This Week's Lesson in History

Maybe I'm just grumpy, but I heard another person talking about the "mad scientist bent on taking over the world," and I guess I snapped. So this week's lesson is a lesson in history.

Wikipedia's article under "World Domination" lists several individuals who were out to take over the world:

Cyrus II the Great, Alexander the Great, Ashoka the Great, Trajan, Genghis Khan/Kublai Khan, the Yongle Emperor, Philip II, Napoleon Bonaparte, Cecil Rhodes, Stalin, Hideki Tojo, Adolf Hitler.

I'm sure you can think of plenty more, but the point remains: Not one of them was a scientist.

Again taken from Wikipedia: "In actual history, Archimedes shares some of the elements of the mad scientist, but was closer to the more benign archetype of the absent-minded professor." Archimedes? We're afraid of Archimedes? The guy who "may have been killed while attempting to surrender to a Roman soldier"? Shakes head.

Dr. Strangelove is not real. So, where did the mad-scientist idea come from? And why is it so ingrained in our culture?

_{Not all my info comes from Wikipedia. Just today.}