Mad scientist
The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a
History
Prototypes
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The prototypical fictional mad scientist was
The year 1896 saw the publication of H. G. Wells's The Island of Doctor Moreau, in which the titular doctor—a controversial vivisectionist—has isolated himself entirely from civilisation in order to continue his experiments in surgically reshaping animals into humanoid forms, heedless of the suffering he causes.[11] In 1925, the novelist Alexander Belyaev introduced mad scientists to the Russian people through the novel Professor Dowell's Head, in which the antagonist performs experimental head transplants on bodies stolen from the morgue, and reanimates the corpses.
Cinema depictions
A recent survey of 1,000 horror films distributed in the UK between the 1930s and 1980s reveals mad scientists or their creations have been the villains of 30 percent of the films; scientific research has produced 39 percent of the threats; and, by contrast, scientists have been the heroes of a mere 11 percent.[13] Boris Karloff played mad scientists in several of his 1930s and 1940s films.
Movie serials
The Mad scientist was a staple of the Republic/Universal/Columbia movie serials of the 1930s and 40s. Examples include:
- "Dr. Zorka" (The Phantom Creeps, 1939)
- "Dr. Fu Manchu" (Drums of Fu Manchu, Republic, 1940)
- "Dr. Satan" (Mysterious Doctor Satan, 1940)
- "Dr. Vulcan" (King of the Rocket Men, 1949)
- "Atom Man/Lex Luthor" Atom Man vs. Superman, 1950)
Post–World War II depictions
Mad scientists were most conspicuous in
Animation
Mad scientists in animation have included Professor Frink, Professor Farnsworth, Rick Sanchez, Rintaro Okabe, and Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz.
Walt Disney Pictures had its mainstay Mickey Mouse trying to save his dog Pluto from The Mad Doctor (1933).
Depictions of mad scientists in Warner Brothers' Merrie Melodies/Looney Tunes cartoons include:
- Hair-Raising Hare (1946, based on Peter Lorre)
- Birth of a Notion (1947, again based on Lorre)
- Water, Water Every Hare (1952, based on Boris Karloff)
While both
See also
- Absent-minded professor
- Boffin
- British scientists (meme)
- Crank (person)
- Creativity techniques
- Creativity and mental illness
- Edisonade, a similar trope, about a brilliant inventor, but of positive attitudes
- Egghead
- Faust
- Fringe science
- Girl Genius
- List of mad scientists
- Mad scientists of Stanislaw Lem
References
- ISBN 1-86189-255-1
- ^ "Encyclopædia Britannica - Frankenstein". Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- ISBN 9780791499276. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- ISBN 978-0806528793. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- ISBN 9781285974514. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- doi:10.7202/005970ar.
- ISBN 9781921411397. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- ^ Jelinek, Kenneth P. (1997). Gothic Horror and Scientific Education in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
- ^ "Frankenstein as a Gothic Novel". Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- ^ "Frankenstein as a Gothic Fiction". bachelorandmaster.com. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- ^ "Novels: The Island of Doctor Moreau". Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- ISBN 9780857850768. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- ^ Christopher Frayling, New Scientist, 24 September 2005.
- ISBN 9781420050332. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
Bibliography
- Allen, Glen Scott (2009). Master Mechanics and Wicked Wizards: Images of the American Scientist from Colonial Times to the Present. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 978-1-55849-703-0.
- Garboden, Nick (2007). Mad Scientist or Angry Lab Tech: How to Spot Insanity. Portland: Doctored Papers. ISBN 1-56363-660-3.
- 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.
- Junge, Torsten; Doerthe Ohlhoff (2004). Wahnsinnig genial: Der Mad Scientist Reader. Aschaffenburg: Alibri. ISBN 3-932710-79-7.
- Norton, Trevor (2010). Smoking Ears and Screaming Teeth. (A witty celebration of the great eccentrics...). Century. ISBN 978-1-84605-569-0.
- Schlesinger, Judith (2012). The Insanity Hoax: Exposing the Myth of the Mad Genius. Ardsley-on-Hudson, N.Y. Shrinktunes Media ISBN 978-0-98369-824-1.
- James T. Webb, Ph.D. (September 12, 2012). "A Book Review of The Insanity Hoax: Exposing the Myth of the Mad Genius". The National Psychologist. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
- Schneider, Reto U. (2008). The Mad Science Book. 100 Amazing Experiments from the History of Science. London: Quercus. ISBN 978-1-84724-494-9.
- Tudor, Andrew (1989). Monsters and Mad Scientists: A Cultural History of the Horror Movie. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-15279-2.
- Weart, Spencer R. (1988). Nuclear Fear: A History of Images. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
- Levi, Pfaff J. (1956). Wahnsinnig genial: Der Mad Scientist Reader. Aschaffenburg: Alibri. ISBN 3-932710-79-7.
External links
