Answer: Felix the Cat

When the long-running comic strip Felix the Cat was adapted into a television cartoon in 1959, a host of new characters were brought in to round out the comic’s cast and provide consistent friends and foils for the quirky animated cat.

Among those characters was a young boy named Poindexter. Poindexter was extremely brilliant (with an IQ of 222), socially awkward, and a stereotypical nerd through and through–right down to the Coke-bottle glasses. Through his repeated appearances in the show, his name became associated with the nerd-scientist trope he portrayed and poindexter entered the English language as synonymous with someone who is extremely studious and awkward.