Professor Calculus, also known as Cuthbert Calculus, was one of the funniest characters in the world of Tintin. Known as Professor Tryphon Tournesol (meaning: Sunflower) in French, his character was hard of hearing, leading to much hilarity as he misinterpreted conversations. For example: “fasten your seatbelt” is repeated as “a paint stain?” (a paint stain). Calculus never admits to being deaf and insists that he is only hard of hearing in one ear on Destination Moon. In the Moon book series, Cuthbert acquires a hearing aid that causes a change in character as he becomes more serious.

However, in later adventures, Professor Calculus loses his hearing aid and once again reverts to his old deaf self. Where he often gets distracted but invents many objects in the series. The most famous of these inventions are the one-man shark-shaped submarine, the moon rocket (it looks a lot like a V-2 rocket!), and an ultrasonic weapon (now used in modern warfare today). . Professor Calculus has a humane side and tries to benefit the world with inventions such as a cure for alcoholism that makes alcohol taste horrible to the patient. In recognition of the contributions made by Cáculus anti-drink pills, General Alcázar named Cuthbert a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of San Fernando with Oak Leaves in Tintin and the Rogues.

Captain Haddock often hates these inventions (he’s a bit of a drinker himself!), though Calculus often interprets this backwards due to his deafness. The Professor has a weakness: if someone (especially Haddock) calls him a goat. Or as the famous Captain Haddock put it in Destination Moon “acting like a goat”, the mild-mannered Professor Calculus went into a rage and gave rise to the famous response “Am I a goat?”, which for Tintin fans is the stuff of legend.

Cuthbert Calculus is a fervent believer in dowsing and carries a pendulum for that purpose. It’s hard to believe, but Calculus occasionally comments that he was a great sportsman in his youth, with a very athletic lifestyle. In Flight 714 he demonstrates his former love for the French martial art Savate rather poorly, which leaves the reader highly entertained.

Calculus first appears in Red Rackham’s Treasure and ended a long search for a type of mad professor that had led to the creation of previous characters such as Dr. Sarcophagus in Cigars of the Pharoh and Professor Alembick in King Ottokar’s Scepter. The character was inspired by the famous inventor of the bathyscaphe, Professor Auguste Piccard.