E X T E N S I O N THE ROLE OF THE SCIENTIST Mad scientists also existed in ancient times in popular imagination: witch doctors1 and alchemists2, for example. Then during the Enlightenment3 the modern scientist appeared. In general he has strange behaviour and uses dangerous substances or strange methods. Among the most popular characters there is the famous alchemist Paracelsus, who wanted to create an artificial human, or Dr Faust, who sold his soul to the devil to have supernatural power, or Victor Frankenstein who wanted to create a perfect creature through strange experiments. The danger4 of uncontrolled scientific experimentation is the great question in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. As a consequence of his experiments, the protagonist of Stevenson s novel is a divided man: Dr Jekyll, a respectable scientist, and Mr Hyde, an evil human being that commits horrible acts. These scientists have other characteristics in common: the thirst5 for power and excessive ambition; they do not think about the moral aspects of their experiments; they are playing God because they want to be creators of new human beings; they stop having normal social relations; they have some academic title, usually Doctor or Professor; they will be punished in some way at the end. There are two aspects that scientific research6 has to consider: it can study the world to understand how it works and get benefits7 from this knowledge; it can study the world to exploit and manipulate nature. What is the role of morality and respect for nature in a scientist s experiments? 1. witch doctors: people that cure people using special magic powers. 2. alchemists: during the Middle Ages, persons that studied a type of chemistry that tried to change ordinary metals into gold and tried to find a medicine to cure any disease. 3. Enlightenment: the period in the 18th century in Europe, when many 4. 5. 6. 7. 46 people began to give more importance to science and reason than to religion and tradition. danger: risk, menace. thirst: strong desire. research: a careful study of a subject, especially in order to discover new facts or information about it. get benefits: have advantages.