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« Your Guide to Free Open-Source Software | Main | Breakin' Circuits: The Electric Boogaloo »

PopSci's All-Time Favorite On-Screen Nerds

Nerds_main_385 What’s better than graphing calculators, Linux 2.6 and World of Warcraft combined? Watching a persecuted geek turn the tables by kicking ass and taking names. Yes, we at PopSci love underdogs—especially those with megawatt brainpower and unconventional fashion sense. It takes a real hero to buck the system with nothing more than major smarts, which is why the archetypal nerd has become a staple of Hollywood screenwriting.

From Steve Urkel to Lisa Simpson, nerds have proved that neither high-water pants nor an acute interest in quadratic equations will ever stop a determined soul from finding true love, foiling the bully, solving a mystery, or striking it rich. That’s why we’re paying homage to our beleaguered brethren with this gallery of all-time favorite on-screen nerds. We applaud these characters’ ingenuity, moxy and—in the case of the many ‘80s movies represented here—seriously nostalgia-inducing technology. So click open the slideshow, and get ready to cheer all over again as your favorite outcasts save the world. —Josh Condon

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Aqua Teen Hunger Force is on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming, not Comedy Central. Figured you should know about that.

A very nice list, but why was Spock overlooked???

Yeah, what 'Dan' said. I've gotten more mileage out of Spock's pseudo-philosophies than all these other nerds combined.

"Pain is in the mind, and the mind can be controlled."

Thanks for correcting the link.

what Dan said... and what about Bill Nye, MacGyver or Doogie Howser???

What about Professor Keenbean from Ritchie Rich, or Q from the James Bond storyline? Desmond Llewelyn as Q at the very least deserves to be on the list.

Surely Screech Powers is much more well known than Ugly Betty.

I was going through the list thinking "Where the hell is Doc Brown? They'd better have Doc Brown." Fortunately, he's right where he belongs, sitting at #1.

A good list, but leaving off Buckaroo Banzai is just wrong.
How much nerdier could a hero be?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Ugly Betty a product of 2k6? The fact that I would rather slam my head in a car door for the duration of the show rather than watch it aside, shouldn't the show's recent conception disqualify it from an "ALL-TIME" list?

I was going through the list and all the people on it are great (although I didn't recognize a few). But there was one person I feel that should have been on the list that wasnt: STEWIE FROM FAMILY GUY!!! I mean come on, how much cooler can a nerd be?

Great list but you fotgor Reed Richards, otherwise known as Mr. Fantastic, from the Fantastic four.

I second the McGyver/Bill Nye wonder duo. Singly, they rock. Together, they could have ended world hunger, won the War on Terror and delivered us from the evil of rootkit DRM. Using nothing but a bit of wire, some superballs and a wad of gum, no less.

Where is Chloe O'Brian?

i LOVE that beaker and bunsen were in there (endearing to see as a chemist) but im dissapointed not to see the matrix cast list in there, come on how many of us female nerds can not admire trinity for saving her man, hacking, bustin up bad guys and all while wearing hot leather pants!

oh and dont forget jonny lee miller and angelina jolie from hackers

Everything about _Real Genius_ is wonderful, but Michelle Meyrink's character (Jordan) should be up there with Val Kilmer, or maybe replacing him as Model Nerd.

What about Clark Kent of Superman? I think he should have been on the list.

What about the Arnold "governator" in Twins?

What about the Arnold "governator" in Twins?

Dude, what about the professor from Gilligan's Island? And Bunsen and Beaker are way higher than Aqua Teen Hunger Force on my list...

Where is Samatha Carter, played by Amanda Tapping from Stargate SG1??? She doesn't save the world on each episode...She saves the galaxy!

Samantha Carter! Though I guess the phrases "hot babe" and "geeky nerd" are somewhat mutually exclusive.
Mr. Spock!!! Absolutely number one on the list!!! How could he be left off???

Kudos for Egon Spengler from Ghostbusters, but I believe you missed out on Dr. Benton Quest, aka Johnny Quest's dad, and, most grievously, you overlooked the ubergeek of all time: The Professor (of Gilligan's Island).

Roy Hinky (the Professor's real name) might not have been able to fix the SS MINNOW, according to some, but I prefer to think he was capitalizing on the great odds with two hot babes on a romantic tropical isle!

Agreed on Doogie, but not MacGyver, he was athletic and sort of an action hero.

"A very nice list, but why was Spock overlooked???"

B/c the whole ship/show was full of geeks.

Hey what about Dr. Sam Beckett (Quantum Leap), and the greatest cartoon nerd Dexter! Then there's Bruce Banner aka The Hulk...

What about the three kids from that magnificent 80s classic called Explorers?

Whoa there. Ugly betty made the list and Not Commander DATA from Star Trek the next generation? what is up with that.

Wherever is Bill Nye the Science Guy? He's pretty geeky if I do say so myself. Which I do. You may have overlooked a few. But it is still an amazing list. Kudos.

Wherever is Bill Nye the Science Guy? He's pretty geeky if I do say so myself. Which I do. You may have overlooked a few. But it is still an amazing list. Kudos.

ok wow .
aqua teen hunger force is my life
[:

Ummm, not trying to sound rude....but it would take an extremely long time to list every single genius from T.V; you people shouldn't get so worked up over the whole thing anyway..it's an ARTICLE!!!!!!

Isn't Sherlock Holmes the prototype of onscreen (as adapted from print) Nerd? Or, a couple of millennia earlier, Odysseus?

REEL versus REAL: here's a web site on the "Greatest Nerd of All Times" which also has a link to Wikipedia comparing contrasting "Nerd" and "Geek":

"I have just found a person on the internet that I believe brings a whole new meaning to the word NERD. This is a person that is member of a group called “the Ubergeeks” and breaks all records, by far. He is additionally a very interesting person with a very special character...."

www.jimwestergren.com/greatest-nerd-of-all-times-jonathan-vos-post/

Julius Kelp (Jerry Lewis) - The Nutty Professor
Brainard (Fred MacMurray) - The Absent Minded Professor

Good list, but a few overlooked nerds off the top of my head:
• Professor Fry (Futurama)
• Professor Frink (Simpsons)
• Beast (X-Men)
• Malcolm (Malcolm in the Middle)
• Brewmeister Smith (Strange Brew)
• Data (Star Trek TNG)
• Steve Martin in The Man with Two Brains
• MacGyver
• Hermione Granger

Lest we forget, Simpson's Martin Prince reminded us all that popularity really is more important than smarts. Thanks to a simple swimming pool.

What about Marshall Flinkman (Alias)?


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Spock is Not a Nerd.

what about M from the Bond series? Gadgets are goooood.


If you were going to buy a golf club, you wouldn't walk into a store and buy the first one you see, would you? Of course

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Go Samantha Carter from SG-1!
What about that guy who does ridiculous research for Mulder a few times each season in the X-Files? I can't remember his name for the life of me...He is very much a nerd though...

Donatello? TMNT

uh...Napoleon Dynamite?

Uh, just FYI - Doc Brown #1, Egon Spengler #2, Louis Skolnik #3 (sp?). There, I fixed your list.

Dude, Star Trek Data is an adroid and could whip the crap out of the entire crew - not so nerdy.

Ditto Spock, who handed Kirk's ass to him on a semi-regular basis.

what

And they say the internet isn't a waste of time...

And they say the internet isn't a waste of time...ho li kau

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Posted by: dev | December 20, 2006 at 12:56 PM

What about Professor Keenbean from Ritchie Rich, or Q from the James Bond storyline? Desmond Llewelyn as Q at the very least deserves to be on the list.

Posted by: Warren | December 20, 2006 at 01:53 PM

Surely Screech Powers is much more well known than Ugly Betty.

Posted by: Goo | December 20, 2006 at 01:57 PM

I was going through the list thinking "Where the hell is Doc Brown? They'd better have Doc Brown." Fortunately, he's right where he belongs, sitting at #1.

Posted by: Steven James | December 20, 2006 at 02:00 PM

A good list, but leaving off Buckaroo Banzai is just wrong.
How much nerdier could a hero be?

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