The Physicist as Mad Scientist

A crazed scientist with a deadly “atomic robot” set out to enslave the human race in a recent Saturday morning cartoon show. He was no exception: Unstable scientists plotting to master and destroy can be found almost anywhere one looks in children’s television and comics—and in a surprising amount of adult fiction as well. Probably no other profession is so consistently drawn upon for storybook villains. To many people, then, the words “nuclear physicist” bring to mind a weird and evil picture.

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