Roy Hinkley

Living… on an uncharted desert isle three hours off the coast of Honolulu. His expertise in botany led him to sign up for a three-hour boat tour off the Hawaiian coast in order to work on his book Fun with Ferns.

Profession… high school teacher, researcher, scientist, and well-known scoutmaster in Cleveland, Ohio. While he paid the bills by teaching high school, his main passion was his research. He was hoping to work on a book about ferns while on the voyage and since becoming stranded on the island has continued his lab experiments.

Interests… academia. Apart from his proficiency in science, the Professor is also well versed in law, literature, social sciences and the arts. He has a list of degrees from a variety of universities, including USC, UCLA, SMU, and TCU. He’s a skilled chess player and apparently a scuba diver. He enjoys reading academic journals as well as contributing articles derived from his independent research.

Relationship Status… single, seemingly by choice. The Professor seems to be utterly inept in areas of romance. He is oblivious to Ginger and Mary Ann’s constant advances towards him, and only engages in romantic discussion to prove wider philosophical points. While he enlists Ginger as his lab assistant and revels in their sexual tension, he never pursues anything seriously, focusing on his experiments instead.

Challenge… solving whatever problems arise on the island. On the island, his main role is coming up with ways to make island life easier, using little more than coconuts, bamboo, and the books he brought with him. Along with his practical knowledge, he conveniently uses these books to find exactly the facts they need to fix whatever problems arise. He engineers pulleys that can conduct electricity on the island, making everyone’s life a whole lot easier. Although he can invent and build just about anything, somehow he is unable to fix the hole in the SS Minnow and save these poor souls four years of misery.

Personality… rational and calm. The Professor is consistently shown to be the most neutral and levelheaded of the castaways. He shows more patience with Gilligan’s clumsiness than the other castaways and is often the voice of reason during internal disputes. He’s comfortable taking a leadership position and is generally well trusted by the others.  He stays out of the drama and gets the job done.