MovieChat Forums > Eureka (2006) Discussion > Did they name everyone after a scientist...

Did they name everyone after a scientist?

posted 10 years ago by joescuriosityshoppe
5 replies | jump to latest

I first noticed it when Congressman Faraday showed up, but it seems like all (or most) of the characters were named after scientists, physicists, and researchers. Now, it could just be a coincidence, but I made a little list:

Nathan Stark => Harold Stark (mathematician) or Tony Stark from Iron Man.
Allison Blake => Andrew Blake (scientist)
Henry Deacon => Glenn Deacon (physicist)
Deputy Jo Lupo => Anthony Lupo (professor of atmospheric science)
Zane Donovan => Charles Donovan (naturalist & medical researcher)
Beverly Barlowe => Peter Barlow (mathematician and physicist)
Jack Carter => Brandon Carter (theoretical physicist)
Dr. Trevor Grant => Paul Michael Grant (Physicist & Science Writer)
Eva Thorne => Kip Stephen Thorne (theoretical physicist)
Tess Fontana => Jake Fontana (Research Physicist)
Larry Haberman => Richard Haberman (mathematician at MIT)
Christopher Dactylos => Probably Daedalus (Ancient Greek craftsman and artist)
Callie Curie => Marie Curie (physicist and chemist)
Congressman Faraday => Michael Faraday (physicist and chemist)
Dr. Maria Leonardo => Leonardo da Vinci (scientist, inventor, & engineer)
Walter Perkins => Ed Perkins (mathematician)
Dr. Ethan Edison => Thomas Edison (inventor)
Dr. Fielding => Andrew Fielding Huxley (Nobel winning biophysicist)
Dr. Bell => Alexander Graham Bell (scientest & inventor)
Lily Hughs => Howard Hughs
Dr. Mendel => Gregor Mendel ("father of modern genetics")
Spencer Martin => Gordon Eugene Martin (physicist)
Isaac Parrish => John W. Parrish (president of Oklahoma Baptist University)
Dr. Sebastian Marx => possibly Karl Marx, or Leo Marx (professor at MIT)
Dr. Wilding => Nigel Wilding (Professor of physics)
Seth Osbourne => Louis S. Osborne (particle physicist)
Dr. Jacob Stefano => lots of physicist Stefanos; Stefano Profumo, Stefano Forte, Dr. Stefano Palomba, Stefano Liberati, Stefano Lepri, Stefano Sanguinetti, Stefano Pirandola, Stefano Osnaghi, Stefano Bonetti.

Any more?

[–] War_raW 9 years ago

Coincidence.

[–] persen1 9 years ago

Allison Blake => Andrew Blake (scientist)

Andrew Blake, is also the name of a porn director :-)

But jokes asside, i have always thought, that meny of the scientists in Eureka, are related to famous scientists, who began moving there in the late 1940s, because they wanted a place where they could work in peace.
In the pilot, you even see the first house they where suppose to have lived in, a huge Villa, who had become a part of Global Dynamics.

[–] LadyCatherine 9 years ago

And the pilot. "Thanks, Einstein, I knew that." "I'm an Oppenheimer. The Einsteins live in 4th."

I refuse to be outwitted by a 2-dimensional character in a cheap romantic thriller!

[–] skoobydoo6789 9 years ago

That wouldn't surprise me since the show is about a town full of scientists.

If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now.-Loki (Marvel's Avengers)

[–] GreyHunter 8 years ago

Some names, the most famous, are obviously intentional -- Edison, Einstein, Faraday, Curie, Mendel, etc -- but most of these seem like stretches. Few of them are particularly uncommon surnames and referencing scientists who just happen to have the same last names seems a bit quixotic at best (and president of Oklahoma Baptist seems even more of a stretch than most.) Stark, Blake, Carter, Grant, Perkins, Fontana (at least in southern Europe), and so forth -- they're not names that would grab your attention if you heard them called over the PA system in a store. The scientists you're naming are accomplished, to be sure, but hardly so famous that naming a character 'Carter' or 'Deacon' makes most people think of some university professor. I'm not saying it's not possible, but ol' William of Ockham would probably have a thing or two to say about the premise after a certain point. The primary purpose of naming a Eureka scientist "Edison" or "Oppenheimer" seems to get the audience to respond with, "Oh, hey, it's a character in a town based on science with the name of a famous scientist!" Like an in-joke. That doesn't work if few people in the audience would connect the character to a real-world person via a relatively common surname.

(If you really want to continue in this vein, though, "dactyl" is best known as a poetic term, which fits with the artistic element of Christopher Dactylos. Of course, "dactyl" actually means 'finger', most famously in 'pterodactyl', i.e. 'winged finger'. That could reference his use of his hands to create art.)