A Tribute to the Professor: GIF Guide to His Greatest 'Gilligan's Island' Inventions

RIP Russell Johnson, better known as the Professor on "Gilligan's Island." Always levelheaded, even as Gilligan's bumbling ruined escape attempt after escape attempt, he was the original MacGyver — rebuilding civilization with just some coconuts and bamboo.

The Professor understood that being stranded on a primitive jungle island didn't necessarily mean forgoing modern conveniences like sewing machines.


And a man without a blowtorch is hardly a man at all.


Here's an early version of your iPhone's rechargeable battery. What it lacks in portability, it more than makes up for by being the greenest technology there is.


"Gilligan's Island" was shot during the Cold War, when everybody was afraid of nuclear annihilation. So naturally, any scientist worth his salt knew how to build a Geiger counter out of bamboo.


Same went for lie detectors. Never knew who might be a Russian spy, after all.

He even built a telegraph powerful enough to interrupt signals from passing satellites. Again, an early version of iPhone technology, the plans for which, sadly, the Professor will take with him to the great desert island in the sky.


Please pour a coconut out for our dear friend, Russell Johnson.