Elias Giger Doctor Elias Giger was a Human research scientist during the late - 24th century . He spent his life studying death and ways to avoid it . Giger proposed that death followed from cellular boredom , the body literally being bored to death at the cellular level due to the monotonous routine of metabolizing and dividing . By his own account , he was laughed at and hounded out of the halls of the scientific establishment , and had to scrounge and beg for materials for his research . After Dr . Bathkin ' s untimely death in a shuttlecraft – an incident which Giger blamed on the " soulless minions of orthodoxy " – Giger heard the clarion call of destiny and began pursuing Bathkin ' s work on " energizing " cells . After fifteen years of tireless effort , by 2373 he had nearly completed work on his cellular regeneration and entertainment chamber , a device that would effectively grant immortality by reenergizing the s of a person ' s body . According to Giger , the secret to immortality lay in keeping the cells " entertained " . While at Deep Space 9 in late 2373 , Giger purchased a selection of antique objects that included a 23rd century ion - transtator , which he used for his entertainment chamber . Among the other objects in the lot was a 20th century baseball card , which he traded to Jake Sisko and Nog in exchange for a selection of special equipment and materials . Around the same time , Weyoun , also on DS9 and happened to have quarters directly above him on the station , observed that Giger was running experiments with highly charged polaric particle s . He abducted him as well as Jake and Nog to understand if there was some larger motive . Seeing Jake and Nog innocent , he let them go , but Giger stayed as Weyoun was interested in his work , thanks to his own background in " creative genetics " . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Doctor Giger was played by recurring " Star Trek " guest actor Brian Markinson . His costume comprising a long - sleeved tunic , light - brown vest , dark - gray woollen jacket with multi - colored flecks and matching overall - style trousers was later sold off in the It ' s A Wrap ! sale and auction for $ 255 . 00 . During his introduction scene , the final script for describes Giger as , " " . . . a Human male in his early forties sitting at the edge of the crowd . He gives his closest neighbor a worried look and moves his chair a little further away from the crowd . Giger doesn ' t like being the center of attention and wishes they ' d all just stop looking at him . " " This would place his year of birth somewhere between roughly 2328 and 2333 . Although no practical diagnosis was made , Giger seemed to be a classic " mad scientist , " suffering from acute obsession and paranoia . In the original script , the character had a different name . It was only when writer Ronald D . Moore got to the exchange between Nog and Jake in Act IV , that he decided to change it to Giger to rhymn with the word " tiger " . " " When I wrote that line , ' We ' re going to beard a lion in its den , " ' " he explained , " " I wanted a joke to follow . From ' lion ' , my mind went to the bear , the teddy bear that I ' d already established in the script and then I realized that I needed to find something that ryhmned with tiger . . . tiger , miger , giger - " Doctor " Giger ! " " ( " " , p . 466 ) Doctor Giger ' s Cellular Regeneration and Entertainment Chamber was a rented personal sauna . " " I saw it three or four years ago at Modern Props , " " explained Set Decorator Laura Richarz . " " Just this big egg - shaped thing . It was so weird , I took a picture of it and it was one of those things I kept in my head because it was so unique . I knew that someday we ' d find the perfect use for it . " " ( " " , p . 467 - 468 ) The inspiration behind the machine came from Ronald D . Moore . " " I had to figure out what the insane obsession of the mad scientist was . Ira [ Steven Behr ] had come up with the idea that perhaps he was trying to bring his wife back to life , and all he had was her nose or her ear and he was going to recreate her from that . " " Moore tried to incorporate this idea into the script but quickly found it wasn ' t working . " " As René [ Echevarria ] later pointed out , if this guy really was trying to bring his wife back to life , the audience would start to sympathize with him on some level . You ' d want him to succeed , and that would make this a different story . " " It was Echevarria who suggested having Giger searching for a way to become immortal but Moore wasn ' t so sure that idea would work either . After discussing the issue with Behr , Moore hit upon the idea of " cellular ennui " , the concept that one literally can be bored to death . " " And that worked ! " " exclaimed Moore . " " He starts talking and you buy into it for a little while , and as you ' re listening it begins to sound kind of wacky , but you hear a lot of wacky stuff on " Star Trek " , but then eventually you start to think , ' Wow , this is really twisted . " ' " ( " " , p . 468 ) Similarly , in their review of " In the Cards " , authors Mark Jones and Lance Parkin wrote , " " The preposterous concepts work simply because they stick with it so persistently . The concept of cellular ennui - where you are literally bored to death - is so ludicrous it ' s worth an award . " " ( " Beyond the Final Frontier " , p . 243 ) When asked by a fan if Doctor Giger ' s device would ever expose a weakness in the Vorta or Jem ' Hadar , Ronald D . Moore jokingly replied , " " Dr . Geiger ' s Cellular Regeneration and Entertainment Chamber has much higher aspirations than helping the Federation against the Dominion - he ' s after immortality itself ! ! " " " " A biography of Giger was included in the sleeve notes for the DS9 Season 5 UK VHS release of " In the Cards " .