by Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D.

Dr. Quantum was created in 1979 as Captain Quantum. He first appeared at the Wilshire Ebell theater in Los Angeles when I was an opening act for the opening stage appearance of Timothy Leary who was recently released from jail. I came out in costume and did some stage magic using strobe lights and other effects to show how quantum physics plays a role in life. The super hero image of Dr. Quantum was then drawn by an artist from the now defunct magazine called (I believe) "Future."

When the Bleep movie was made, Will Arntz had the idea of using Captain Quantum on the cover of the comic book held by the young boy in the movie, but decided to change the name to Dr. Quantum because "Captain Quantum" was already taken and used as a trade mark. (Ed. Note: Strangely enough, when Will hired an artist to draw the front of the comic book for the film, although he had never met or seen pictures of Fred or any of the original images of Captain Quantum, the artist came up with a picture of Dr. Quantum for the Flatland cover and Flatland animation that bore an uncanny resemblance to... you know who.)

During my early days, I was always intrigued by the idea that magic and quantum physics seem to fit together like hand and glove, and I had always had an interest in performance magic as a child and young man. So it wasn't too difficult to develop the idea of a character Dr. Quantum which, as you all know, is in my own image.

Betsy Chasse then approached me about doing a series of books, movies, or TV shows using the character. Because I wish to encourage teenagers in realizing that physics, and in particular quantum physics, is really a lot of fun, I agreed to help develop the character in a series of stories with her publishing company, Elora Media.

I see Dr. Quantum as an alter ego--someone who chooses to do good, especially for those of us who feel incapable of understanding science or math. I also see him as someone who needed to overcome obstacles in his own life to become the super hero he appears to be. These obstacles parallel my own, for example, my suffering from severe stammering as a child. Just as I achieved overcoming that obstacle to become a public speaker, I hope to have Dr. Quantum also stand for the person who can overcome any obstacle as a role model for growing children.