super-scientist n.
a person who studies, or creates inventions using, superscience n.
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1928
Arthur Conan Doyle
bibliography
Challenger the super scientist, Challenger the arch pioneer, Challenger the first man of all men whom Mother Earth had been compelled to recognize.
When the World Screamed in Lost World & Other Stories (1995) 461 -
1929
Absolute masters of America and the world. Cruel, inhuman super scientists.
Great Classic Comic Newspaper Strips, No. 1, Buck Rogers Issue (1964) Oct. 4 -
1934
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Donald Wandrei
bibliography
Why may not man himself now be only a similar basic cell out of which even vaster and more complex organisms will evolve in the course of ages? Imagine what would happen if a superscientist treated man as such a cell and then, in the laboratory, constructed from one or dozens of men a creature of the year one billion!
Scientist Divides in Astounding Stories Sept. 54/2 -
1940
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Oscar J. Friend
bibliography
Almost fearfully Nelson looked up at the sky as though he half expected the head and shoulders of some super[-]scientist to materialize from behind a cloud. But nothing happened.
Impossible Highway in Thrilling Wonder Stories Aug. 84/2 -
1953
L. Sprague de Camp
The plus-sign at the end of the hero’s surname (a pun to begin with) indicates that he is a super-scientist.
Science Fiction Handbook 69 -
1975
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John Varley
bibliography
‘What would Maryjane Peters, superscientist, have done?’ He could hear the pleased note in her voice, though she tried not to show it.
Black Hole Passes in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction June 27/1 -
1991
The Japanese are not superscientists; they can’t go any faster than anyone else can.
Virtual Reality iii. x. 238 -
2011
Rajnar Vajra
bibliography
‘Interesting results. Liana and I become exactly what’s needed to save the day. Example? Without my new body, the sky’s gravity would’ve pinned me down.’ ‘Take more than a year, I bet, for even super-scientists to develop such specific mutagens for people whose DNA’s already shifting.’ ‘Quite possibly.’ ‘But the lottery picked us a year ago. So you rigged it somehow. Should I go on?’
Tower of Worlds in Analog Science Fiction & Fact May 37/1
Research requirements
antedating 1928
Earliest cite
Arthur Conan Doyle
Research History
Mike Christie submitted a cite from the letter column of the December 1940 Astounding.Fred Galvin submitted a 1939 cite from editorial material in Science Fiction.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1934 cite from Donald Wandrei's "A Scientist Divides".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1953 cite from L. Sprague de Camp's "Science-Fiction Handbook".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1941 cite from editorial material in Uncanny Stories.
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1964 reprint of Philip Francis Nowlan's comic strip "Buck Rogers--in the Year 2429"; we would like to verify it in the original newspaper strip in January 1929 (it does not appear in the magazine version which appeared in Amazing Stories in August 1928 (as "Armageddon -- 2419 A.D.")).
Bee Ostrowsky submitted a 2011 cite.
We have a 1928 example from Arthur Conan Doyle's "When the World Screamed", from a later collection; we would like to verify it in the original publication, in Liberty Magazine, 25 February – 3 March 1928.
Last modified 2023-11-02 12:15:39
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