# Professor Gibberne — Short Fiction character guide

> Professor Gibberne in Short Fiction by H. G. Wells.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Gibberne

**First appearance:** 0070-the-new-accelerator

## Snapshot

A brilliant physiologist and neighbor in Folkestone who, seeking a nervous stimulant, invents the New Accelerator and revolutionizes human experience.

## Who they are

Gibberne is a celebrated researcher into drugs and the nervous system, a mighty jester with a Mephistophelean face who talks through his work with the narrator over pipes and whisky. He set out to find an all-round stimulant for languid people and instead found something that accelerates human life beyond anything he intended. His discovery is the story's engine, and his partnership with the narrator—part friendship, part experiment—gives the tale its intimate, wondering voice.

## In the story

### [The New Accelerator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/the-new-accelerator)

The inventor of the New Accelerator, a physiologist and chemist who seeks a universal nervous stimulant.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/characters/professor-gibberne
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/characters