Saturday, 19 April 2014

Five of My Favourite: Female Nerds and Geeks from TV

Okay, so last weekend I only managed two reviews after promising three - I can be excused for watching Game of Thrones? - so I'll be writing an extra post sometime over the next week. In the meantime, I thought I'd have a change of pace and a little fun since its the holidays, and do a list this week.

So, today's list is the my top five female nerds and geeks, in no particular order.

Note - on definitions of nerd and geek. I personally consider these positive terms, with nerd applying to people with interests and expertise in scientific areas, and geek to anyone who is very passionate about a particular subject. However, these are just my personal definitions - you may find others online or in a dictionary.

1] Myka Bering - Warehouse 13



Myka is not only super smart, with a great eye for details, but definitely a book nerd. She grew up reading H G Wells and many other classics in the bookshop run by her parents, and her ability to quote Shakespeare has even saved lives. 


[2] Col./Doctor Sam Carter - Stargate SG1



Though she's already turned up on one of my previous top five lists, I couldn't help but include her here. An astrophysicist and engineer, with an obvious passion for science, she is an expert in alien technology and the cleverest member of SG1. 


3] Claudia Donovan - Warehouse 13



A cool technical nerd, Claudia has amazing computer skills, allowing to hack into a system and find anything she wants. Something of an inventor too, she has been known to create several useful gadgets for use in the Warehouse, including an holographic projector and a periscope for Artie. She also gets pretty cranky when she ends up stuck in the forest with no good Internet signal whilst on assignment. 

4] Lisa Simpson - The Simspons





Perhaps one of the most famous nerds/geeks on television, Lisa is years ahead of her classmates. A member of MENSA, she has been interested in astronomy, helped Doctor Nick give her father a heart bypass and in one episode pretended to be a boy so she could learn maths in a more traditional way, after her school was serparated into girls and boys.

5] Doctor Amy Farrah Fowler - The Big Bang Theory



Again another one from my female scientists list. Amy, though not into science-fiction or comics like Sheldon Cooper, is a neurologist with a passion for medieval literature and playing the harp. Probably the smartest out of the Big Bang Theory girls, she seems to have a good knowledge of physics as well as biology.
























3 comments:

  1. Wonderful list, Katherine. I love smart women on TV and would like to see more of them.

    Some of my favourite STEM-field nerd & geek women on TV (off the top of my head) include:

    Agent Dana Scully from The X-Files

    The women of Bones: Dr. Temperance Brennan, Dr. Camille Saroyan, and Angela Montenegro

    Allison Blake of Eureka

    Dr. Laura Hobson of Inspector Lewis

    Ditte Hansen of The Eagle (fantastic Danish drama series which I highly recommend)

    Dr. Mac of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

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  2. Oh! And:

    Alice of Luther (Season One)

    The code-breaking women of The Bletchley Circle: Susan, Millie, Jean and Lucy

    Emma Fitzgerald in Heat of the Sun

    Kaylee Frye of Firefly

    And while she was never my favorite character, I'd like to point out that Daisy Duke in the Dukes of Hazard *never* got any credit for all the work she did on those cars with Uncle Jessie.

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  3. Hi Shaula,

    I'm glad you liked my list - and thanks for all the other suggestions! I must watch Bones, your the second person to mention that it has nerdy/geeky women characters on there.

    I'd recommend watching Warehouse 13 as it has a great cast of female characters of which I only picked two. I think Once Upon a Time actually has some really good female characters too - I love Regina even though technically she is the bad guy for most of the seasons.

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