutant superhero.
- Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man (Spider-Man) Superhero with great knowledge of advanced sciences, who now teaches at the High School he went to.
- Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic (Fantastic Four) Scientist and inventor, regarded as one of the most intelligent people on Earth, leader of the Fantastic Four.
- Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man (Iron Man) An industrialist of incredible ingenuity and inventive genius.
- Professor Charles Francis Xavier, a.k.a. Professor X (X-Men) The founder, mentor, and sometime leader of the X-Men.