# Movies about scientists at work. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275 "2008-11-18T14:22:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/1 "2008-11-18T14:22:40Z")
My daughter (7) wants to be a scientist. She also _loves_ movies. Therefore mom and I are looking for movies about scientists and them at work. And don’t worry about age-appropriateness in your selections - that’s our job. We’re pretty liberal about what we allow Sophie to see, movie-wise, and the more to choose from, the merrier. Also, she has no problem watching black-and-white films and, in fact, _remembers_ them in color (This is particularly true of “Yankee Doodle Dandy”). So, let me start the list with a movie Sophie _has_ seen, one of my wife and My favorite popcorn films, and while it’s about “scientists” at “work”, the selection is still a bit tongue-in-cheek… [**Twister**](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117998/) Nice thing about Twister is that it is often shown on TNT, meaning that 99% of the cursing is deleted. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/2 "2008-11-18T14:25:50Z")
Nice start. Worst. Movie. Ever! How about _Apollo 13_ (OK, most are Engineers, but still…) or _The Man in the White Suit_, or _The Dish_? ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/3 "2008-11-18T14:32:59Z")
Frankenstein Bride of Frankenstein ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/4 "2008-11-18T14:33:25Z")
Worst movie ever? She’s seen a good bit of _Apollo 13_, but she _should_ see the entire thing. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/5 "2008-11-18T14:34:46Z")
> [@Ronald\_C.Semone](#): > > Frankenstein > > Bride of Frankenstein Yeah, she wants to see those. Just never been able to run over to Blockbuster and get them. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/6 "2008-11-18T14:43:34Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Worst movie ever? > > She’s seen a good bit of _Apollo 13_, but she _should_ see the entire thing. [Twister](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117998/) rates a 6.0 at IMDB, which is really pretty bad for a big-budget film. If you watch it from a “serious scientist” perspective, it’s much, much worse than that. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/7 "2008-11-18T14:48:15Z")
Almost forgot _Contact_. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/8 "2008-11-18T14:49:38Z")
How about **The Andromeda Strain**. The film shows scientists working in very real world ways given it’s SF premise. They feature electron microscopes, biological isolation, mass spectrometers, bacterial cultures incubated under different environmental conditions. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/9 "2008-11-18T15:03:34Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Almost forgot _Contact_. Yeah, well, I would honestly have her watch _Twister_ than _Contact_, if the message I want to give her is to affirm the scientists’ worth to the world. In that manner, despite it’s cartoonish air, _Twister_ is head-over-heels superior to the ultimately disappointing _Contact_. [I’ve](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8479351&postcount=60) [mentioned](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7186108&postcount=27) [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8479545&postcount=6) [before.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8480673&postcount=46) (That last really explains why Contact isn’t a movie “for” evidence and the scientific process, but a movie that is “for” superstition and faith. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/10 "2008-11-18T15:07:52Z")
How about **October Sky**? Set at the beginning of the space race, it’s about a group of boys designing and building rockets to win a science fair so they can get scholarships to go to college. It’s based on Homer Hickam’s memoir, and very inspiring. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/11 "2008-11-18T15:26:20Z")
Well, if you really want to stretch the definition, there’s always the recent **Iron Man** … There’s no way in hell she should watch **Kinsey** at her age, but it does fit the “scientist” bill. I haven’t seen it, but a while back there was a movie called **Infinity** about Richard Feynman, starring Matthew Broderick. Again, haven’t seen it, but there’s **Fat Man and Little Boy** , about the folks who worked on the Manhattan Project. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/12 "2008-11-18T15:28:03Z")
Oh Yes! The book (Rocket Boys) October SKy is one of my all time favorites. The film shows a good example of the scientific method and the geeks are the heroes. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/13 "2008-11-18T15:38:47Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > How about **October Sky**? Set at the beginning of the space race, it’s about a group of boys designing and building rockets to win a science fair so they can get scholarships to go to college. It’s based on Homer Hickam’s memoir, and very inspiring. That sounds like a good one. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/14 "2008-11-18T19:11:46Z")
I’d second **The Dish**. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/15 "2008-11-18T19:23:57Z")
If you can find it, **Race for the Double Helix** with Jeff Goldblum. The science and people behind the discovery of the DNA structure. I am sure your daughter would have an impressive role model in Rosalind Franklin. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/16 "2008-11-18T19:34:49Z")
I’ve always maintained that biomedical research scientist will be the absolute last profession in the US to get its own reality show. The first forty-five minutes would be spent trying to explain to the audience what it is your experiment is trying to show, and then the last fifteen minutes would be adding a few drops of liquid A to liquid B and saying, “OK, we’ll come back tomorrow and see how it looks!” ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/17 "2008-11-18T21:00:41Z")
_Arrowsmith_ (1931) with Ronald Colman. Except for that part when his wife dies from smoking a plague-tainted cigarette, it makes being a research scientist seem pretty exciting. And a very early depiction of a black character with an advanced education who did not speak in vernacular but who was shown as a peer of the title character. ---
**Author:** ![bannerrefugee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@bannerrefugee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bannerrefugee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/18 "2008-11-18T21:03:20Z")
This is a good movie about Madame Currie. > **[Madame Curie (1943) ⭐ 7.2 | Biography, Drama, Romance](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036126/)** > > 2h 4m | Passed ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/19 "2008-11-18T21:06:52Z")
There’s always [this](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096486/) movie. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275/20 "2008-11-18T21:11:59Z")
From _Big Bang Theory_ last night: Background: Leonard, a physicist, is having dinner with his new girlfriend, Stephanie, a surgeon. She tells him about her day, then inquires about his. Stephanie: How was your day? Leonard: Hm, you know, I’m a physicist. So I thought about stuff. Stephanie: That’s it? Leonard: Well, I did write some of it down. Not that I’d necessarily endorse Big Bang Theory as a primer on the working life of a physicist, but… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-scientists-at-work/473275.md?page=2)