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All the Wonder that Would Be pp 297–315Cite as

Mad Scientists

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Abstract

On 16 June 1816, Mary Shelley had a vivid ‘waking dream’1 about the re-animation of a corpse, a dream that led to her write what, in the opinion of many,2 is the first SF novel. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818) is certainly science fictional: Victor Frankenstein, a man with scientific training, undertakes various laboratory experiments and succeeds in fulfilling his ambition of creating life from non-life. What could be more SF than that? Shelley established something else in her novel: the archetype of the mad scientist. Although Victor Frankenstein himself is a sympathetic character, his ambition leads him to experiment with activities traditionally forbidden by society—he decides to ‘play God’. Subsequent mad scientists might be of the certifiably insane, evil genius, or humorously eccentric variety—but the hubris of Victor Frankenstein set the pattern (Fig. 11.1).

Keywords

  • Black Hole
  • Large Hadron Collider
  • Science Fiction
  • Star Trek
  • Absorb Carbon Dioxide

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

It’s alive. It’s alive. It’s ALIVE.

Dr Frankenstein, Frankenstein (1931)

James Whale (Director)

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Fig. 11.1
Fig. 11.2
Fig. 11.3

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DCQE, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK

    Stephen Webb

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  1. Stephen Webb
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Webb, S. (2017). Mad Scientists. In: All the Wonder that Would Be. Science and Fiction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51759-9_11

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