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Used as one of the most common excuses to let [[The Main Characters Do Everything]].
{{examples
== Anime & Manga ==
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* Peric in ''[[The Trigan Empire]]'' is the Omnidisciplinary Scientist par excellence. Initially an architect, he later builds a space rocket, invents a machine for turning men into intelligent water (!), discovers an elixir of youth, etc. etc.
* [[Disney Ducks Comic Universe|Ludwig van Drake]] has 999 diplomas, including one on diplomology.
* [[X-Men]] tried to subvert this and [[Zig Zagging Trope|ended up using it perfectly straight]] with Bolivar Trask, the anthropologist who first considered mutants a menace. Trask built the robotic Sentinels to protect mankind and, of course, they immediately [[Turned Against Their Masters|turned against him]] claiming to be his superiors. Professor X commented that this had happened because Trask was an anthropologist and not a robotic expert, and therefore had an inadequate knowledge of cybernetic brains. Building self-aware robots seems a heck of an accomplishment in cybernetics to me. Then again, [[Instant AI, Just Add Water|doing so seems particularly easy]] in the [[Marvel Universe]].
* The independent comic [[3]] has as one of the main characters "one of the last generalists, a dabbler in dozens of fields."
* [[Doctor Strange]] is the most powerful sorcerer in the Marvel universe and was one of the best neurosurgeons in the world prior to a car accident that left him with too much nerve damage to operate again. This presumably had no adverse effect on his actual knowledge of the field. In ''Doctor Strange: The Oath'' he mentions that he's maintained his medical license -- something which requires yearly certification and a certain number of hands-on hours.
* Belgian comic ''[[Jommeke]]'' has Professor Gobelijn, whose official title is 'Professor in EVERYTHING.' Too bad he is also the resident [[Absent
* [[Tintin (Comic Book)|Professor Calculus]] is apparently versed in engineering (he built a working submarine), astrophysics (the moon rocket), nuclear physics (the nuclear propulsion engine), acoustics (a sonic weapon) and pharmaceutical and oil chemistry (identified the substance that ensured [[Every Car Is a Pinto]] and created a pill that makes you hate the taste of alcohol).
* Professor Barabas from [[Suske En Wiske]] counts. The man can build futuristic machines (including a time machine, a machine for talking to inanimate objects and a machine that can bring persons from paintings and other imagers to life), and has extensive knowledge about various historical and scientific subjects (including astrophysics and genetic engineering).
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== Literature ==
* Subverted in the [[
* In [[John Ringo]] and Travis S. Taylor's ''[[Into the Looking Glass]]'' series, there is William "Bill" Weaver, a scientist with more degrees and doctorates than really make sense for someone his age, let alone getting in powered armor to fight Zerg-like aliens and {{spoiler|becoming the chief astrogator for a submarine-turned-spaceship}} in the second book. The only thing that makes any of it believable is the fact that Travis S. Taylor actually has about as many doctorates and the character is clearly modeled after him.
* [[Doc Savage]]: He was a physician, surgeon, scientist, adventurer, inventor, explorer, researcher, and a musician. And even though his team is made up of experts in their fields, only occasionally is Doc himself not better than they are. He's a better chemist than Monk, a better mechanical engineer than Renny, a better electrical engineer than Long Tom, and a better geologist than Johnny. Ham is the only one he doesn't outdo on a regular basis, leaving anything requiring the practice of law in his hands.
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** Davros, creator of the Daleks, tends towards this as well. Described by the Doctor as having the finest scientific mind in existence, he uses his mastery of genetic engineering and cybernetics to make his creatures, then subsequently shows enough aptitude for medicine to work for a while as "The Great Healer" and enough knowledge of physics to design a bomb which can cancel out the electrical field holding atoms together and cause [[Punctuated for Emphasis|THE DESTRUCTION! OF REALITY! ITSELF!]]
** Averted wonderfully in "Remembrance of the Daleks" when Allison is examining a soldier. When asked, "Is he all right?" she replies, "No idea, [[Not That Kind of Doctor|I'm a physicist.]]"
* Every version of ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' has at least one Omnidisciplinary Scientist and [[Open Heart Dentistry|Open Heart Dentist]], always justified by some means or another: [[The Next Generation]] had [[Super Prototype]] android Data, [[Deep Space Nine]] had [[Designer Babies|Designer Baby]] Doctor Bashir. The rest of the time they just called in a Vulcan, whose ''[[Planet of Hats|Hat]]'' seems to be "Omnidisciplinary '''''whatever I choose to study'''''", and an extensive amount of [[Backstory]] is devoted to justifying this. Vulcan neurochemistry has what would be in humans super-high levels of various hormones that facilitate learning, recall, analysis, and reflexes. They also result in [[Hot Blooded|hair-trigger tempers]]; prior to the coming of [[The Messiah|Surak]], they were even more violent than ''[[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Klingons]]''. His Message was that all problems were solvable through [[Awesomeness By Analysis]], whereas [[Don't Think, Feel]] would only lead to [[The End of the World As We Know It]]. He wasn't all that popular until he gained a [[Foil]], T'Pel, who basically executed the story of [[Fight Club]] [[Up to Eleven]], freaking the ''entire planet'' out so badly that they've followed him ever since. The Foil then left Vulcan to found a Planet Of Hats that have been the Vulcans' Foil ever since - the [[Magnificent Bastard|Romulans]].
** This is rather elegantly demonstrated in the J.J. Abrams ''[[Star Trek (Film)|Star Trek]]'' movie during the scene showing the Vulcan "learning pits." The schoolchildren are answering rapid-fire questions from many, many disparate disciplines, showing how Vulcan education is intensely omnidisciplinary from very early on.
*** Almost certainly a [[Call Back]] ([[Time Travel Tense Trouble|... whatever]]) to an early scene in ''Star Trek 4''. Spock, getting back in mental shape after his [[Back From the Dead|recent inconvenience]], sits at a computer effortlessly solving rapid fire science questions (and [[Smart People Play Chess|chess problems]]), only to be stumped when it asks "[[Straw Vulcan|How do you feel?]]"
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* ''[[The X-Files]]'': Dr Dana Scully sometimes comments on psychological issues despite the fact that it's ''Mulder'' who has the degree in this area.
* Natalie on ''[[Forever Knight (TV)|Forever Knight]]'', although she's the medical examiner, is represented as doing a variety of science stuff (although not much is shown onscreen) in attempting to understand vampire Nick Knight's condition and "cure" him.
* [[The Professor]] on ''~Gilligan's Island~'', by virtue of [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|his name]]. The only discipline he apparently neglected to learn was ship repair, no matter how many other engineering feats he performs.
* Charlie Epps from [[Numb3rs]] is a mathematics prodigy. Besides being an Omnidisciplinary Mathematician (he seems to know everything about every algorithm ever made) he also seems to be an expert on chemistry, sociology, computer programing and physics. The only reason that he needs such a wide variety of skills is that the team of FBI agents he works with are all [[Idiot Ball|idiots]].
** Charlie has the sort of knowledge in the computer and physical sciences that are required support for a mathematics degree at many universities. Really, Amita is the expert programmer and Larry the expert physicist ([[The Cameo|and Bill Nye]] the expert chemist).
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Such is his knowledge, he <br />
Isn't the man to require an apology! }}
** He is no scientist, but Major-General Stanley from ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]'' can tell you pretty much anything in any one of a number of fields of knowledge ''except'' for [[Modern Major
* One of the major motivations of Goethe's ''Faust'' 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.
** As said below though, far enough back in history one man ''could'' know all the scientific knowledge there was at that point.
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* In [[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. {{spoiler|It turns out it is three different women [[Collective Identity|using one costume]] who each bring their own skills to the table}}.
* [[Family Guy]]'s Stewie has mastered time travel, weather manipulation, robotics, cloning...and still isn't potty-trained. Oh yeah, he's also [[Da Vinci]].
* On ''[[The Simpsons]],'' [[Absent
* ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'': Egon is supposed to be a psychologist and parapsychologist. He is almost always a physicist (and paraphysicist) and mathematician as well. On top of that, depending on what the plot wants him to know, he's also a qualified engineer, microbiologist, evolutionary biologist, biochemist, chemist, entomologist, etc. And he still has time to be a mycologist in his spare time.
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[[Category:Intelligence Tropes]]
[[Category:Omnidisciplinary Scientist]]
[[Category:Trope]][[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
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