If there is one archetype of character in fiction that can be solely the construct of the later 20th century, the nerd / geek / dork / dweeb is it. Obsessed with emerging technology, baseball cards, classic consoles or antique computers or driven by the love of inventing stuff for the fun of it, the nerd can often be the saviour of the day in books and films. The following list is ten of the most notable nerds from the world of movies.

1. David Levinson (Independence Day)

Played by Jeff Goldblum, David is two roles in one in this alien invasion film. On one hand he is the jilted lover whose ex-wife is working for a President (and David had accused the pair of having an affair). As the nerd who figures out what is going on, he must get to The White House in order to explain to Bill Pullman that he has discovered that the alien code is a countdown. Not content with saving the President’s neck, David goes on to save the world by designing a computer virus to upload to the mainframe of the alien mothership. He travels there with Captain Hiller (played by Will Smith) to deliver it.

2. Wayne Szalinski (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids)

The barmy inventor has tried for years to create a machine that would miniaturise and blow up objects, but without much success. While out seeking funding to continue his research, his kids and the kids from next door are shrunken when the vital part the machine was lacking drops in through the window, rendering it effective ‘ a baseball. They are promptly zapped and shrunk by the machine. After getting back to the house and realising what had happened, Szalinski works out how to make it all better again.

3. David (Wargames)

Nerds might save the world but they can also through their genius bring the world to the brink of extinction. This is what happened to the teenage protagonist of this 1980s teen action film. Young David uses his modem to connect to an unusual gaming system that he has discovered. He realises quickly that he has hacked the US military network and is playing out training scenarios for global conflicts ‘ including thermonuclear war. David saves the day in the end ‘ just as any good nerd does, even if the mess was his own cause.

4. Doctor Spengler (Ghostbusters)

The nerdiest of films from the 80s was a smash hit which featured four paranormal nerds. Even a group of nerds needs its own nerd and that is what was created in Doctor Spengler who was the group’s technical consultant, bookworm and expert on the paranormal and supernatural (even going as far as explaining the difference between the two). He lists some of his hobbies as collecting spores and fungus and is the love interest of the Ghostbusters receptionist/secretary until she falls madly in love with Rick Moranis character.

5. Daniel Jackson (Stargate)

Daniel Jackson is the Egyptologist brought in to the US military programme to understand the bizarre device that was found in Egypt in the 1920s but eventually found its way into the hands of the Nazis (like a lot of ancient technology!) His knowledge of Egypt put even Indiana Jones to shame and he got to visit another world as an expert witness to interpret the Egyptian colony. Jackson went on to become part of the SG1 team when a spin off series was commissioned a few years after the film.

6. Doc Brown (Back to the Future)

Marty McFly is the protagonist of the trilogy but arguably, he is just the muscle-work. None of the travelling exploits of the McFly family would have been possible without the invention of Doc Emmett Brown. By tinkering with a Delorean car, he was able to send Marty McFly to 1955, 2015 and finally back to 1855 where he found love in a woman who was almost as nerdy as he was. His nerd genius would prove limitless at the end of the third film when he constructed another time machine from a steam train.

7. Hermione Grainger (Harry Potter)

Every trio of friends needs a bookish one to educate us and the other friends and in the Harry Potter books, this comes in the form of the studious ‘muggle born’ Hermione. Determined to be the world’s best witch through the books that she cherishes, time and time again she has helped Harry and Ron out of a mess of their own making simply through the vast encyclopaedia that is her brain. What is most amusing is her developing romance with the totally un-studious Ron Weasley.

8. Peter Parker (Spiderman)

The ultimate nerd, photographer, writer and shy boy is the most unlikely hero of the comic books. But the film versions starring Tobey Maguire ups the nerd factor tenfold by turning him into a clumsy, overly bookish and socially inept young freelance photographer ever simpering after Kirsten Dunst’s Mary-Jane. After being bitten by a genetically enhanced spider, he is given special powers that all him to become Spiderman.

9. Michelle Flaherty (American Pie)

Jim Levenstein like any teenager is anxious about his lack of experience with girls. Unlike most of his friends, he hasn’t yet had a girlfriend, or even a kiss for that matter. Unable to capture himself one of the hotter girls at the school, he decides to try his luck with Michelle, the nerdy chatterbox. Part of a group of the school’s social outcasts who play classical music and do all sorts of other ‘uncool’ things, over time Jim falls in love with and then eventually marries Michelle.

10. Data Wang (The Goonies)

Another one of the ultimate teenage films of the 1980s will inevitably have the nerdy inventor type and in this film it comes in the form of this young Japanese nerd. After finding an ancient Spanish treasure map, Mikey ropes his friends into finding the treasure so that the families aren’t evicted from the dock area they live in. Hunted by an obligatory villainous gang, amongst the group is Data who is the inventor of the group. He saves the day several times with his bizarre gadgets.

Conclusion

Celebrate the nerds of Hollywood. The list above represents some of the finest examples of nerds in movie history, heroes as much as the brawny figures in film. Their love of the bizarre might make them the oddballs but they are a good natured bunch at heart. If you know a nerd, be kind to them because they might one day save the world.