It's no surprise that speculative fiction often cherishes the science above all else. So, it makes sense that often, the characters at the center of these stories are scientists. Even in Mary Shelley’s novel, the book many argue was one of the first science fiction stories ever, Dr. Frankenstein’s scientific endeavors to overcome death were the entire focus of the premise.
As our understanding of science has evolved, so have the fictional scientists written in our stories. Whether it involves exploring the deep reaches of space or traveling to the depths of the ocean, there is still plenty of scientific wonder to spark our collective imaginations. Here are seven science fiction novels featuring main characters who are scientists.
Pandemonium
Carved under the Ural Mountains in the darkest hours of the Cold War, an underground city discovered ancient life-forms forced to exist and evolve deep beneath the surface. Biologists Nell and Geoffrey Binswanger first encountered these creatures years ago, when they threatened to escape their subterranean prison and engulf the planet. They barely survived. But when a vicious Russian tycoon lures them back, they realize that the creatures didn’t die. They evolved even more. Now, this new species won’t stop until the planet is consumed.
The Memory Painter
International artist Bryan Pierce has an unusual secret to his success. Every night he has a vivid dream and when he wakes up, he has a new extraordinary skill. Neurogeneticist Linz Jacobs is determined to unlock the secret of where the brain stores memory. When she begins to have a recurring nightmare of one of Bryan’s shows, she hunts the elusive artist down. Their meeting triggers one of Bryan’s most vivid dreams about a lab explosion years earlier killing a team of scientists on the verge of discovering a cure for Alzheimer’s. Bryan and Linz dig into the dream, uncovering a pattern without realizing that someone is watching them. Someone who wants the past to stay buried.
Deep Black Sea
When funding is pulled from the space program to build a deep-sea station in record time, a crew of seven is sent more than three miles below the surface of the ocean for the first year-long mission. Former NASA scientist Ted Bell is one of the seven. His ultimate goal is space, and a rare deep-sea bacterium just might be the key to make his research a reality. And if he has to sacrifice a few of his crew to do it? Fine. But when he infects them with the bacteria, a strange metamorphosis takes place. Trapped at the bottom of the ocean with two transformed beings, Ted and the rest of the crew are faced with the chilling reality that to survive, they have to kill the creatures that were once their friends.
Aftermath
After an economic depression, a devastating earthquake, and the assassination of a black President-elect, the United States is a war zone. Millions are homeless and both famine and disease run rampant. But in Chicago, a strange voice is heard. For a former NASA scientist, it sounds like his wife, the one he couldn’t save. For a Lakota medicine man, it speaks of peace and unification. And to an orphan girl, it just might be her mother reaching out to tell her she’s still alive. Three strangers are brought together for a purpose they can’t yet know. One that involves a woman who just might be the key for humanity’s future.
The Three-Body Problem
In 1967, an astrophysicist witnessed her father get beaten to death amid China’s cultural revolution. It’s an event that not only shapes her, but the fate of mankind. Forty years later, scientists are dying. The cause of death is always ruled a suicide, but the situations are shrouded in mystery. Police ask nanotech engineer Wang Miao to infiltrate a secret cabal of scientists to find the answers. But his investigation leads him to a mysterious video game with an even more mysterious world at its center. This game holds not just the answers to the suicides at its core, but the threat to humanity’s survival—the one they don’t know they’re facing.
The Calculating Stars
When a meteorite obliterates most of the East Coast in the spring of 1952, it becomes obvious that Earth is not going to be hospitable for humanity. Facing the same threat as the dinosaurs, the best minds are called to action to figure out how to colonize the stars. Elma York is one of those minds. A WASP pilot and mathematician, she earns her spot as a human calculator trying to solve the problem of putting mankind on the moon. But Elma knows she deserves more. She sets out to become the first Lady Astronaut with a drive that threatens to dismantle even the most arduous social conventions determined to keep her in place.
Project Hail Mary
Ryland Grace wakes up facing an absolute worst-case situation. For one, he’s on a spaceship. For two, he has no idea why—he can’t even remember his own name, let alone whatever mission he’s on. For three, the rest of the crew are dead.
Slowly, his ability to perform math and science come back to him, as does the nature of his assignment. Only, without anyone to help him, he faces a nearly impossible task. And if he fails, he dooms all of planet Earth. The worst part is there’s no one within light years to help… or is there?
Featured image: Unsplash / NASA
