Actor Patrick Stewart plays Captain Jean-Luc Picard.Credit: RGR Collection/Alamy
Researchers have joined Star Trek fans in mourning the death of Patrick Stewart, whose portrayal of Captain Jean-Luc Picard made the fictional starship captain a model of thoughtful, compassionate scientific leadership. Stewart died on October 28 at the age of 86.
Stewart played Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1987 to 1994 and appeared in several films in the series. As captain of the USS Enterprise, Picard led his crew on intergalactic missions in the 24th century, encountering new worlds and civilizations. For many scientists, the character represented the qualities of an effective scientific leader.
“His immediate thinking was to look at all angles and ask questions,” says Sarah Bickerton, a public policy researcher at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. More importantly, she says, Picard listened to his crew. He sought input from everyone, regardless of rank, before making decisions—a principle that influenced Bickerton’s own approach to leadership. She says she consults research assistants and graduate students on important decisions.
One film that influenced Bickerton was Star Trek: First Contact (1996). In the film, Picard travels back in time to the 21st century and explains that money does not exist in the future. “We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity,” Picard says.
“For scientists, it’s something that really resonates,” Bickerton says. “What drives us is to better ourselves and the rest of humanity through the quest for knowledge and just by learning and understanding.”
Other researchers have also drawn inspiration from Picard’s leadership style. In a 2025 interview with Kentucky Alumni magazine, Tracy Drane, a flight systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said the character demonstrated what a good leader should be.
“He was calm, polite and kind to everyone,” Drane said. “He encouraged his crew to think outside the box and supported them in what they needed to do.”
Picard’s influence
Scientists have also used social media to describe how Picard’s personality influenced their careers in science.
Jordan Harrison, a psychologist in Ann Arbor, Michigan, wrote on Bluesky that Picard and Star Trek: The Next Generation shaped their early interest in science and space, their love of astronomy, and the beginnings of an ethic of caring for people different from themselves. Harrison also associated the series with early memories of bonding with their father through popular culture, calling Stewart’s death “heartbreaking.”
Source: www.nature.com
