Osric Whipple

Professor Osric Whipple was a human male, a famous civilian scientist in the Federation in the 23rd century.

A well-liked and amiable genius, Whipple was a physicist who specialized in electromagnetic energy fields. He invented the shield generator.

Biography
At some point prior to 2233, he invented the phaton, a deflector shield generator mechanism.

Prior to 2267, Whipple became a professor, and James T. Kirk and Whipple became acquainted. Whipple considered Kirk an old friend. Kirk was sympathetic to the professor, saying that his phaeton invention had saved his life many times. He had often warned Whipple about inadvertent side-effects from unorthodox experimentation.

Whipple eventually moved into a seaside mansion on the planetoid Quaraxus with space for laboratory equipment. By this time he had become well-known for his scientific achievements.

In 2267, while experimenting with a planetary defensive field to repel meteorites, he accidentally made the field too small, resulting in metallic objects being propelled away from Quaraxus into space. Sensors aboard the passing starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) detected the incident. After beaming down to Whipple’s house and finding the scientist unconscious, Spock deactivated the defense field equipment. Two security officers arrived to arrest Whipple for threatening public safety. Kirk and Spock beamed the professor aboard the Enterprise, protecting him until the situation calmed, and brought him along on their mission to the R-517 star system.

Later, Whipple inadvertently averted war between twin planets Arima and. While tinkering with a tricorder, he turned it into a personal transporter, but materialized in temples on both worlds at the moment their deities were predicted to appear. Both sides interpreted the materialization as a directive to go to war. In an attempt to undo his mistakes, he took off in the Galileo and devised a magnetic wall which immobilized both fleets. The energy field also had the effect of converting Whipple into a non-corporeal state, his voice transmitting via radio waves. He was again recognized as their deities, and his words taken as a directive to pursue peace. Montgomery Scott was able to adjust the transporter’s energy discharge bank and return Whipple to normal. 

Inventions

 * Deflector shield generator
 * Meteorite defense field (A device to create a planetoid-sized magnetic repelling effect)
 * Personal transporter or miniature transporter console (A rewired tricorder)
 * Magnetic wall (Shuttlecraft radio core wired to its astrogator redirected and reconstituted starship deflector shield energy)

Background

 * The deflector shield was invented prior to 2233 because the USS Kelvin (NCC-0514) had deflector shields when it was attacked by the Narada in 2233.