# Name the first five female Mad Scientists that come to mind... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 24, 2013, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067 "2013-12-24T05:45:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/21 "2013-12-24T17:16:29Z")
Boy, nobody remembers Lady Frankenstein from the wonderfully awful film of the same name? Or the lady from _The Atomic Brain_? There’s also one that I wrote for an unpublished story – _FrankHolstein_. She’s a Mad Cow Scientist who tries to create a Bull from parts she got from the butcher store, sewn together. She’s assisted by her twisted hunchbacked donkey assistant, _Eeyore_. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/22 "2013-12-24T17:28:27Z")
Would Dr. Girlfriend count? ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/23 "2013-12-24T17:55:15Z")
The old woman in _Minority Report_ with the deadly plants. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/24 "2013-12-24T18:10:01Z")
Helen Narbon, _Narbonic_ Agatha Heterodyne, _Girl Genius_ Helena G. Wells, _Warehouse 13_ Helen Cutter, _Primeval_ Princess Bubblegum, _Adventure Time_ Lots of Helens on my list, for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/25 "2013-12-24T18:48:07Z")
DNAmy from **Kim Possible** Delia Surridge from **V for Vendetta** Maggie Walsh from **Buffy The Vampire Slayer** Beverly Hofsteder from **The Big Bang Theory** ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/26 "2013-12-24T20:40:43Z")
Would Cosima from “Orphan Black” count? I’d guess she was more of a quirky, eccentric scientist rather than mad scientist; but she was nutty enough to be pro-neolutionist (at least until the whole “intellectual property” issue came up.) Anyway, [Doctor Cyber](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Cyber) [Ruby Thursday](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Thursday) [The Rani](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rani) [Dr. Janice Lester](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnabout_Intruder) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/27 "2013-12-24T20:46:23Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > [Ruby Thursday](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Thursday) “Ruby, now with a much smaller head, later participates in the plan to gain her ally Chondu a new body.” I love comic books. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/28 "2013-12-24T20:47:35Z")
The only one that came to mind for me (despite the fact that I read Girl Genius three times a week - bad, bad brain!) was [Veronica Cale](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Cale), an enemy of Wonder Woman before the “new 52” reboot. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/29 "2013-12-24T21:00:06Z")
Dr. Maggie Walsh, from _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_. Maria Frankenstein, from _Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter_. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/30 "2013-12-24T21:34:53Z")
Emmaline Cayley, from the series _The Mad Misadventures of Emmaline and Rubberbones_, by Howard Whitehouse. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/31 "2013-12-24T22:03:33Z")
You can double the Helen Narbons in _Narbonic_. There was the original and the beta. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/32 "2013-12-24T22:53:52Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > You can double the Helen Narbons in _Narbonic_. There was the original and the beta. Nice! One more, and we can compile an all-Helen list of mad scientists! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/33 "2013-12-24T23:00:29Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Nice! One more, and we can compile an all-Helen list of mad scientists! Five Helens agree… ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/34 "2013-12-24T23:10:22Z")
Well the first person to come to mind was Original Wonder Woman. She had a snazzy little place called Transformation Island where female criminals were reformed by being put in bondage … lots and lots and lots of bondage … and then lovingly dominated by women dressed up as drum majorettes. They learned to love their chains. Oh, we are talking Mad Scientist City here! The other one I can think of that has not been mentioned yet is Dr. Carol Marcus of Star Trek, inventor of the Genesis Device. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/35 "2013-12-25T00:01:05Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Five Helens agree… …they’ll rule the day they laughed me out of the academy! ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/36 "2013-12-25T00:53:27Z")
Not looking at others first: 1. SHODAN, from the first System Shock (technically not female, but voiced by a woman) 2. GladOS, from Portal (see above) 3. Franny K. Stein, the protagonist of the eponymous series of children’s books 4. [Matriarch Benezia](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Matriarch_Benezia), from Mass Effect 5. Marie Curie to round out the list–hey, she managed to kill herself with her research into strange otherworldly energies, and what says “mad scientist” more than investigating things Woman Was Not Meant to Know? [oops–without, apparently, looking at the OP either–sorry!] ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/37 "2013-12-25T02:17:23Z")
Margaret Thatcher? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/38 "2013-12-25T02:53:48Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Margaret Thatcher? Mad, but not a scientist. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/39 "2013-12-25T03:33:46Z")
Rhona Burchill, the Ultimates version of the Mad Thinker. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/40 "2013-12-25T04:27:13Z")
Elsa Kast from _Splice_ would qualify in the “playing God” department and general lack of good judgement (i.e. “mad”) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067.md?page=3)