Basic Trope: A scientist who survived the apocalypse and might be able to fix things.
- Straight: Survivors Bob and Alice meet Dr. Science, a scientist who was working at the medical institute that accidentally created The Plague. He asks for help while he tries to make a cure.
- Exaggerated: Survivors Alice and B'ob find Intern Science, the one remaining person in the universe who has any kind of science experience. He asks for help while he tries to make a cure.
- Downplayed: Survivors Alice and Bob meet a small conclave of people with varying levels of scientific experience. They ask for help while they try to make a cure.
- Justified: Scientists often work in isolated, secured labs that would be safe from a global disaster.
- Inverted:
- Only one person on the planet is not a scientist.
- The Plague specifically kills intellectuals, particularly scientists.
- Subverted:
- Survivors Bob and Alice find a hospital and hear noises. Investigating, they find a scientist scribbling notes on a chalkboard about ideas for a cure...but when he turns around, his face is covered in the sores The Plague causes, telling them that he's terminal and delusional.
- The scientist they find deliberately created The Plague and has no intention of helping.
- Double Subverted:
- ...But he's still just lucid enough to create a cure that works.
- He was a Well-Intentioned Extremist trying to reduce the population, and the amount of suffering he witnesses convinces him to make a Heel–Face Turn.
- Parodied: Dr. Science is a dentist in the middle of a Zombie Apocalypse created by magically-empowered Nano Machines. He still figures out a solution to save the whole human race that involves brushing your teeth three times a day and eat lots of yogurt.
- Zigzagged: ???
- Averted: No scientists appear in the work at all.
- Enforced: The author originally didn't have a surviving scientist, but the producer wanted a "Ray of Hope" Ending rather than a straight-up downer and required that he leave the possibility of a cure open.
- Lampshaded:Bob: If we're lucky, maybe we'll find someone who can analyze this plague and cure it.
- Invoked: When the authorities realize the apocalypse is imminent, they spirit the world's most competent scientist away to a safehouse, hoping that he'll find a way to save civilization.
- Exploited: Charlie poses as a scientist in order to get rescued by Bob and Alice, knowing they'd abandon him if he wasn't seemingly useful.
- Defied: Dracone, a Misanthrope Supreme, kills every scientist he can find as the apocalypse progresses.
- Discussed: Dr. Science introduces himself to Alice and Bob as "the doctor who won the survival lottery".
- Conversed: ???
Oh, wonderful! Now that we've found the Sole Surviving Scientist, there's hope for this wiki!
