History BadassBookworm / RealLife

* Anna Kiesenhofer is a postdoctoral fellow in mathematics at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. She also won the gold medal in the women's individual road race at the 2020 Summer Olympics, building up and maintaining such a large lead that several of her pursuers (including silver medalist Annemiek Van Vleuten) had no idea she was ahead of them.

* UsefulNotes/RichardIII himself was a HandicappedBadass/intellectual who was instrumental in helping his older brother UsefulNotes/EdwardIV (who was many things but not an intellectual) retake the throne at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. Richard owned an extensive library of books, which included topics like history, theology and philosophy, and he personally made notes in the margins. His collection even included an English language Bible. As king, he lifted the restriction on the selling of printed books, and he had all the laws translated from Old French into English, so commoners could understand them. His best friend Francis Lovell (see above) gifted Richard with an illuminated Book of Hours as a coronation gift.

* UsefulNotes/RichardIII himself was a HandicappedBadass who was instrumental in helping his older brother UsefulNotes/EdwardIV (who was many things but not an intellectual) retake the throne at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury but was no intellectual slouch. Richard owned an extensive library of books, which included topics like history, theology and philosophy, and he personally made notes in the margins. His collection even included an English language Bible. As king, he lifted the restriction on the selling of printed books, and he had all the laws translated from Old French into English, so commoners could understand them. His best friend Francis Lovell (see above) gifted Richard with an illuminated Book of Hours as a coronation gift.

* UsefulNotes/RichardIII himself was a HandicappedBadass who was instrumental in helping his older brother UsefulNotes/EdwardIV retake the throne at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury but was no intellectual slouch. Richard owned an extensive library of books, which included topics like history, theology and philosophy, and he personally made notes in the margins. His collection even included an English language Bible. As king, he lifted the restriction on the selling of printed books, and he had all the laws translated from Old French into English, so commoners could understand them. His best friend Francis Lovell (see above) gifted Richard with an illuminated Book of Hours as a coronation gift.

* Given how many military people of all branches have master's degrees or higher, examples could go on all day. In fact, anyone in a military "technical" field, given how much material they must commit to memory. Especially pilots. They practically get a degree in aeronautical engineering before ''ever'' planting their butt in a seat. [[AcceptablePoliticalTargets Even Dubya]]. Even in general this holds true: considering how the military is much more technical, computerized, and robotic in many ways nowadays, you don't just need to be an ass-kicker anymore, you also need to be a techno whiz.

* While he wasn't conquering new lands for the mighty Assyrian Empire or razing the Elamite civilisation to the ground, Assurbanipal was quite a scholar. He even set up one of the oldest libraries in the world, the Library of Nineveh, predating the Library of Alexandria by 400 years.

* WHile he wasn't conquering new lands for the mighty Assyrian Empire or razing the Elamite civilisation to the ground, Assurbanipal was quite a scholar. He even set up one of the oldest libraries in the world, the Library of Nineveh, predating the Library of Alexandria by 400 years.

* [[AwesomeMcCoolName Saxton Pope]] was a doctor and surgical instructor at the University of California who became close friends with [[LastOfHisKind Ishi, the last member of almost certainly the last 'uncontacted' First Nation tribe.]] He picked up a plethora of ancient skills from him, [[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8084 wrote the book on modern fieldcraft and bowhunting]], and ''killed [[BearsAreBadNews grizzly bears]] using home-made bows and arrows''.

* Kim Komenich, professor and photojournalist. Also the [[http://www.truecrimereport.com/2010/04/kim_komenich_san_jose_state_pr.php bane of stupid bank robbers]].

* Actually pretty common if you get to know university professors well enough. This troper, as an example, knows a professor of English literature who knows tae kwon do, a chemistry professor who knows karate, and a political science professor who is also a triathlete. When your work is all intellectual, it's not unlikely that your hobbies become physical.

* Genki Sudo is currently an incumbent member of Japan's house of councillors, prior to that he was an award winning author and a member of a successful techno band, even before that, however, Sudo was well known among the [[UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts mixed martial arts]] community as an insanely skilled fighter with a penchant for employing ConfusionFu tactics and high end grappling.

* Genki Sudo is currently an incumbent member of Japan's house of councillors, prior to that he was an award winning author and a member of a successful techno band, even before that, however, Sudo was well known among the MixedMartialArts community as an insanely skilled fighter with a penchant for employing ConfusionFu tactics and high end grappling.

* Another entry from France: Marcel Marceau was a member of the [[LaResistance French Resistance]] who practiced mime as a means of keeping Jewish children quiet as he and his brother smuggled them into Switzerland. It's fair to say that there are a few people out there today who [[EveryoneHatesMimes don't hate mimes]] as a result.

* UsefulNotes/LeonTrotsky was an intellectual with no military experience, but still managed to found the red army and lead it to victory against its many enemies. A few times he even got personally involved, mainly by rallying fleeing red army soldiers. According to the historian Paul Johnson, Trotsky seriously pissed off the rest of the Politburo by reading novels during the meetings instead of discussing business. Now that's a ''real'' bookworm. [[DyingMomentOfAwesome He even managed to pin his assassin while an ice pick sticking out of his head]].

* While he never really went out ass-kicking, the fact remains that Niels Bohr, second-most important theoretical physicist of the 20th century, aka "The Great Dane", was a huge, two-metres tall athlete known for always taking two stairs at once, even in old age. Ernest Rutherford, an experimental physicist with a pronounced dislike for theorists, once remarked, "Bohr is different. He plays football."

* At 1.5 meters tall with a slender built, Philippine national hero Jose Rizal is this, TheNapoleon, and a PintsizedPowerhouse. He is a polymath, a gym buff, and a fencer. He is known for his novels ''Literature/NoliMeTangere'' and ''Literature/ElFilibusterismo'', numerous sculptures, and insects named after him, among many other things he has achieved in his short life.

* Creator/StephenHawking, possibly the best example of a GeniusCripple inspiring most ''fictional examples'', who became the most famous and respected scientist in the world even though he became a quadriplegic and lost the ability to even speak. Not to mention that he lived for ''more than 50 years'' with a condition that normally claims the lives of its sufferers within five.

* Rugby Union players tended to be this. Because it was an amateur-only sport until 1995, causing the need to have another job on the side, and because the need to be physically robust typically prevented them from starting their top-level career until after 20 (contrary to European football players who start it before finishing high school), and because the British Gentleman tradition is still in play, many rugbymen are college-educated and work in intellectual fields after retirement. For instance, the Underwood brothers were both aircraft pilots and the Stade Français club of Paris had, at some point, one physician and two physiotherapists among its players. Even in the professional era, a decent number of top-flight rugby players have had qualifications in intellectual fields during their playing careers, such as Conrad James, Alun Wyn Jones (both lawyers), Felipe Contepomi, Jannie du Plessis, and Jamie Roberts (all doctors).

* Creator/StephenHawking, possibly the best example of a GeniusCripple inspiring most ''fictional examples'', who became the most famous and respected scientist in the world even though he became a quadriplegic and lost the ability to even speak. Not to mention that he lived ''over 50 years'' with a condition that normally claims the lives of its sufferers within five.

* Cory Booker. Stanford graduate, Rhodes Scholar who attended Oxford, Yale-trained lawyer, mayor of Newark, NJ, United States Senator from New Jersey... and [[http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/04/newark_mayor_cory_booker_taken.html guy who ran into a burning building to save people trapped inside]].

** US Navy and Air Force senior NCO's (E-7, E-8, E-9) are required to complete at least an Associate's degrees(and generally won't promote beyond E-7 without a Bachelor's or higher)

* Rugby Union players tended to be this. Because it was an amateur-only sport until the '90s, causing the need to have another job on the side, and because the need to be physically built help them from starting their professional career after 20 (contrary to European football players who start it before finishing high school), and because the British Gentleman tradition is still in play, many rugbymen are college-educated and work in intellectual fields after retirement. For instance, The Underwood brothers were both aircraft pilot and the Stade Français of Paris had, at some point, one physician and two physiotherapists among its players.

* Former NBA star Dikembe Mutombo. He initially came to Georgetown on a scholarship to study medicine and was only recruited to play basketball after arriving on campus (due to being 7'2"). He also speaks 9 languages fluently and is a well-known humanitarian.

* Action star Creator/DolphLundgren has an M.Sc. in chemical engineering, can speak in five languages, and reportedly has an IQ of 160.

* Peabody Award-winning news anchor Creator/AndersonCooper graduated from Yale with a degree in political science, interned with the ''CIA'', and is a bestselling author. He also got his start as a journalist by having a friend fake him a press pass and borrowing a home video camera, then ''sneaking into Myanmar'' to cover the ongoing civil unrest. He has since reported from every major war and disaster zone of the past two decades, including Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, Iraq at the height of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the earthquake in Haiti, the tsunami aftermath of Sri Lanka, the earthquake in the Philippines, Egypt at the height of the Arab Spring, Libya, the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, and live on-the-ground during the landfall and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He's reported with bombs going off behind him, got punched in the face (repeatedly) in Cairo, was nearly decapitated by a flying street sign during a hurricane, contracted malaria in Africa, and spends a terrifying amount of time wearing a bulletproof vest. IntrepidReporter, thy name is Anderson Cooper.

* George Orwell, author of ''[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1984]]'' and ''Literature/AnimalFarm'', fought in the Spanish Civil War and was shot through the throat by a sniper. He was also a colonial police officer in Burma. He would have fought in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII but was rejected because of poor health.

* Creator/StephenHawking, possibly the best example of a GeniusCripple inspiring most ''fictional examples'', who became the most famous and respected scientist in the world even though he became a quadriplegic and lost the ability to even speak.