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Mad scientist

March 26, 2023

"Mad genius" redirects here. For the related subject, see Creativity and mental health.
"Mad science" redirects here. For the company, see Mad Science.

The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as "mad, bad and dangerous to know"[1] or "insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly ambitious, taboo or hubristic nature of their experiments. As a motif in fiction, the mad scientist may be villainous (evil genius) or antagonistic, benign, or neutral; may be insane, eccentric, or clumsy; and often works with fictional technology or fails to recognise or value common human objections to attempting to play God. Some may have benevolent intentions, even if their actions are dangerous or questionable, which can make them accidental antagonists.

One popular stereotype of a mad scientist: male, aging, crooked teeth, messy hair, lab coat, effervescent test tube, goggles, gloves, and striking a dramatic pose while cackling evilly

History

Prototypes

The prototypical fictional mad scientist was Victor Frankenstein, creator of his eponymous monster,[2][3][4] who made his first appearance in 1818, in the novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. Though the novel's title character, Victor Frankenstein, is a sympathetic character, the critical element of conducting experiments that cross "boundaries that ought not to be crossed", heedless of the consequences, is present in Shelley's novel. Frankenstein was trained as both an alchemist and a modern scientist, which makes him the bridge between two eras of an evolving archetype. The book is said to be a precursor of a new genre, science fiction,[5][6] although as an example of gothic horror[7][8][9][10] it is connected with other antecedents as well.

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

 
Horace B. Carpenter as Dr. Meirschultz, a scientist attempting to bring the dead back to life in the 1934 film Maniac.

Fritz Lang's movie Metropolis (1927) brought the archetypical mad scientist to the screen in the form of Rotwang, the evil genius whose machines had originally given life to the dystopian city of the title.[12] Rotwang's laboratory influenced many subsequent movie sets with its electrical arcs, bubbling apparatus, and bizarrely complicated arrays of dials and controls. Portrayed by actor Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Rotwang himself is the prototypically conflicted mad scientist; though he is master of almost mystical scientific power, he remains a slave to his own desires for power and revenge.[citation needed] Rotwang's appearance was also influential—the character's shock of flyaway hair, wild-eyed demeanor, and his quasi-fascist[citation needed] laboratory garb have all been adopted as shorthand for the mad scientist "look." Even his mechanical right hand has become a mark of twisted scientific power, echoed notably in Stanley Kubrick's film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and in the novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965) by Philip K. Dick.[citation needed]

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.

 
Bela Lugosi as Dr. Paul Carruthers, the mad scientist protagonist of the poverty row horror film The Devil Bat (1940). Slighted at his workplace, the chemist Carruthers breeds giant bats to attack his wealthy employers.

Movie serials

The Mad scientist was a staple of the Republic/Universal/Columbia movie serials of the 1930s and 40s. Examples include:

Post–World War II depictions

Mad scientists were most conspicuous in popular culture after World War II. The sadistic human experimentation conducted under the auspices of the Nazis, especially those of Josef Mengele, and the invention of the atomic bomb, gave rise in this period to genuine fears that science and technology had gone out of control. That the scientific and technological build-up during the Cold War brought about increasing threats of unparalleled destruction of the human species did not lessen the impression. Mad scientists frequently figure in science fiction and motion pictures from the period.[14]

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:

  1. Hair-Raising Hare (1946, based on Peter Lorre)
  2. Birth of a Notion (1947, again based on Lorre)
  3. Water, Water Every Hare (1952, based on Boris Karloff)

While both Tom and Jerry dabbled in mad science in a few of the Hanna-Barbera cartoons, an actual mad scientist did not appear until Switchin' Kitten (1961), directed by Gene Deitch.

Other depictions

Monty Python's Flying Circus's "Elephantoplasty" sketch on their Matching Tie and Handkerchief album features an interview with "the international financier and surgeon Reg LeCrisp" (played by Graham Chapman), who could be considered a mad scientist given his unrepentant and even enthusiastic predilection for grafting animal and furniture parts onto human beings (including his most controversial operation: "a pederast onto an Anglican bishop").

See also

References

  1. ^ Frayling, Christopher – Mad, Bad and Dangerous?: The Scientist and the Cinema (Reaktion Books, 2005) ISBN 1-86189-255-1
  2. ^ "Encyclopædia Britannica - Frankenstein". Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  3. ^ Clemens, Valdine. Return of the Repressed, The: Gothic Horror from The Castle of Otranto to Alien. p. 93. ISBN 9780791499276. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  4. ^ Wilson, Daniel H.; Long, Anna C. (2008-08-01). The Mad Scientist Hall of Fame. p. 100. ISBN 978-0806528793. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  5. ^ Abrams, M. H.; Harpham, Geoffrey (2014-01-01). A Glossary of Literary Terms. p. 355. ISBN 9781285974514. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  6. ^ Corbett, Robert (2001). "Romanticism and Science Fictions". Romanticism on the Net (21): 0. doi:10.7202/005970ar.
  7. ^ Tweg, Sue; Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft; Edwards, Kim (August 2011). Frankenstein. p. 13. ISBN 9781921411397. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  8. ^ Jelinek, Kenneth P. (1997). Gothic Horror and Scientific Education in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
  9. ^ "Frankenstein as a Gothic Novel". Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  10. ^ "Frankenstein as a Gothic Fiction". bachelorandmaster.com. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  11. ^ "Novels: The Island of Doctor Moreau". Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  12. ^ Geraghty, Lincoln (2009-10-01). American Science Fiction Film and Television. ISBN 9780857850768. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  13. ^ Christopher Frayling, New Scientist, 24 September 2005.
  14. ^ G., Fraser (1998-01-01). The Particle Century. 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

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mad scientists.
  • The Scarecrow's Brain – images of the scientist in film, Christopher Frayling
  • The Mad Scientist Database with links and Looks
  • Mad Science Experiments

March 26, 2023
scientist, genius, redirects, here, related, subject, creativity, mental, health, science, redirects, here, company, science, scientist, also, doctor, professor, stock, character, scientist, perceived, dangerous, know, insane, owing, combination, unusual, unse. Mad genius redirects here For the related subject see Creativity and mental health Mad science redirects here For the company see Mad Science The mad scientist also mad doctor or mad professor is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as mad bad and dangerous to know 1 or insane owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly ambitious taboo or hubristic nature of their experiments As a motif in fiction the mad scientist may be villainous evil genius or antagonistic benign or neutral may be insane eccentric or clumsy and often works with fictional technology or fails to recognise or value common human objections to attempting to play God Some may have benevolent intentions even if their actions are dangerous or questionable which can make them accidental antagonists One popular stereotype of a mad scientist male aging crooked teeth messy hair lab coat effervescent test tube goggles gloves and striking a dramatic pose while cackling evilly Contents 1 History 1 1 Prototypes 1 2 Cinema depictions 1 3 Movie serials 1 4 Post World War II depictions 1 5 Animation 1 6 Other depictions 2 See also 3 References 4 Bibliography 5 External linksHistory EditPrototypes Edit Peter Cushing as Victor Frankenstein in The Curse of Frankenstein 1957 The prototypical fictional mad scientist was Victor Frankenstein creator of his eponymous monster 2 3 4 who made his first appearance in 1818 in the novel Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley Though the novel s title character Victor Frankenstein is a sympathetic character the critical element of conducting experiments that cross boundaries that ought not to be crossed heedless of the consequences is present in Shelley s novel Frankenstein was trained as both an alchemist and a modern scientist which makes him the bridge between two eras of an evolving archetype The book is said to be a precursor of a new genre science fiction 5 6 although as an example of gothic horror 7 8 9 10 it is connected with other antecedents as well 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 Edit Horace B Carpenter as Dr Meirschultz a scientist attempting to bring the dead back to life in the 1934 film Maniac Fritz Lang s movie Metropolis 1927 brought the archetypical mad scientist to the screen in the form of Rotwang the evil genius whose machines had originally given life to the dystopian city of the title 12 Rotwang s laboratory influenced many subsequent movie sets with its electrical arcs bubbling apparatus and bizarrely complicated arrays of dials and controls Portrayed by actor Rudolf Klein Rogge Rotwang himself is the prototypically conflicted mad scientist though he is master of almost mystical scientific power he remains a slave to his own desires for power and revenge citation needed Rotwang s appearance was also influential the character s shock of flyaway hair wild eyed demeanor and his quasi fascist citation needed laboratory garb have all been adopted as shorthand for the mad scientist look Even his mechanical right hand has become a mark of twisted scientific power echoed notably in Stanley Kubrick s film Dr Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and in the novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch 1965 by Philip K Dick citation needed 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 Bela Lugosi as Dr Paul Carruthers the mad scientist protagonist of the poverty row horror film The Devil Bat 1940 Slighted at his workplace the chemist Carruthers breeds giant bats to attack his wealthy employers Movie serials Edit 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 Edit Mad scientists were most conspicuous in popular culture after World War II The sadistic human experimentation conducted under the auspices of the Nazis especially those of Josef Mengele and the invention of the atomic bomb gave rise in this period to genuine fears that science and technology had gone out of control That the scientific and technological build up during the Cold War brought about increasing threats of unparalleled destruction of the human species did not lessen the impression Mad scientists frequently figure in science fiction and motion pictures from the period 14 Animation Edit 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 Tom and Jerry dabbled in mad science in a few of the Hanna Barbera cartoons an actual mad scientist did not appear until Switchin Kitten 1961 directed by Gene Deitch Other depictions Edit Monty Python s Flying Circus s Elephantoplasty sketch on their Matching Tie and Handkerchief album features an interview with the international financier and surgeon Reg LeCrisp played by Graham Chapman who could be considered a mad scientist given his unrepentant and even enthusiastic predilection for grafting animal and furniture parts onto human beings including his most controversial operation a pederast onto an Anglican bishop See also EditAbsent 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 Josef Mengele Shiro Ishii Harold ShipmanReferences Edit Frayling Christopher Mad Bad and Dangerous The Scientist and the Cinema Reaktion Books 2005 ISBN 1 86189 255 1 Encyclopaedia Britannica Frankenstein Retrieved 10 November 2015 Clemens Valdine Return of the Repressed The Gothic Horror from The Castle of Otranto to Alien p 93 ISBN 9780791499276 Retrieved 10 November 2015 Wilson Daniel H Long Anna C 2008 08 01 The Mad Scientist Hall of Fame p 100 ISBN 978 0806528793 Retrieved 10 November 2015 Abrams M H Harpham Geoffrey 2014 01 01 A Glossary of Literary Terms p 355 ISBN 9781285974514 Retrieved 10 November 2015 Corbett Robert 2001 Romanticism and Science Fictions Romanticism on the Net 21 0 doi 10 7202 005970ar Tweg Sue Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Edwards Kim August 2011 Frankenstein p 13 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 Geraghty Lincoln 2009 10 01 American Science Fiction Film and Television ISBN 9780857850768 Retrieved 10 November 2015 Christopher Frayling New Scientist 24 September 2005 G Fraser 1998 01 01 The Particle Century ISBN 9781420050332 Retrieved 24 January 2017 Bibliography EditAllen 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 Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mad scientists Gary Hoppenstand Dinosaur Doctors and Jurassic Geniuses The Changing Image of the Scientist in the Lost World Adventure The Scarecrow s Brain images of the scientist in film Christopher Frayling Breaking Down the Stereotypes of Science by Recruiting Young Scientists The Mad Scientist Database with links and Looks Mad Science Experiments Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Mad scientist amp oldid 1143445297, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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