Professor Hubert Farnsworth
Professor Hubert Farnsworth is the extremely elderly proprietor of the Planet Express delivery service in the animated television series Futurama. The only living relative of Philip J. Fry (he is his great-great-...-great-grand-nephew -- the descendant of Philip's only sibling and brother, Yancy Fry), the Professor is pushing the limits of even 31st century old age at about 160. The episode "A Clone of My Own" gives his birthday as April 9, 2841.
Character
The Professor roughly amounts to a mad scientist, with the same last name as Philo Farnsworth. He has taught at Mars University and worked for Mom Corp, but he currently spends his time inventing ridiculous devices and coming up with even more ridiculous missions for his crew. Some of his inventions end up threatening the fate of the universe; others are used to secure it. Some notable gadgets include the Smelloscope, the Death Clock, and the What-If Machine. He also invented the Doomsday Machine, which got him a Nobel Prize in Physics for creating it and a Nobel Peace Prize for not using it. Whilst at Mom Corp, he fell in love with the evil overlord CEO, Mom.
The Professor is characterized by his catch-phrase "Good news everyone!" frequently followed by very bad news -- often one of his semi-suicide missions.
Inventions
- What-if machine - Answers any what-if question, accurate to within 1/10 of a plausibility unit.
- Albino shouting gorilla - To shout out his love for Mom from rooftops.
- Superhuman Mutant Basketball Team - Instead of using accelerated growth, he harvested chronotons. The results nearly destroyed the space-time continuum.
- Dark matter engine.
- Afterburners - 200% efficiency.
- Main Engines - They move the universe around the ship instead of moving the ship through the universe. Unknown if these are the same as the dark matter engines.
- F-ray - Similar to an X-ray except it can look through anything, even metal. "You might feel a slight tingling sensation, all of you."
- Anti-pressure pill - a rectal suppository.
- Universal translator - Translates from any language into French, which is a dead language in the year 3000.
- Clonomat - Clones organisms.
- Smell-o-scope - Allows the users to smell odors from astronomically long distances.
- The Maternifuge - An alien cross species genetic analyser that spins at 10,000 RPM to determine a subject's mother. Dr. Zoidberg lives in it.
- A device that lets anyone sound exactly like him - used by Dwight and Qubert to send the crew on a fake delivery to Dogdoo 8.
- Electric frankfurter.
- A clock that tells the user how long they have to live when a finger is inserted.
- A machine that creates glow-in-the-dark noses that can be placed on one's face. A by-product of the machine is a large amount of toxic waste.
Cubert
Hubert cloned himself in 2989 from skin cells on a growth on his back. The product, his son Cubert, is less enthusiastic about taking over the Professor's work when he's gone. Cubert goes to school with Hermes' son Dwight.
Production
Professor Farnsworth is voiced by Billy West, who also voices Fry, Dr. Zoidberg and Captain Zapp Brannigan. He is probably named after Philo Farnsworth, often hailed as the inventor of television (although claims are also made for John Logie Baird).