Chief Science Officer

Non-canonical termThis subject matter was never named by a canonical source. However, for the purposes of identification and clarity, the term Chief Science Officer has been provisionally adopted by the Wiki.

Isaac, likely the Chief Science Officer of the USS Orville, at his station on the Bridge.

Chief Science Officer is believed to be the lead position of the Science section on a Planetary Union vessel.

Existence of a Chief Science Officer

After years of speculation, actor Mark Jackson, who plays Isaac, independently confirmed that his character is the Chief Science Officer of the USS Orville. However, it has not been confirmed by a writer or producer with access to the show's Series Bible.

Additionally, a number of other factors strongly suggest that such a position does exist:

• All other Union sections have chief officers;
• Each section chief aside from the Chief Engineer had a work station on the Bridge, so it seems that the Bridge's science work station belonged to the ship's Chief Science Officer;
• Aside from his role as Emissary of the Kaylon, Isaac was treated as a departmental head by commmand and joined the senior staff for missions.
• Isaac supervised and commanded a staff of Science Officers, implying the existence of supervisory role.

For these reasons, Isaac was probably the Chief Science Officer on the USS Orville, although this is never explicitly stated in the show and he was described only as "Science and Engineering Officer" by Ed Mercer.

Role

Responsibilities included research and analysis of all strange or unexplained phenomena and data retrieved from sensor readings. The Chief Science Officer oftentimes assisted away teams. Chief Science Officers often work in conjunction with engineers to research important, unexplained happenings.

See also

• Captain
• Chief Engineering Officer
• Chief Medical Officer
• Chief Security Officer
• First Officer
• Second Officer