On TV, movies and even video games there have been many fictional inventors which have brightened up our lives.
This article on Gizmodo takes a look at all the great fictional inventors of our time. Below is a selection, view the full set here.
Doc BrownWho: Doctor Emmett Lathrop Brown, an eccentric physicist based in Hill Valley, California.
Greatest invention: That huge wall-sized guitar amp that knocks Marty McFly on his ass? NO! The flux capacitor, the core component of a machine that allowed Brown to travel through time. Brown came up with the idea of the capacitor on November 5, 1955, and worked tirelessly for the next 30 years developing it into a working time machine. The capacitor, which requires 1.21 Gigawatts of electrical power to function, was first implemented in a customized DeLorean and later, or maybe earlier?, in a 19th century train.
QWho: Major Boothroyd, MI6 Quartermaster, Q was responsible for keeping James Bond one laser watch ahead of the bad guys.
Greatest invention: Every would be spy has their favorite Q contraption, but the remote control BMW 750iL, which Bond could not only start but operate from his cell phone, led to the best backseat driver chase scene of all time. The flip-open cell phone that served as the car's remote was actually a concept by Ericsson, and they used elements of its design for a real handset they sold some years later.
Tony StarkWho: Tony Stark, a wealthy industrialist whose expertise in engineering is matched only by his lovable sass.
Greatest invention: The Iron Man Armor, a weapon-laden exoskeleton first conceived during his time spent in captivity at the hands of a terrorist organization in Afghanistan. Though, many versions of the Iron Man Armor were created, the are defined by palm-embedded repulsors and jet-boots, effectively allowing Stark to fly. Later, more advanced iterations of Stark's armor were powered by a high-yield arc reactor.
Dr. RobotnikWho: Dr. Ivo Robotnik, Sonic the Hedgehog's egg-shaped nemesis.
Greatest invention: Metal Sonic, a robotic version of Sonic that was charged with going back in time to do dirty, destiny-changing deeds for his creator, Dr. Robotnik. Metal Sonic was as fast, if not faster, than Sonic himself and had the benefit of myriad technological enhancements, such as a abdominal laser cannon and built-in force field device.
BrainWho: Brain, or Biological Recombinant Algorithmic Intelligence Nexus, a genetically modified lab rat bent on taking over the world.
Greatest invention: Brain's schemes for world domination were manifold, though one particularly ambitious effort was based around a device called the Infindibulator. In Brain's words:
"Once we construct a superconductive magnetic Infindibulator, the world will be ours! ... By using the infindibulator to deplete hydrogen and promote gravitational collapse, we will produce a magnetic charge from the center of the Earth so strong that every person who has loose change in their pockets will be magnetically drawn to the ground and stuck there!"
