History Main / AbsentmindedProfessor

* One episode of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' includes a professor so absent-minded and such an InsufferableGenius that his wife uses a telepathic double to romance Captain Sisko to deal with his neglect. The professor was amusingly played by Richard Kiley, best known for portraying ''Literature/DonQuixote''.

This StockCharacter is a brilliant scientist, but, uh, ''very'' flighty, often forgetting things like the date, [[AccidentalMisnaming people's names]], meetings, [[ForgetsToEat eating]], [[TheInsomniac sleeping]], [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment people's names]], etc. His mind tends to run a mile a minute, he can often struggle to hold a normal conversation, and it's typical for him to become so engrossed in his work that he loses track of just about everything else. Good thing he ([[AlwaysMale and it's very often a he]]) is [[BunnyEarsLawyer good at what he does]] and often has perfect memory for scientific details or [[MouthfulOfPi mathematical values]]. With a little prodding from {{the hero}}es to focus on the matter at hand, he rarely fails to create the tools necessary to save the day.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes:''

** ''[[Recap/TintinCigarsOfThePharaoh Cigars of the Pharaoh]]'' has the very absent-minded Dr. Sarcophagus, an Egyptologist. Similar characters appear in ''[[Recap/TintinKingOttokarsSceptre King Ottokar's Sceptre]]'' and ''[[Recap/TintinTheShootingStar The Shooting Star]]''.

Compare MadScientist and MadMathematician who may exhibit this trait, demonstrating that even their vast intellect has limits. For those whose absent-minded brilliance shines in engineering and applied science, compare BunglingInventor. One with an extreme case of this may resemble an IdiotSavant. And then there are those who are BrilliantButLazy or a GeniusDitz. May end up being a StupidScientist. This teacher is highly likely to be MoreThanJustATeacher.

** There's no non-magical university on Discworld, but if there were, Leonard of Quirm would also be an example. As it is, he's merely an absent-minded polymath. One of the best descriptions of him, from ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'' is "a man who'd stay up all night to invent an alarm clock to wake him up in the morning."

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2099 SCP-2099 ("Brain in a Jar")]]. SCP-2099 is is brilliant enough to regularly create new anomalous objects at will, such as a cannon that fires ninja robots. However, he is also quite forgetful and depends on his notes to remember things.

* Paul-Louis Courier had this reputation, especially as an officer in Napoleon's army. He was a renowned Hellenist, but he had an unfortunate tendency to lose everything but his manuscripts. Several of his letters describe his constant battle to find proper clothing after his luggage got lost or stolen; likewise, many letters from his friends often end with a reminder that he left some of his belongings at their house some months (or years!) ago and never came to take them. Not to mention that he became [[NeverLiveItDown somewhat infamous]] among people of letters for having spilled ink on an invaluable 14th-century manuscript.

* A non-human example from ''Literature/{{Foreigner}}'': Grigi the Astronomer Emeritus of the ''atevi'' University. He often ForgetsToEat due to being occupied with work, is much more open and much less formal than other ''atevi'', blithely ignores protocol (even in the presence of extremely annoyed [[MurderInc assassins]]), and would much rather discuss astronomy and physics than things like political upheaval and the looming threat of war.

This is a very old character type, referred to by this name since at least um... er... 1864? Yes 1864!

** ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'''s Professor Oak is so absent-minded he doesn't remember his own grandson's name, [[HelloInsertNameHere leaving it up to the player to remind him]]. This remains the case in the GBA remakes, but ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee'' subverts it: said grandson (who isn't your rival here, but instead a recurring NPC) reacts in exasperation and asks him to stop messing with you, revealing that it's just a joke Oak likes to pull.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'''s Professor Oak is so absent-minded he doesn't remember his own grandson's name, [[HelloInsertNameHere leaving it up to the player to remind him]].

** Newton also had two cats, one large and one small. Their constant comings and goings began to annoy the whole family, so his mother asked him to cut a hole in the door so that the cats could go through without needing a human's help. He cut two holes, one large for the large cat, one small for the small cat...

* An oceanographer in ''Literature/DerSchwarm'' conforms so exactly to this that it seems like really lazy writing, until you remember that the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters huge]] cast contains at least a dozen other professors, none of whom is anything like him.

* Professor Bomba from ''WesternAnimation/{{Epic}}''; his outdated computers and messy house suggest he really doesn't get out much.

Compare MadScientist and MadMathematician who may exhibit this trait, demonstrating that even their vast intellect has limits. For those whose absent-minded brilliance shines in engineering and applied science, compare BunglingInventor. One with an extreme case of this may resemble an IdiotSavant. And then there are those who are BrilliantButLazy or a GeniusDitz. May end up being a StupidScientist.

* ''Literature/{{Tarzan}}'': Professor Porter.

* ''Videogame/EarthBound'' has absent minded Dr. Andonuts. When his son Jeff meets his father at his lab, Dr. Andonuts forgot that he even had a son.

* GadgeteerGenius Dr. Hiroshi Agasa from ''Manga/DetectiveConan'', together with EinsteinHair and a German accent in the dub.

-->''...[[TheStinger What am I doing here again?]]''