History Main / ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder

* A filler issue of ''ComicBook/SuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'' [[ADayInTheLimelight focuses on]] the Looter, a second rate scientist turned super-powered but still second rate villain. The Looter's ego makes him constantly try to outmaneuver Spider-Man, and this culminates in his being brutally beaten by the "[[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan Superior Spider-Man]]". Later, at a [[TropaholicsAnonymous villain support group]] meeting, he acknowledges that he [[MadHatter may have a problem]], because even though he logically knows that he will be beaten even worse or killed if he encounters Spider-Man again, he can't stop himself because he "knows" he's superior to everyone else and has to show it by committing crimes.

* A filler issue of ''ComicBook/SuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'' [[ADayInTheLimelight focuses on]] the Looter, a second rate scientist turned super-powered but still second rate villain. The Looter's ego makes him constantly try to outmaneuver Spider-Man, and this culminates in his being brutally beaten by the "[[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan Superior Spider-Man]]". Later, at a [[TropaholicsAnonymous villain support group]] meeting, he acknowledges that he [[MadHatter may have a problem]], because even although he logically knows that he will be beaten even worse or killed if he encounters Spider-Man again, he can't stop himself because he "knows" he's superior to everyone else and has to show it by committing crimes.

* A filler issue of ''ComicBook/SuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'' [[ADayInTheLimelight focuses on]] the Looter, a second rate scientist turned super-powered but still second rate villain. The Looter's ego makes him constantly try to outmaneuver Spider-Man, and this culminates in his being brutally beaten by the "[[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan]]". Later, at a [[TropaholicsAnonymous villain support group]] meeting, he acknowledges that he [[MadHatter may have a problem]], because even although he logically knows that he will be beaten even worse or killed if he encounters Spider-Man again, he can't stop himself because he "knows" he's superior to everyone else and has to show it by committing crimes.

* A filler issue of ''ComicBook/SuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'' [[ADayInTheLimelight focuses on]] the Looter, a second rate scientist turned super-powered but still second rate villain. The Looter's ego makes him constantly try to outmaneuver Spider-Man, and this culminates in his being brutally beaten by the "[[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan]]". Later, at a [[TropeaholicsAnonymous villain support group]] meeting, he acknowledges that he [[MadHatter may have a problem]], because even although he logically knows that he will be beaten even worse or killed if he encounters Spider-Man again, he can't stop himself because he "knows" he's superior to everyone else and has to show it by committing crimes.

* One character in ''Transylvania 6-5000'' is a normal scientist as long as he's outside his laboratory. On entering it, however, he proceeds to muss up his hair and go into full-blown MadScientist mode.

* Played straight in the ''MorganvilleVampires'' books; Myrnin is a MadScientist vampire who has developed a disease that only targets vampires, he tries to find a cure and managed to develop medication to slow it down, but often forgets to take it, turning him into a bloodthirsty monster, which is why he needs someone there to help him remember, but hiring an assistant often doesn't go well.

* Hank "Comicbook/{{Ant-Man}}" Pym. As he has stated, he only takes on board scientific projects that interest him or stimulate his imagination. He is also somewhat prone to [[FreakOut bouts of insanity]] and [[MyGreatestFailure creating villainous robots]]. Exactly what mental illness Hank suffers from has never really been disclosed, but the general consensus is that he really should be on some sort of medication. One theory is that he's neurotically obsessed with ''being a super-hero'', despite being completely insane.

-->-- '''Joel Robinson''', ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', ''TheMadMonster''

* In ''Manga/SoulEater'' Dr. Franken Stein suffers from this, explaining how as a child doctors tried to figure out the reason for his mental instability and desire to dissect everything, traits which also make him the most powerful graduate of Shibusen. He even goes on to explain how insanity is contagious, meaning his condition gets worse when madness begins to consume the world. This might be a slight subversion of the trope, however, as it seems when his madness is less controlled, he goes from analytical genius to stark-raving madman.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' had the son's mentally disabled best friend go off his meds. He went from being a sweet mentally disabled child to being a EvilBrit Mad Genius. It turns out those pills have been keeping his SuperPoweredEvilSide in check for years.

** Hank also turns out to be astonishingly easy to brainwash into believing almost anything. He was once brainwashed into believing that a woman with a pathologically large brain (as in, a few ''feet'' across) was his desperately ill wife who needed him to cure her. This was actually a ploy to get him to engineer a mobile platform for her so she could be a PersonOfMassDestruction with her psychic powers.

** Because of their shared [[TheVerse 'verse]], Mad Scientists show up in Webcomic/SkinHorse as well. [[SassyBlackWoman Tigerlily]] and Captain Bram so far, but there's a whole "Institute for the [[BlatantLies Sane]][[hottip:note:"Sane" indicating "not suffering from Walton's Disorder", not necessarily "good" or "sensible"]] Study of Mad Genius" out there. Not to mention St. Charlie, "a technocratic city dedicated to the irrational sciences".

* ''Series/Perception'' has Dr. Daniel Pierce, a paranoid schizophrenic neuroscientist that aids the FBI if there is a case that involves the brain in some way. His schizophrenia actually helps him on cases by giving him clues about what his mind unconsciously sees, but he doesn't, through hallucinations of people that are somehow related to the theme of the case.

** Well, in Stein's case, you could say he was crazy and THEN took to science as he grew up. Young Stein is pure SlasherSmile, with a side of "Take it apart to see how it works." With 'it' often being a living, breathing thing.
*** He got pretty good at putting 'it' back together too.

* In the ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}''[=/=]''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' forum-role play known as FanFic/TheMadScientistWars... well, guess. Almost every major member of the main cast is a Mad Scientist, and SRMD is shown to be well documented in the medical field. It's a purely genetic condition, of course. Interestingly, one character was shown to have been taking some kind of medication to repress the syndrome, before a skipped dose and stress caused him to 'Break Through'.

* Dr. Herbert West, Film/ReAnimator. He performs science because of the need to ''know'', consequences be damned. His search to conquer death may have started with the benign reasoning of conquering humanity's greatest mystery and advancing medical science, but he goes WAY past the point of no return into straight up mad-scientific compulsion.

* [[spoiler: Lydia]] from Literature/TheChroniclesOfProfessorJackBaling calls it Hypercognitive Dementia. It’s characterized by the ability to create devices that “regular” science would classify as impossible. However, there are downsides as well, including a marked reduction in empathy, an inability to see how one’s actions affect others, and a belief that the sufferer’s struggles are the only ones that matter.

* In the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'' webfiction, there exists a disorder by the name of Diedrick's Syndrome, in which an imbalance of neurotransmitters can, to paraphrase another troper, lead to the sufferer screaming insanely about destroying the planet because, say, he originally just lost his car keys. (Such an episode is referred to as "dricking out".) A devisor named Mega-Death is the current trope demonstrator. Ironically, he's a REALLY nice, friendly guy. Normally. It's been suggested that the Alphas are screwing with his inventions to induce more frequent 'drick-outs [[ForTheEvulz because they think it's funny]].

* [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Doctor Insano]]. Some of his origin stories have him being actually driven mad, either through bad videogames or through his anger at being rejected as a teenager.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz]]'', following the example of the mad scientist at the top illustration, has a big lever as an on/off switch for the lights. He also has an obsession with installing self-destruction buttons and other buttons or dials that actually make it easier for Perry the Platypus to thwart Doof's plans. Even the titular characters aren't completely immune to the self-destruction button obsession as evidenced when they built a Rainbow-inator.

In some series, this leads to a story line in which one or more of the Mad Scientists (or perhaps some saner allies) seek out [[PsychoSerum a cure]] for their condition. Invariably, however, the cure comes at a cost, usually the loss of their terrible, manic genius, or else their energy and drive across the board. In other series, there may ''already'' exist a treatment for it, but someone forgets ([[NoMedicationForMe or "forgets"]]) to take it one day...

Named for the communicable form of mad science in the {{webcomic}} ''Webcomic/AMiracleOfScience''.

** Well, in Stein's case, you could say he was crazy and THEN took to science as he grew up. Young Stein is pure SlasherSmile NightmareFuel, with a side of "Take it apart to see how it works." With 'it' often being a living, breathing thing.

* Doctor Jail Scaglietti, the BigBad of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'', is eventually revealed to have been born with an uncontrollable obsession to discover the secrets behind the [[LostTechnology Lost Logia]] of Ancient Belka and Al-Hazard [[spoiler:[[ArtificialHuman when he was created]] by the [[GovernmentConspiracy leaders of the TSAB]] as a result of [[PlayingWithSyringes project "Unlimited Desire"]]]].

* In some of his incarnations, the Lizard form of Curt Connors in ''Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}'' acts like a mad scientist, even though normally, he is a good guy. Complicating things is that on other occasions, the Lizard form is non-sentient.

* Hank "{{Ant-Man}}" Pym. As he has stated, he only takes on board scientific projects that interest him or stimulate his imagination. He is also somewhat prone to [[FreakOut bouts of insanity]] and [[MyGreatestFailure creating villainous robots]]. Exactly what mental illness Hank suffers from has never really been disclosed, but the general consensus is that he really should be on some sort of medication.
** One theory is that he's neurotically obsessed with ''being a super-hero'', despite being completely insane.

* In the ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}''[=/=]''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' forum-role play known as TheMadScientistWars... well, guess. Almost every major member of the main cast is a Mad Scientist, and SRMD is shown to be well documented in the medical field. It's a purely genetic condition, of course. Interestingly, one character was shown to have been taking some kind of medication to repress the syndrome, before a skipped dose and stress caused him to 'Break Through'.

* Dr. Herbert West, ReAnimator. He performs science because of the need to ''know'', consequences be damned. His search to conquer death may have started with the benign reasoning of conquering humanity's greatest mystery and advancing medical science, but he goes WAY past the point of no return into straight up mad-scientific compulsion.

* It's implied that the title character of ''YoungFrankenstein'' inherited his tendency toward mad science from his more famous predecessor.

* Supervillains often suffer from "Malign Hypercognition Disorder" in Austin Grossman's book ''SoonIWillBeInvincible''. It's stated that the MadScientist types will go this way when they are at the far right edge of the bell curve. Doctor Impossible knows his plans will be thwarted, knows he could use his inventions for other purposes, but has a psychological compulsion to try to rule the world. His alternating attempts to hide the painful truth from himself and justified self pity make him TheWoobie.

* In one of LarryNiven's ''KnownSpace'' short stories, appropriately titled "Madness Has its Place," it's revealed that [=ARM=] (the technology-suppressing SecretPolice branch of the UN) deliberately employs sociopaths and paranoid schizophrenics, though they're issued mandatory medication. The main character is one (he's implied to be a former serial killer), but in order to help prepare a defense against the approaching Kzinti aliens, he goes off his medication. His descent into paranoia and sociopathy make him frighteningly competent at war preparations for a humanity that hasn't known war in centuries. The [=ARM=] also creates treatments to ''artificially'' induce paranoid schizophrenia and other disorders in its agents, in case enough naturally occurring crazies of the right sort are unavailable.

* In the DavidBrin novel ''Literature/KilnPeople'', Mad Science is caused by one of several psychological complexes. The protagonist, a private detective with an interest in psychology, listens to the villain ramble and mentally goes down a list of symptoms, eventually diagnosing him with a textbook case of one of the complexes.
* Played straight in the ''MorganvilleVampires'' books, Myrnin is a MadScientist vampire who has developed a disease that only targets vampires, he tries to find a cure and managed to develop medication to slow it down, but often forgets to take it, turning him into a bloodthirsty monster, which is why he needs someone there to help him remember, but hiring an assistant often doesn't go well.
* [[spoiler: Lydia]] from TheChroniclesOfProfessorJackBaling calls it Hypercognitive Dementia. It’s characterized by the ability to create devices that “regular” science would classify as impossible. However, there are downsides as well, including a marked reduction in empathy, an inability to see how one’s actions affect others, and a belief that the sufferer’s struggles are the only ones that matter.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has this in the form of the tinker gnomes of the ''{{Dragonlance}}'' setting. A sub-race of gnomes who were cursed by a god to be brilliant and ingenious inventors [[RubeGoldbergDevice with absolutely no concept of 'practicality']] [[MadeOfExplodium or even 'safety']].

* ''Webcomic/AMiracleOfScience'', the TropeNamer, is about a [[spoiler:[[BoxedCrook reformed mad scientist]] turned]] police detective hunting down a mad roboticist who is threatening the stability of the solar system. The medications used in the treatment of SRMD makes one character, in his own words, "feel like [his] head is full of felt."

** Because of their shared [[TheVerse 'verse]], Mad Scientists show up in SkinHorse as well. [[SassyBlackWoman Tigerlily]] and Captain Bram so far, but there's a whole "Institute for the [[BlatantLies Sane]][[hottip:note:"Sane" indicating "not suffering from Walton's Disorder", not necessarily "good" or "sensible"]] Study of Mad Genius" out there. Not to mention St. Charlie, "a technocratic city dedicated to the irrational sciences".

* Hannelore's father in ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' is implied to suffer from a version of this; in one strip he goes off his meds and builds her a "fully functional" robot boy. Well, almost fully functional; the fun parts are still in "beta". [[IncrediblyLamePun Private beta, obviously]].

[[folder: Video Games ]]
* Cave Johnson, the founding mind behind Aperture Science, in ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}''. It's AllThereInTheManual that he inadvertently came up with an idea for a quantum hole in the space-time continuum, which he thought could have applications as a shower curtain.
** In VideoGame/{{Portal 2}} it's revealed that the central programming for testing produces a data burst akin to pleasure for the main [=AI=] when a test is completed, but the [=AI=] rapidly develop an immunity to it. This becomes a plot point when [[spoiler:Wheatley takes over and begins to suffer "test withdrawal"]].

[[/folder]]

* ''[[PhineasAndFerb Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz]]'', following the example of the mad scientist at the top illustration, has a big lever as a on/off switch for the lights. He also has an obsession with installing self-destruction buttons and other buttons or dials that actually make it easier for Perry the Platypus to thwart Doof's plans. Even the titular characters aren't completely immune to the self-destruction button obsession as evidenced when they built a Rainbow-inator.

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* The genetic condition of Mad Science (aka hypercognitive dementia, also known as Walton's Disorder, also known popularly as Mad Genius; DSM-IV numeric code 29533) and its eventual treatment is also the major theme in ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}''. There is talk of a cure, but [[spoiler:at least in the form we see it, it turns the mad scientist into a WeirdnessCensor-equipped mundane. Makes them impotent, too.]]

** Actually, it was that being pain-free made him act uncharacteristically nice and accommodating to the worried parents of his patient which directly resulted in creating a health problem when the kid had actually just been dehydrated (he had a reaction to the contrast dye in their first test, everything else stemmed from that). That House believes he would have caught this right away otherwise was probably at least partly a rationalization on his part; The truth is being pain-free made him nicer, not dumber, and he's really just scared to find out how much of his personality and worldview was a result of his constant pain (the guy is terrified of change).
*** So, probably [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]].

** The projected lifespan of tinker gnome NPCs was not very long: that of one who (as a player character) took up ''heroic engineering'' was usually measurable on a clock, as opposed to a calendar.

* NikolaTesla may have had a bit of this.