Mad scientist: Difference between revisions

A mad scientist is a stock character--typically, but not exclusively villianous-- who usually appears in fiction, usually depicted as a scientist who is insane or at the least very eccentric. He is usually working with some utterly fictional technology in order to forward his evil schemes. Recent Mad Scientists depictions are often satirical and humorous.

"They LAUGHED at my theories at the institute! Fools! I'll destroy them all!" - A stereotypical Mad Scientist caricature.

Mad scientists are typically characterized by obsessive behaviour and the employment of extremely dangerous methods. They often are motivated by revenge , seeking to settle real or imagined slights, typically related to their unorthodox studies.

Their laboratories often hum with Tesla coils, Van de Graaff generators, perpetual motion machines, and other visually impressive electrical oddments, or are decorated with test tubes and complicated distillation apparatus containing strangely-coloured liquids - often without regard for the actual use of such equiptment. The general rule to follow when you encounter mad scientist experiments is 'do not attempt this at home!'

Other Traits:

• pursuit of science without regard to its ethical implications such as violating the Nuremberg Code,
• self experimentation,
• playing God,
• lack of normal relationships,

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The stereotype originated in literary works in the nineteenth century to depict the dangers of science. The perceived conflict between science and religion during this period informed the earliest depictions of the stereotype.

The prototypical mad scientist was Doctor Frankenstein, creator of Frankenstein's monster, who made his first appearance in 1818, in the novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. Though Dr. Frankenstein is a character of some sympathy in his first appearance, the critical elements of conducting forbidden experiments that cross "boundaries that ought not to be crossed," heedless of the consequences, are present in Shelley's novel.

• Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) portrays the essentially humane experimenter driven to madness and suicide by the nature of his science.

• Jules Verne's Carpathian Castle (1892) has a mad scientist named "Orfanik"

• H. G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896) carried Frankesteinian experimentation a step further, contrasted with an idyllic 'natural' South Sea island setting. The film is The Island of Lost Souls (1933) ("From his house of pain they came remade... "What is the law? Not to spill blood; not to chase other men; not to go on all fours; not to eat flesh. This is the law. Are we not men?"")

• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) is a silent film featuring the mad hypnotic Doctor and his somnambulating assistant.

• C.A. Rotwang in Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927)

• Dr. Frankenstein in several movie versions.

• Dr. Jack Griffin, in the film The Invisible Man (1933). Dr. Griffin makes a discovery on how to become invisible but in the process is sent into murderous insanity.

• Dr. Janos Rukh, in the film The Invisible Ray (1936). Dr Rukh discovers a radioactive ray that cures blindness but causes him to develop a murderous paranoid rage against other scientists accused of stealing his discovery.

• Dr. Throkel, in the film Dr. Cyclops (1940). Dr. Throkel shrinks opponents of his unorthodox experimentation with radium.

• Phor Tak, the discoverer of invisibility in Edgar Rice Burrough's 1930 science-fiction novel, A Fighting Man of Mars.

Nevertheless, the essentially benign and progressive nature of science in the public imagination continued without a check, exemplified by the optimistic 'Century of Progress' exhibition in Chicago, 1933, and the 'World of Tomorrow' at the New York World's Fair of 1939.

Mad scientists had their heyday in popular culture in the period after World War II. The sadistic medical experiments of the Nazis and the atomic bomb gave rise in this period to genuine fears that science and technology had become forces out of control. Mad scientists frequently figure in science fiction and motion pictures from the period. The movie Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, in which Peter Sellers plays the title Dr. Strangelove, is perhaps the ultimate expression of this fear of science out of control.

In more recent years, the mad scientist as a lone searcher of the forbidden unknown has tended to be replaced by mad corporate executives who plan to profit from defying the laws of nature and humanity regardless of who suffers; these people hire a salaried scientific staff to pursue their twisted dreams. This shift is typified by the revised history of Superman's archenemy, Lex Luthor: originally conceived in the 1930s as a mad scientist in the lone-searcher-of-the-forbidden-unknown, a major retcon of the character's origins in the early 1980s made him the head of a mega corporation who also plays a leading role in his R & D Department. Still, the pose has been used whimsically by popular science writers to attract readers (things are more interesting if they are somehow dangerous).

• Simon Barsinister, from the Underdog cartoon (1964)
• The Brain, from Pinky and the Brain
• Dr. Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future film trilogy.
• Dr. Seth Brundle in David Cronenberg's remake of The Fly.
• Dr. Jacob (Jake) Jeremiah Burroughs, Colonel, A.U.S. from Robert A. Heinlein's The Number of the Beast (1980)
• Sebastian Caine, in the film Hollow Man (2000)
• Dr. Chaotica from the "Bride of Chaotica" episode in Star Trek: Voyager
• rotcoD daM, from the cartoon series Sinbad the Sailor
• Davros and The Rani, from Doctor Who
• Sir August DeWynter, in the film The Avengers (1998)
• Dexter and Mandark, of Dexter's Laboratory
• Dr. Durand Durand, in the film Barbarella (1968)
• Dr. Eggman, aka Dr. Robotnik, from the video game Sonic the Hedgehog
• Dr. Evil, from the Austin Powers film series
• Dr. Clayton Forrester from Mystery Science Theater 3000
• Carl Foutley (aspiring), on As Told By Ginger
• Dr. Otto Frank, in the film Monstrosity (1964)
• Dr. Victor Frankenstein (in the film versions, at least)
• Prof. Frink from The Simpsons
• Dr. Charles Girard, in the film Terror Is a Man (1959)
• Dr. Susan Harris, in the film Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973)
• Dr. Paul Holliston, in the film Embryo (1976)
• Hugo A Go Go, from the cartoon series Batfink
• Mojo Jojo from The Powerpuff Girls
• Dr. Jumba Jookiba, from the Lilo & Stitch cartoons and movies
• Dr. Kurt Leopold, in the film Zaat (1972)
• Dr. Emilio Lizardo, in the film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
• Dr. Lorca, in the film Mad Doctor of Blood Island (1968)
• Dr. Arliss Loveless, in the film Wild Wild West (1999)
• Miguelito Loveless, in the 1960s TV series The Wild Wild West
• Lex Luthor, Sivana, and Doctor Doom
• Dr. Mephesto from South Park
• Dr. Edward Morbius, in the film Forbidden Planet (1956)
• NamTar, from Farscape
• Dr. No, and various other characters from the James Bond series of novels and films
• Professor Nolter, in the film The Mutations (1973)
• The Professor, from the cartoon series Felix the Cat
• Dr. Hans Reinhardt, in the film The Black Hole (1979)
• Dr. Scratchensniff, from Animaniacs
• Septimus in Blake & Mortimer
• Michael Sharrington, in the film Graveyard of Horror (1971)
• Dr. Tolian Soran from the Star Trek film Star Trek: Generations
• Dr. Noonien Soong from Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Dr. Carl Stoner, in the film Sssssss (1973)
• Dr. Strangelove (1964)
• Professor Wendland, in the film Superargo (1968)
• Dr. Herbert West, in the film Re-Animator (1985)
• Dr. Lazlo Zand from the Robotech novels by Jack Mckinney
• Dr. Zin, from the Jonny Quest cartoon series
• Zorglub in Spirou

• characters in Gary Larson's cartoon The Far Side
• various parodies in Terry Pratchett stories, including Igor the manservant

See also: Cranks

• archaeology, at least where magical artifacts are involved
• astrophysics
• biochemistry
• biology, especially genetics
• botany
• cryptozoology
• electrical engineering
• entomology
• physics, especially nuclear physics
• psychology
• relativity theory
• robotics

Fields that are largely untapped by mad scientists include:

• economics
• metallurgy
• geology
• social sciences

Contrast: List of heroic fictional scientists

Some real-life scientists, not necessarily madmen, whose personalities have contributed to the stereotype:

• Jeremy Bentham, British philosopher who wanted himself mummified
• Gerald Bull, engineer
• Horace Donisthorpe, myrmecologist
• Thomas Alva Edison, "The Wizard of Menlo Park," inventor
• Albert Einstein, physicist and mathematician
• Francis Galton, British scientist
• Dr. Ishii Shiro, Lieutenant General of Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army
• Trofim Lysenko, Soviet biologist
• Stanley Milgram, psychologist
• Oliver Heaviside, British scientist who replaced his furniture with giant granite blocks
• Dr. Josef Mengele, Nazi "Angel of Death," doctor
• Professor Julius Sumner Miller
• Patrick Moore, British astronomer
• Jack Parsons, rocket propulsion researcher
• Edward Teller, nuclear physicist
• Nikola Tesla, physicist, mathematician, inventor, and electrical engineer
• Wernher Von Braun, development of rocket technology in Germany and the United States

Related: List of notable eccentrics

• Haynes, Roslynn Doris (1994). From Faust to Strangelove: Representations of the Scientist in Western Literature. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-4801-6.
• Tudor, Andrew (1989). Monsters and Mad Scientists: A Cultural History of the Horror Movie. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-15279-2.

• An online site for mad scientist supplies: Villain Supply.Com
• The International Society of Mad Scientists homepage