Nerd Girls Save The World: 17 Of Pop Culture’s Greatest Female Geeks

Noma Dumezweni as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter And The Cursed Child (Image by Charlie Gray)

17. Hermione Granger (Harry Potter)

Let’s get very real here: Harry and Ron wouldn’t have made it through the Harry Potter series alive if it weren’t for Hermione. The best thing they ever did was make friends with a girl who was, quite possibly, the smartest student in all of Hogwarts.

Hermione Granger (played by Emma Watson) always stuck out. She was Muggle-born, meaning that the wizarding culture of Hogwarts was initially pretty strange to her. Some students, like Draco Malfoy, were terrible enough to go out of their way to ruin her day.

However, she caught on quickly and soon became one of the top students in the school. She even became such a high-achiever that she was given a time turner and the ability to mess with time itself – all so she could take a few extra classes. If you’re like me, then the mere mention of a time turner makes your heart go pitter-patter.

She didn’t just let her intellectual power sit around in a classroom, however. Hermione knew when to take her big, beautiful mind and put it towards a greater cause. She prepared like crazy for the return of Voldemort and saved Harry, Ron, and other Hogwarts students on multiple occasions. If it weren’t for her, the entire events of the series would have been dramatically, tragically different.

Hermione is the nerd girl who took her substantial powers and put them to use in a very concrete way. In a world where many women feel that they need to be more vocal and politically active, Hermione is a valuable role model for girls and women alike.