# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/81 "2014-02-07T12:59:53Z")
Helen Jackson in [Son of Ingagi (1941)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_of_Ingagi) ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/82 "2014-02-07T18:26:26Z")
Nobody seems to have mentioned Virginia Lee, from [Skin Horse](http://skin-horse.com/). Black Hair. The same comic strip also has Tigerlily Jones, who is African American and has a very mod afro. ---
**Author:** ![Bippwatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c89c15/32.png) [@Bippwatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippwatt)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/83 "2015-10-30T05:59:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Another one I thought of too late: Shannon Foraker, from the Honor Harrington books. She starts off as a tactical officer, but ends up heading a secret weapon development program, which I think is a suitably mad scientist occupation. I don’t think we ever learn her hair color, though. …You, sir or madam, have just won the internet. Or at least my tiny portion of it. Even I didn’t think of that and I freaking adore that character. “Opps.” However, it has come to my attention that some various characters are missing. Winifred Burkle; aka “Fred” from Angel. Not a villain, but definitely a scientist and could be labeled as “mad” with a fair degree of accuracy. Lady Octopus; aka Carolyn Trainer, from comics. Madame Olivier from The Big Four by Agatha Christie. It was published in 1927, so it’s a bit old… Maria Trovaya, in one of the many alternate universes of the Marvel Comics, I believe. She was the first wife of Dr. Henry “Hank” Pym and was thought dead, but he found her alive, albeit with her brain enlarged to ridiculous sizes. It could be virtually guaranteed that she had little grasp on sanity with the amount of cognitive ability that had been forced upon her. And finally, probably the most insane of the lot, Dr. Emily Grey, from Red vs. Blue, Seasons 12 and 13. She be cwazy mad off da hook, yo. Like…whoo-woo. _spirals finger by his head._ So. Yeah. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/84 "2015-10-30T18:08:33Z")
> [@Deegeea](#): > > Simmons from Marvel Agents of Shield > Root, from Person of Interest > Kat from Gunnerkrigg Court > Susan and Mary Test, from Johnny Test > > Except for Root these are all fairly sane individuals, but they are all doing “mad science” - I mean, Victor Frankenstein is an archetype of mad scientist, and he’s not a crazy person. I would consider Root more of a mad IT specialist. She could have a doctorate though. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/85 "2015-10-30T18:58:39Z")
Without looking at anyone else’s answers… Washu Hakubi Agnes Heterodyne Gadget Hackwrench Hedy Lamarr Marie Curie Hard list to make…and I’m not sure they all count. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/86 "2015-10-30T19:01:10Z")
Well, there’s me. I’m plotting the slow painful deaths of a couple co-workers right now. They totally deserve it, in case you are concerned. Once poisoned a couple of my staff a little bit, although that was an accident. Also a bit ticked at my husband for leaving me the dinner dishes again. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/87 "2015-10-30T23:42:02Z")
Dr. Harleen Quinzel, better known as Joker’s sidekick, Harley Quinn. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/88 "2015-10-31T00:09:55Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Without looking at anyone else’s answers… > > Washu Hakubi > Agnes Heterodyne > Gadget Hackwrench > Hedy Lamarr > Marie Curie > > Hard list to make…and I’m not sure they all count. Agatha Heterodyne ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/89 "2015-10-31T00:49:38Z")
Yzma from \*The Emperor’s New Groove. \* ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/90 "2015-10-31T01:05:17Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > 1. [Poison Ivy](http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Pamela_Isley_(New_Earth)) I wouldn’t call Ivy a mad scientist - she is a scientist, and she is mad, but she doesn’t really engage in mad science as a rule - she did in her current origin, and the occasional story involves her breeding a new and dangerous plant, or synthesizing a new toxin, but mostly it’s the plant control or her internally created toxins (and mind control substances) that result from past mad science. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/91 "2015-10-31T01:14:25Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > I wouldn’t call Ivy a mad scientist - she is a scientist, and she is mad, but she doesn’t really engage in mad science as a rule Actually, looking through the thread more (probably should have done that first) a lot of the suggestions have the same failing. There is a significant difference between ‘a scientist who is mad’ and ‘a Mad Scientist’, which I think the link in the OP spells out pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![oara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b77776/32.png) [@oara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oara)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/92 "2015-10-31T02:10:12Z")
Only one I can think of is Franny K Stein ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067/93 "2015-10-31T09:07:02Z")
Nobody’s yet mentioned the first one that sprang to my mind - Dr Hilda Landstrom from Red Dwarf (“Quarantine”) Not a long-lasting character but quite, quite mad. _What’s dead, and dead, and dead all over? Yooooouuuu!_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-first-five-female-mad-scientists-that-come-to-mind/677067.md?page=4)