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Famous fictional scientists

Action Skeptics: Famous Fictional Scientists is not, as one might at first glance think, a list containing names such as Arrowsmith's, that have graced the pages of mainstream fiction, but rather an attempt to identify famous scientists in popular culture. In a limited but amusing set of biographies, Action Skeptics identifies Dr Emmett "Doc" Brown of Back to the Future; Dr Peter Venkman, Dr Raymond Stantz and Dr Egon Spendler of Ghostbusters; Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four; and Professor Hubert J Farnsworth of Futurama. Dr Hiram K "Brains" Hackenbaker from Thunderbirds is suggested in the comments. I wouldn't agree that the scientists named are "famous" in the sense that Frankenstein and Dracula are iconic characters in the horror genre. Indeed, a couple of commenters have noted that (apparently) all but one of the scientist examples is in "fact" an engineer. But it is a brave attempt as well as a funny one, and I doubt anyone could come up with more famous examples of the chosen genre.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on August 03, 2007
Categories: Public and media | | Comments (1)

Comments

How about Dr. Indy?

Posted by: Raf Aerts | June 3, 2008 10:25 AM

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