(Image via Jay Pinkerton)
"My question to the audience: what kind of scientist is Batman?" (Ben Cohen)
Scienceblogger responses below:
Afarensis
Obviously, he is a forensic scientist...
The World's Fair (Dave Ng)
I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and suggest that Batman is (amongst other things) a "bat scientist." This, I think, would make him a chiropterist, since Bats belong to the family Chiroptera (greek for "hand-wing"). I can imagine Mr. Wayne going to his fancy cocktail parties and providing all manner of banter and trivia on bats, all the while chuckling to himself and thinking, "the fools." Anyway, whatever discipline he falls under, at the very least he could do with some counseling - that dude has issues.
Note: There's actually a North American Symposium on Bat Research in North Carolina coming up in October. Maybe, Mr. Wayne is a keynote?
Discovering Biology in a Digital World
Holy Moly! What kind of scientist are you, Batman? This important question, posed by Benjamin Cohen of The World's Fair, is one that cannot be ignored. And, most importantly, can be quickly answered.... (more)
Adventures in Ethics and Science
"That's Dr. Batman to you, evil doer!" Ben at The World's Fair asks what kind of scientist Batman is. (Of course, he does this after producing something like reliable testimony that Batman is a scientist to begin with.) Sandra Porter makes the case that he's a geneticist,... (more)
Pharyngula
The "What kind of scientist is Batman" problem. This new strange question is sweeping the scienceblogs: "what kind of scientist is Batman?" The answer is obvious.... (more)
Respectful Insolence
Batman's no scientist.
Now Reed Richards, there's a scientist. ;-)
Uncertain Principles
Ask a ScienceBlogger: Cartoon Edition What sort of scientist is Batman? (more)
Scienceblogs.com (Tim)
OT: I don't know what kind of scientist Batman is, but his religious affiliation is Episcopalian/Catholic (lapsed). http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_book_religion.html
Over 100 comments to be found at Pharyngula, The World's Fair, Uncertain Principles, and this Comic Book Forum.
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For an overall title, I'm going to vote with Afarensis for "forensic science".
We can be sure he knows plenty about chemistry, biology, botany, entomology, medicine and other fields related to the study of crime scenes (he's so good that he can collect evidence after ther police have stomped all over the scene, or else collect evidence without damaging the scene before the police arrive).
In addition, he obviously has studied psychology, anthropology, geography, geology, architecture and history.
Some might fault him for an inadequate grasp of developmental psychology, considering how Dick Grayson and Jason Todd turned out, but remember what messes they were when they came to him.
Areas he's probably weak on include particle physics, astronomy and mathematics.