Geek. What does the word geek conjure up in your mind? At one time it meant a carnival performer biting the head off of a live chicken. Thank goodness the word has evolved. From dictionary.com a geek is,
Nowadays, the word has evolved even more… now being a geek is a cool thing. And take it from me – sexy! According to urbandictionary.com a geek is,
After conducting an informal poll (of family and friends), and pulling from my own list of geeks that I love – here is a list that is in no particular order… the geekiest of the geeks and why we love them:
ENTREPRENEUR GEEKS
Bill Gates – is the quintessential geek. He has an above average intelligence, a “computer” geek – as the co-founder of Microsoft. And consistently one of the world’s wealthiest people. Why we love him? For the influence he has had on the 20th century and his philanthropy work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. You got to love him for his humanitarian efforts.
Steve Jobs – the co-founder and CEO of Apple is the perfect geek. And if you are a Mac or iPhone user you appreciate his geekness. Jobs makes being a geek cool with his visionary outlook. Not to mention there is a Steve Jobs’ plush doll. How sexy is that?
Steve Wozniak – the “Other Steve” is the co-founder of Apple along with Jobs. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He does lots of philanthropy work and has a cuddly teddy bear persona. Not to mention he’s dated funny woman, Kathy Griffin and danced with the sexy Karina Smirnoff on Dancing With the Stars last season… every man’s dream – geek or not.
John Carmack – founder of id Software and game programmer is one of the most lovable geeks if for no other reason but that he pioneered the first person shooter, in games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake. He has brains and is a bit of a “bad” boy… getting arrested when he was fourteen for breaking into a school and stealing Apple II computers. He was sentenced to a year in a juvenile home. Regardless, no one today could deny his influence in the technology and gaming fields.
INTERNET GEEKS
Peter (Pete) Cashmore – founded Mashable, one of the top 10 blogs in the world according to the blog ranking service Technorati. Cashmore has his finger on the pulse of what’s new and hot on the web. And I must confess – he isn’t bad on the eyes. Definitely one of the sexiest geeks.
Guy Kawasaki – once upon a time he was responsible for marketing the Macintosh as an Apple employee but today he’s best known for the RSS aggregator, Alltop, a well-known blogger and active Twitter user – @GuyKawasaki – with over 174,000 followers. Guy is the geek with the biggest and brightest smile.
Kevin Rose – co-founded the user controlled community-based news website, Digg. He is said to have sunk his money (that was for a deposit on a house for him and his girlfriend) in Digg… a very old school “geek” thing to do. You can also catch him in his weekly podcast, Diggnation – which summarizes the top stories submitted by Digg users.
How could you not digg this geek?
POLITICAL GEEKS
Barack Obama – the most famous political geek is the POTUS. Obama is a Star Trek fan. He is Internet savvy. He’s on Twitter and loves his Blackberry. He is responsible for getting a young generation interested in politics. He is one of the most powerful geeks… he has even being referred to as “Commander in Geek”.
Ralph Nader – a former candidate for the POTUS, an Independent, member of the Green party, political activist and most importantly a consumer advocate who has spent much of his adult life working to protect the environment. That’s lovably geeky to me.
HISTORICAL GEEKS
Albert Einstein – often referred to as the father of modern physics, Einstein was a geek before being a geek was cool. A genius of such a degree that upon his death and during his autopsy, the pathologist of Princeton Hospital removed Einstein’s brain (without permission from the family) for preservation, in hopes that neuroscientists of the future would discover what made him so intelligent. Now that’s pretty darn geeky.
Leonardo Da Vinci - was an artist, mathematician, inventor, scientist, engineer, painter, sculptor, architect, writer… just to name a few, and was in my opinion, the most multi-talented (gifted) person to have ever lived. No person past or present could equal his geekness. You know the question “who would you love to have dinner with, past or present?”… he is someone I would love to sit down to dinner with.
Sir Isaac Newton – was and still is, one of the most influentual men in history. His genius only rivaled by that of the two aforementioned great men in history, was without a doubt a geek. Possibly most famous for Newton’s Apple – where he said he was inspired to formulate his theory of gravitation after watching an apple fall from a tree… yeah, that’s what most of us would have thought of as well. His contribution to mathematics and mechanics is unparalleled. And I feel all geeky just saying all this. If Newton were alive today, he would be one of the geekiest of the geeks.
FAMOUS (and REAL) GEEKS
Seth Green – is probably the geekiest actor… an honor I’m sure he wouldn’t begrudge. Green is from appearances, I think, the typical geek. I personally think he is one of the coolest geeks. Not only is he smart but he’s funny… two qualities that make a geek – sexy. He is one of the hardest working geeks too, working consistently since 1984 in film and/or TV. Currently he is co-creator and producer of the stop motion TV series Robot Chicken, for which he provides many voices.
Jeff Goldblum – an actor that often times plays roles of geeky or well… strange characters. He has awkward mannerisms and a quirky personality. Goldblum is a geek that more times than not gets roles as geeks. Recently a rumor started on Twitter that he died… and if it was on Twitter it must be true. And being a good sport he appeared on the Colbert Report to eulogize his own death – very funny! I’ll always remember him as Seth Brundle (a geek) in The Fly.
Prince – is one of the greatest musicians of all time. Prince Rogers Nelson is a musical geek. And one of the sexiest geeks of all. He is a shy, awkward guy. To many he is a strange little man but Prince is a musical genius. He also enjoys using technology in the making of his music. I will confess that I enjoyed the pre-symbol Prince the best. And still to this day… Purple Rain is one of my favorite albums.
Wil Wheaton – not only played a geek on TV as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation but is a geek in real life. He blogs and has been open and honest about his insecurities. A writer who made a connection with geeks because he made them feel like he was one of them.
Rainn Wilson – is an actor who has played so many geeky characters that he has to be a geek in real life. From the eccentric Arthur Martin, the intern at Fisher & Diaz Funeral Home on HBO’s Six Feet Under to the egocentric Dwight Schrute in The Office, one would think that Wilson must be a geek. Wilson also has the classic geek look. As annoying as Dwight Schrute can be you can’t help but love him. In real life Rainn Wilson is a Twitter user – @rainnwilson – with over 1.4 million followers... that’s a much loved geek.
FICTIONAL GEEKS
Mr. Spock – one of the first geeks on TV in Star Trek – Mr. Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, gave geeks someone to look up to. Maybe it was his ears? Or his infamous one-liners? Or his geeky haircut? Whatever the reason… the Vulcan Science Officer gave “geeks” a good name.
Daniel Faraday – played by Jeremy Daniels is the nervous physist from Lost (a geek lover’s dream). Daniel is the youngest doctor to ever graduate from Oxford. He is a gifted scientist who would actually loved music more. He dabbled in time-travel experiments (which resulted in some memory loss)… now how can you get any geekier than that?
Sheldon Cooper – is a prodigy on The Big Bang Theory (portrayed by Jim Parsons). Sheldon has a Master’s degree and 2 PhDs. Sheldon also attempted to build a nuclear reactor at a young age in order to provide free electricity for his town. That screams geek to me! Sheldon is the textbook definition of geek – he has an inflated ego, social ineptness, and an inability to identify emotionally with others.
Dr. Walter Bishop – a character from The Fringe (another geek’s dream show), is portrayed by John Noble. Dr. Bishop, a research scientist with an I.Q. of 196 is one of the quirkiest geeks – and someone I would love to spend time with. The backstory of Dr. Bishop on Fringewiki.fox.com is one of the strangest/funniest I’ve ever read,
Frankenstein mixed with Albert Einstein. Formerly employed by the US Government as a Top Secret Research Scientist. Spent 17 years in a mental hospital after an “incident” in his lab supposedly cost the life of one of his assistants. Found mentally unable to stand trial, he has been isolated for 17 years. Recently freed to help authorities investigate the PATTERN, as many of the incidents greatly resemble several of the research projects he originally worked on.
Steven Urkel – played by Jaleel White on Family Matters was an exaggerated geek. Urkel was highly intelligent but annoying and clumsy. He was viewed as the underdog so he developed a big fan base. He coined the catchphrase, “Did I do that?” in a very nasally voice. He was a young inventor and even developed a way to change his DNA in a serum that would turn him from geek to cool. I think he eventually realized that being a geek is/was cool.
Hiro Nakamura – is the unlikely hero on the show Heroes. Superbly acted by Masi Oka, Hiro, a computer programmer (and after the death of his father), CEO of Yamagata Industries, is one of the most lovable geeks. He is an “evolved” human who can bend space and time. He was as surprised as anyone he had this gift and most definitely uses it for good.
Dr. Who – yes there has been 10 Dr. Who’s, soon to be 11. In essence all The Doctors are geeks, but for this article, when I refer to The Doctor, it is David Tennant that I will be envisioning. The Doctor is an eccentric alien traveler of great intelligence who battles injustice while exploring time and space in an unreliable old time machine called the TARDIS, an acronym for Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space. Come on, how can you be any geekier? FYI: The show, Dr. Who can boast that it is the longest running science fiction show in the world.
I Kiss You Guy – wasn’t a character on TV or film but on the Internet. He became an Internet celebrity in 1999 with his website ikissyou.org. The “I Kiss You” guy is actually Mahir Cagri, who claimed that Sacha Baron Cohen used his likeness in his Borat character. Cagri was very smart in realizing he was creating an Internet phenomenon with the geeky “I Kiss You” guy character. He pretty much faded in 2005… but I heard a rumor that he may be making a comeback.
Remember, just like “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”… so is geekness. My geek may not be your geek. The one thing for sure that these geeky guys all have in common is they’re intelligent, ambitious and cute, handsome and sexy in their own way.
I know there are so many more geeks out there we love. I would love it if you would share your favorite geeks with us.
So past or present, real or fictional who is YOUR favorite geek(s)?
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Awesome list – happy to see Walter Bishop on there. Well identified.
No Linus Torvalds? WTH?!
[...] week I talked about ‘Geek Guys and Why We Love Them’. So I figure turnabout is fair play and this week we’ll give the geek gals their [...]