Omnidisciplinary Scientist

"Do you know how many degrees I have?!"

— Dr. McNinja, The Adventures of Dr. McNinja

Related to the nerd and the Mad Scientist, the Omnidisciplinary Scientist is a master of every branch of science, regardless of the branch in which they theoretically have a degree. A writer either didn't do the research or didn't want to. If someone is a scientist, and something about science needs to be known, the scientist will know it or learn it by the end of the episode.

Films are particularly bad about this. It's understandable that a producer needs to reduce the number of named characters, so anything "scientific" is handled by the existing "science guy" character. However, it strains Willing Suspension of Disbelief when the guy who was just working on the nuclear reactor turns around and is suddenly a xenobiologist, chemist, alien technology expert, and computer programmer as well.

Then again, maybe the character really is just that smart, running around with superheroes and aliens and unbelievable circumstances of all descriptions, it certainly wouldn't be the strangest thing going on in that fictional universe.

Any of The Professor, The Spock, the Mad Scientist, Mr. Fixit and the Genius Bruiser may be an Omnidisciplinary Scientist. The Science Hero tends to be one in practice. The medical variant is the Super Doc.

Compare to the Renaissance Man who is also very knowledgeable in multiple fields — but not necessarily all of them. Some of these fields may be arts such as painting, or literature. May possess Encyclopaedic Knowledge if their interests stray outside of science.

Note also that the "plausibility" of this trope is context-dependent. If a story presupposes an immortal character, for example, that character might well have had time to master many disciplines of study (though perhaps not to be up on the latest developments in all areas). Likewise, a non-human mind might be capable of anything, or a future/alien technology might enable learning by means other than the hard way, or the character has Super-Intelligence as a power. Or, like the Doctor, all of the above.

This is part of the Hollywood Science belief that big things are made by a single "scientist" (sometimes with a bunch of useless assistants). In reality, this usually isn't the case — most developments are incremental and made through the collaboration of many people who each have special knowledge of one small part of the problem.

Omnidisciplinary science is uncommon among professionals, but a kernel of Truth in Television can be found among amateurs. Many people treat scientific knowledge, demonstrations, and experimentation as a hobby, trying to get as much information as possible instead of specializing in a single discipline (and as gadgeteers usually also encompass being engineers at the same time). And of course, learning how to learn is also a part of academia, so a scientist would likely be able to research a new topic quicker than a non-scientist.

Geniuses Have Multiple PhDs is often an attempt to justify a character's wide range of expertise, especially if the doctorates are in different fields, though it tends to raise questions about how they were able to become a top scientist if they spent all that time in grad school.

See also Super Doc for the medical version of this. In works of fiction, a doctor is almost always a hybrid between a medical doctor and something else (in the case of omniscience, everything else). In real life, a doctor is a physician with a doctorate of medicine (M.D.), or a Ph.D in any field, regardless of being a practitioner of medicine or not. And it should be stressed that a Ph.D is generally going to have the same fundamental core competencies (at least in theory) for their given field, but beyond that, most of their knowledge, skills, and abilities is limited to whatever was the subject of their dissertation. Generally speaking, any scientist can probably do basic statistical data analysis. But a dedicated statistician (even if he isn't a practicing scientist per se) is whom you would call for the important jobs where you really need an expert on the numbers.

See Experts Unavailable for situations where this character type exists, but is unavailable for assistance.

The legal counterpart is an Omnidisciplinary Lawyer. The martial arts counterpart is a Multi-Martial Master. The engineering counterpart is Gadgeteer Genius.

Used as one of the most common excuses to let The Main Characters Do Everything.

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Comic Strips

Bloom County: Oliver Wendell Holmes is primarily a computer nerd. But he also loves astronomy and has, among other things, worked on a Grand Unification Theory, built an A-bomb, cloned a dead character, created a light machine to give people instant very dark tans, and developed a hair growth tonic.
Nero: Adhemar, a 5-year-old boy genius has built numerous space rockets, a huge computer, wonder pills and even invented medicines for diseases that haven't been discovered yet!
Safe Havens: Samantha Argus, while her main passion is genetics, is so proficient in computer programming that she has a standing offer from her father's employer to work for them, did all the math calculations needed for the Mars mission to be a success (well, technically her future self did and her Kid from the Future got them to present day Samantha) and has dabbled in so many other fields that it became a problem when she was selected for jury duty, as she was so proficient in so many things that lawyers could usually find something that ruled her out from serving...except one case where she was selected because of her proficiency in computer programming, as that meant she was probably the juror most likely to figure out what was going on, as computers played a significant role in the case. Perhaps notably, again thanks to time travel, Samantha is the grandmother of noted example of this trope, Leonardo da Vinci.

Films – Animation

Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman: This is played with in Batwoman as she appears to be a brilliant martial artist who also invented miraculous gadgets and is a skilled and experienced computer hacker. It turns out it is three different women, using one costume, who each bring their own skills to the table.
Monsters vs. Aliens: Doctor Cockroach is an expert in all things mechanical, and knows enough about biology to turn himself into a stable roach-man. Also, his Ph.D is in DANCE!
Treasure Planet: Defied with a dose of I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder. Captain Amelia is wounded, and becoming delirious from the blood loss, but Dr. Doppler can't do anything because he's not a medical doctor.
Jim: You gotta do something!
Doppler: Dang it, Jim! I'm an astronomer, not a doctor! I mean I am a doctor, but I'm not that kind of doctor! I have a doctorate, but it's not the same thing! You can't help people with a doctorate, you just sit there and you're useless!
Yellow Submarine: Jeremy Hillary Boob (AKA the Nowhere Man) claims to be a physicist, botanist, and dentist. He also easily fixes the title ships engine, making him an engineer as well.

Films – Live-Action

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension: In the mold of Doc Savage, Buckaroo Banzai is a neurosurgeon, particle physicist, and rock star, among other things.
Avatar: Grace Augustine is the foremost expert on Pandoran botany, but she also appears to be an anthropologist. And a xenolinguist. And a schoolteacher. Possibly justified: in canon, the CEO is presented as dismissive toward science, monofocused on the avatar project and consequent acquisition of mining rights, and antagonistic toward Augustine herself; she and her small team may be doing All The Science because she doesn't have the funding, or the staff, to do otherwise.
Back to the Future: Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown built a time machine in his garage in 1985 and another steam-powered time machine by 1895. In the third movie, he explicitly says that he's "a student of all sciences". Granted, 20th century education would appear as such to a 19th century perspective. It was his job as a scientist.
The Dark Knight Trilogy: Lucius Fox is the engineer who devises the technology that Batman's gadgets are based on, he also knows enough about toxicology to synthesize an antidote to Scarecrow's fear toxin, and he is also adept at running a Fortune 500 company. Granted, that last one's not a science, but it's definitely a refined skill.
Any scientist from a 1950s atomic horror movie. The Deadly Mantis in particular hangs a lampshade on this by suggesting that all paleontologists (like its protagonist) must be omnidisciplinary, because the field requires so much speculation from trace evidence.
Deep Murder: Dr. Bunny Van Clit is a "scientist", but she never says what kind of scientist. She came to the house to warn everyone there about Hurricane Muff, implying her to be a meteorologist, but she also had sex with Doug "in space" (which would make her an astronaut) and she's done medical work for both humans and animals. She will also make claims about "doing science" (which could just be a euphemism), and has a Nobel Prize, Pulitzer, and the Ruby Scepter (which you can only win if you had the first two) from her achievements.
The Fly (1986): Defied. Dr. Seth Brundle explicitly explains to Veronica that with regards to his matter-transporting "telepods", most of the technical apparatus is stuff he himself doesn't understand, designed by colleagues he says are far more brilliant than himself and only assembled by him. He later explains his initial difficulty with transporting organic matter as being a result of his inexperience in biology. His own fields seem to be mathematics and programming.
Forbidden Planet: Doctor Morbius is a philologist, but by the time the movie takes place, has constructed a sophisticated home to live in and built an impossibly complex robot, as well as being able to analyze and use alien technology. He HAD been enhanced by an alien machine making him into a genius.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: Downplayed in the prologue. Dr. Voller tells a Nazi officer his brief glimpse of the metalwork on the Holy Lance in their possession leads him to suspect it's a modern forgery, while admitting that his field of expertise is physics. This is intercut with the titular archaeologist finding it and reaching the same conclusion.
The Librarian: Flynn Carsen is a thirty-two year old not-a-virgin who lives with his mother and has a combined total of something like twenty-two degrees. Somewhat justified in that part of the reason he's such a total social outcast is that he's spent more than half his life doing nothing but studying for those degrees. In the second movie, he meets a hot female archaeologist who beats him in the number of degrees.
- In fact, the plot of the first film is kicked off when he's booted out of the university, where he'd gladly spend the rest of his days studying, so that he'd get some Real Life experience. He's immediately recruited into the Library. Through all three films, he continuously displays encyclopedic knowledge about almost any subject, often quoting some textbook or encyclopedia entry verbatim. This gets lampshaded in the third film, when a Mook notes that he speaks in paragraphs.
The Man from Earth: Averted. John is intelligent, but not abnormally so. He claims to have collected ten advanced degrees over his extended lifetime, but he freely points out that no one can maintain current knowledge in that many fields at once. His 19th century biology degree is pretty useless now.
Marvel Cinematic Universe:
- Tony Stark, weapons designer, is able to build Powered Armor and clean, cheap, small energy, in a cave, with a box of scraps, in the first film. In the second, he makes a new element in the space of a few hours, once he has the basic idea. This is despite Civil War showing his dossier, where his only academic credential is listed as a bachelor's degree in general engineering. Presumably, if he had a whole afternoon he could create a perpetual motion machine. Lampshaded in The Avengers:
  Maria Hill: And when did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?
  Tony Stark: Last night.
- Ivan Vanko was able to do the same, in Siberia, minus the new element. He also hacks computers in seconds (Hammer, US government, and S.H.I.E.L.D. tech), and is a nuclear physicist. If we believe Vanko, Hammer's software is "shit".
- Also the captive doctor Yinsen, who manages to build an electromagnet and implant it into Tony's chest. The concept is somewhat simple, but to make a precise and effective one for the exact purpose in the movie would require something of an expert in electrical engineering. And as any doctor will tell you, there isn't really enough time in your life to get a medical degree as well as expert knowledge in other nearly completely unrelated fields. He admits to seeing the kind of wound Tony has several times in his home village and as a result has had practice in treating it, somehow.
- Justin Hammer claims to be this, but most of his tech doesn't work. To his credit, his mundane tech (namely, modern weaponry) does work as advertised. The man simply has no talent for innovation and his attempts at more advanced weaponry tend to be unreliable at best, as demonstrated by his "Ex-Wife" mini-missile.
  Hammer: For the record, the pilot survived.
- Lampshaded in Thor, where Dr. Donald Blake, Jane's ex-boyfriend, was a medical doctor. When Selvig tries to get Thor out of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s clutches by passing him off as Blake, Coulson (correctly) points out that "Dr. Donald Blake" is an MD, not a physicist, to with Selvig hastily adds that he "switched majors".
- Averted in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Stark is able to create the Ultron AI and later, The Vision. However, he does need Bruce Banner's help for the second, explicitly stating that Banner is definitively the top expert on molecular biology, and the actual body of the Vision android was already created by Helen Cho. There's no explanation for why he wanted Banner's help on the first, however.
- Howard Stark might actually have his son beat in this respect. On top of being a munitions expert and engineer, he's also skilled in chemistry (he built chemical weapons in Agent Carter), applied physics (Arc Reactor), theoretical physics (discovered the molecular structure of a new element) and biology (he remains the only person to successfully recreate Erskine's serum). This on top of running a company and a spy organization, as well as being "the best civilian pilot [Peggy Carter's] ever seen". At least Tony restricts himself to engineering, robotics, computers, and physics — though he casually builds a particle accelerator in his house in Iron Man 2 and synthesizes a whole new element (albeit one that Howard had discovered), correct flawed genetic engineering that he dismisses as botany in Iron Man 3 and masters nanotechnology by Infinity War. His crowning achievement, though, comes in Endgame where he fairly quickly figures out how to build a time machine. In general, it's made clear that he's actually smarter than Howard, but he's both more focused (in terms of scientific discipline) and, pre Iron Man, less focused (in terms of personal discipline). After his Character Development, he starts becoming more of this trope.
- Bruce Banner is a cellular biologist who, while hiding in Brazil in The Incredible Hulk, pays bills by fixing machines in a factory and builds himself his own lab in his apartment with spare parts. In The Avengers he is treating sick people in Calcutta. He is also stated to be the world's top expert in gamma radiation, and Tony Stark compliments him on his research in anti-electron collisions. If he's not an engineer/medical doctor/physicist, he's at least good enough to pass as all of them. Thor: Ragnarok finally clarifies it: he's a septidesciplinary scientist, having seven PhDs. None of which are in flying alien spacecraft. Furthermore, in Avengers: Endgame, he laughs at the idea that he'd be able to build a time machine. When Tony refuses to help, Bruce does his best, but just ends up aging Scott backwards and forwards. It's not until Tony agrees to help that the plan actually has a chance of working.
- Shuri from Black Panther (2018) continues this tradition. She builds devices that can force engines to stall, bullet-proof armor that compacts into a small tribal necklace, magnetic suspension trains, communicators that work across the entire planet without any latency, and shoes that completely negate all sound, and repairs Ross's spine while she's at it. In Avengers: Infinity War, she also criticizes Bruce's and Tony's work on Vision, pointing out how the Mind Stone could've been connected more efficiently. (Note also that Shuri is still a teenager, meaning she mastered all these disciplines in substantially less time than any of the other MCU geniuses.)
Megaforce: Professor Eggstrom ("The Egg"), the team's science wizard, is said to have "more degrees than a red-hot thermometer."
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps: Averted when Sherman goes to meet his fiancée's parents for the first time. She mentions that they're "rocket scientists". However, they make it clear they have absolutely no understanding of genetics, asking Sherman to explain what he's working on in "layman's terms".
Prometheus: Dr. Elizabeth Shaw was originally an archaeologist focused on the theory of Ancient Astronauts. In the film she leads a survey mission on an alien planet and then later fronts an autopsy on a severed alien head.
R.O.T.O.R.: Coldyron's nephew is studying at the "science department" of Oxford University.
Spider-Man Trilogy:
- In Spider-Man 1, it is stated that Peter is taking an "Advanced Science" class. It is never described exactly what science they mean. This might be a Mythology Gag, as Peter infamously identified himself as a "science major" in his first comic book appearance.
- In Spider-Man 2, Dr. Otto Octavius is, presumably, a nuclear physicist (he was working on thermonuclear fusion in the film), but also apparently has enough knowledge of robotics and neurology that he can, on a whim, assemble four robotic tentacles and hook them up to his own nervous system. Despite this being an incredible accomplishment in its own right (just imagine the sheer possible application of the tech), Octavius only saw it as a useful tool for his fusion experiments (giving him extra "hands" to operate the equipment instead of having to rely on less intelligent people who he wouldn't trust to not screw things up).
- In Spider-Man 3, there's bit of Lampshade Hanging: Dr. Connors tells Peter that he is a physics professor and not a biologist, but still will try to study the symbiote. He then provides all the necessary exposition about it (in the comics, Mr. Fantastic took this role).
Top Gun: Kelly McGillis, who serves as a civilian instructor to the pilots, is described as an "astrophysicist". Guess those hot-shot Navy fighter pilots have a really pressing need to learn all about stellar evolution. A case of Reality Is Unrealistic, Christine Fox really was this character in reality (minus the romance), but her actual academic background was mathematics.
Tremors: Deliberately averted. The seismologist grad-student is exasperated by people who think she can explain the sudden appearance of giant killer worms because she's a scientist.
Val: What do you think it's doing, Rhonda?
Rhonda: ...Why do you keep asking me?
Wild Wild West: Averted with Dr. Arliss Loveless, who in order to build his Spider Tank has kidnapped various experts in different fields ranging from hydrologics to metallurgy.
X-Men: Days of Future Past:
- Hank, per First Class, is not only an accomplished engineer but a skilled biologist. He's improved on the latter, as his serum now works as intended (more or less).
- Trask seems to be a pioneer roboticist, building robots that work in the 1970s, but he is also a skilled biologist, who can study mutants to the point of understanding how their powers work at the cellular level.

Podcasts

Welcome to Night Vale: Carlos is always simply described as "Carlos the Scientist", with no more specific field given. To date, Carlos has mentioned work that touches on theoretical and applied physics, mechanical and electrical engineering, organic and inorganic chemistry, plant/animal/microbial biology, ecology, medicine, geology, and seismology. Fanon usually attributes this either to Carlos being spokesperson for a team of scientists from different disciplines (it's confirmed in Ep. 30 that there are still others working with him), or to simply having to develop skills outside his original field of study as the only person in Night Vale who can think in a straight line. Lampshaded in Episode 38, wherein Cecil asks him about a mysterious orange grove.
Carlos: I'll do my best to answer your questions, but do know that I don't specialize in botany or dendrology. I am a scientist. I study science.

Pro Wrestling

Averted but discussed in Fringe Pro Wrestling, where Will White went to Jim Nye the science guy for therapy, who replied that he was a scientist, not a doctor.

Radio

The show "Ask Dr. Science" was about a man with a Master's Degree... in Science. His ideas were crazy. You actually can get a degree called "Master of Science" in some countries, but it must be in a subfield like Physics or Biology. You can't get a Master's of Science in Science.

Theatre

Faust: One Faust's major motivations is that he is such an omnidisciplinary expert. He's mastered all the sciences of his time and found such grand knowledge unsatisfying, so he takes up magic and demonology and makes his infamous pact with Mephistopheles to carry him beyond mere science. Though as explained in the Real Life section, far enough back in history one man could know all the scientific knowledge there was at that point.
From the works of Gilbert and Sullivan:
- A pseudoscientific example is the "very small prophet" from The Sorcerer, who is an expert:
  In demonology,
  'Lectro-biology,
  Mystic nosology,
  Spirit philology,
  High-class astrology,
  Such is his knowledge, he
  Isn't the man to require an apology!
- He is no scientist, but Major-General Stanley from The Pirates of Penzance can tell you anything in any one of a number of fields of knowledge except for the practical details of anything military post-1800. Oops!
- A more in-depth analysis of General Stanley's claims show that they are pretty much all either ludicrously simple or outright fabrications.
Hamlet: Horatio, being a scholar, is entreated by Bernardo and Marcellus to talk to a ghost. It doesn't work. The ghost may be offended.

Visual Novels

Double Homework: Averted with Dr. Mosely/Zeta. Her one and only focus is on psychology.
Find Love or Die Trying: Scarlett has built robots that build nightclubs, created a powder that turns people into banana- and brain-hungry zombies (and its cure), and who knows what else on an island that is probably not equipped for any of this. She also once made a Venus fly trap that could walk and talk. It ran away, after apparently eating the neighbors' cats. She also created the memory rewriter which erased the everyone's memories, though it was meant to help people dealing with severe trauma, not erase dissident memories.
Katawa Shoujo: Realistically subverted. Yuuko may study ancient Greek history at university and in her free time, but that doesn't make her an instant expert on any other academic subject, or even any other kind of history — she has no idea how to help Hisao with his homework about the Japanese Edo period. Sciences are narrow like that. On the other hand, the science teacher seems to teach several different branches of science, including physics and chemistry. This is a mild example, since it's not unusual for a high school teacher to teach multiple disciplines in a single science class.
SOON: Subverted. If Atlas convinces teen Atlas to study biology instead of physics and handles over Fang's investigation to them so they can claim it as theirs in the future. Instead, 2013 Atlas will be stuck redoing first year of college for the sixth time and have accumulated a huge student debt by the time they're barely making it through Biology 101.
2013 Atlas: YOU!
Atlas: Uh. Hi, past me.
2013 Atlas: YOU RUINED MY LIFE.
Tsukihime: Kohaku was trained in medicine at an early age, although nobody uses the word "doctor". Due to the effects of a Reality Warper affected by how the cast perceives her devious personality; this has also given her the ability to build robots (and limited witchcraft).

Websites

The Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids: Doctor Sigma officially specializes in dimensional engineering, but he's displayed Gadgeteer Genius abilities in general as the plot demands.

* Springhole: Basic Tips To Write Better Geniuses, Scientists, & Intellectuals points out the problems with this trope. It takes a lot of time and work to become an expert in just one field, and there's the simple fact that not every branch of science will appeal to a single person.

Web Videos

Atop the Fourth Wall: In his review of Spider-Man's "Planet of the Symbiotes" arc, Linkara notes a sign advertising a "Science Expo" and comments on how in Comic Book World, "Science" seems to be a single discipline.
Doctor Steel's Ph.D is never elaborated on (according to him, he is a "doctor of reality engineering"), but he's "displayed" skills in engineering, mathematics, biology, medicine, chemistry... baking (well, not so much)...
Dragon Ball Z Abridged: Bulma's vague scientific discipline is given a lampshade as Krillin picks up an unconscious Android 18 saying he plans to take her to a doctor... or a mechanic... "A Bulma. I'm taking her to a Bulma."
- Also lampshaded in episode 13. When Goku needs a spaceship, he heads to Bulma's dad, a man known for fitting things inside small capsules.
  Roshi: Ok, but why Bulma's (house)?
  Goku: Well, I need a ship and Bulma's dad is a scientist.
  Roshi: I'm not even gonna begin to go into what is wrong with that.
The Spoony Experiment: Doctor Insano has "the power of science", which allows him to shoot lasers out of his hands. Presumably, all the other X-Sanos are equally gifted.

Omnidisciplinary Scientist
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