Alexander Hilbert

## Biographical information

### Aliases

Dr. Elias Selberg
Dmitri Ilyich Volodin (given name)

### Occupation

Chief science officer (formerly)
Chief medical officer

### Relationships

Unknown older siblings
Olga (sister)

## Appearances

### Portrayed by

Zach Valenti

**Dr. Alexander Valentin Hilbert** is a research scientist aboard the Hephaestus, secretly studying the effects of a man-made virus called Decima on the human body.

## Biography

### Early life

Born Dmitri Ilyich Volodin, Hilbert grew up near Volgograd, Russia. He was one of the youngest of several siblings, along with his sister Olga. He doesn't remember his other siblings well as they succumbed to radiation poisoning following the Volgograd meltdown. The meltdown occurred when Hilbert was four years old, leaving him bald before the age of five. The last of Hilbert's family died when he was nine years old.

### Retrovirus research

Hilbert went on to earn a PhD in molecular biology, and devoted his career to researching retroviruses. He lived in St. Petersburg, conducting research on the Koschei Bessmertnyy Virus for the Soviet government. The intent of his research was to develop a retrovirus which could make people healthier by reversing cellular degradation. In 1989, he was approached by William Carter on behalf of Goddard Futuristics. Carter informs Hilbert that his new superior, Comrade Kinski, is going to end Hilbert's research. He offers Hilbert the opportunity to continue his research at Goddard, despite the work's need for dangerous and unethical human trials. With the promise of resources and test subjects for his research, Hilbert agrees and defects to America.

### Lovelace's mission

Hilbert served on three previous deep space missions, with the most recent being his time on the Hephaestus under Captain Isabel Lovelace. During this time, he performed experiments involving deadly, genetically modified spiders. He was also responsible for deaths of the majority of the crew, which was part of the human testing phase of the Decima Virus.

### Minkowski's mission

At some point, he is asked to return to the Hephaestus to continue his research on Decima, solely on Officer Doug Eiffel, who is unaware that he is a subject for the Decima experiments. His trial with Officer Eiffel initially brings "satisfactory" results, though bringing the virus out of dormancy causes Eiffel to develop a headache, fever, rash, and terrible cough. He treats Eiffel for this with an intravenous solution and by crushing pills into his food.

When Hilbert discovers that Eiffel has intercepted radio transmissions of extraterrestrial origin, he follows Mr. Cutter's protocol. He attempts to kill Minkowski and incapacitate Eiffel for further testing. He hails Cutter using a pulse array beacon, but is stopped by Eiffel and Hera. He temporarily disables Hera before being caught. After this failed attempt at a take-over, he is confined to the observation deck and kept as a prisoner.

After 48 hours of isolation, Hilbert is questioned by Minkowski and Eiffel. He initially refuses to speak, except to taunt Minkowski and Eiffel for their ineffectual interrogation attempts. He only breaks when Minkowski and Eiffel begin destroying the hard drives containing his research, and Minkowski threatens to kill Eiffel, knowing he is important to Hilbert somehow. He reveals that Eiffel had been a host for the Decima virus. Hilbert is kept alive, against Cutter's orders, so Minkowski and Eiffel can learn more about the virus, and so he can assist in repairs. Later, Hilbert repairs Hera to the best of his capabilities.

While Hilbert is imprisoned, Eiffel does not receive any monitoring for his Decima infection, and Decima's dormancy recedes. Over the course of Season 2, Eiffel develops a small cough that escalates into him coughing up blood and lung tissue in "Lame-O Superhero Origin Story." In "Do No Harm," Eiffel goes into shock and continues to deteriorate rapidly, unable to catch his breath or breathe deeply. Hilbert is retrieved and examines Eiffel. Minkowski assists Hilbert by holding Eiffel's tongue down with a depressor and comforting him while Hilbert injects him with the dormancy serum. Later, Eiffel's lung collapses, which Hilbert treats with a make-shift chest tube. After this, Eiffel's heart rate slows severely, and Hilbert assesses that Eiffel is bleeding internally. Neither Hilbert nor Minkowski can transfuse their blood to Eiffel due to their differing blood types, but Lovelace offers her own O-negative blood. Eiffel makes a full recovery after approximately a week of bed rest.

### Under Kepler's command

With the arrival of SI-5, Hilbert is demoted from the position of Chief Science Officer to Chief Medical Officer and is no longer kept on the observation deck. He presumably stays in the medical ward.

During "Don't Poke the Bear," Hilbert begins openly experimenting on Eiffel with his consent. However Hilbert's bedside manner is very poor, which makes Eiffel uncomfortable and anxious during his meetings with Hilbert. This is picked up by Warren Kepler, who sits in on this appointment against Hilbert's wishes. Kepler begins to manipulate Eiffel to stop the Decima experiments by viciously advocating for Eiffel during his appointment with Hilbert. Kepler yells at Hilbert for his poor word-choice about progress and results and offers Eiffel many chances to stop the experiments. When Hilbert ignores Eiffel during an uncomfortable procedure, Kepler snaps again and shoves Hilbert's hand into a drawer and slams it shut. He yells at Hilbert again and offers Eiffel another chance to end the experiments. Eiffel agrees to this, especially when faced with Kepler's disgusted tone at the idea of Eiffel's consent in continuing the experiments.

Hilbert respects the choice and creates a serum that would allow Decima to remain mainly asymptomatic with minimal treatments. Eiffel does not have another episode for the duration of the series. After Kepler leaves, Eiffel notes that this may have been for the best, to which Hilbert responds "Tell that to the fingernails you aren't supposed to have." During "Mayday" Eiffel had lost his hair, as well as his fingernails and toenails from his repetitive cryo-pod freezing process. Hilbert believes that Decima has reversed permanent damage to Eiffel's finger and toe nail beds, allowing regrowth. Hilbert tells Eiffel that this would only be the beginning of the possibilities for Decima, but Eiffel still refuses to continue experimenting. Hilbert tries one more time to convince Eiffel to restart the experiments in "Persuasion" when Eiffel develops a small unknown cough for a brief moment. This begins Hilbert's small inspection of Eiffel's current health state, to which Eiffel refuses to take part in. They have another argument about Decima, and Eiffel still refuses to restart the experiments. Hilbert does not attempt again.

During "Happy Endings," Hilbert and Lovelace discover a chair by Miranda Pryce, which will allow Hilbert to send a scan of his brain, including all his data on Decima to Earth in case he doesn't make it back.

### Mutiny and death

When Hilbert discovers Lovelace stealing ammonia to make napalm, he wishes to assist in her coup. Over the course of "Desperate Times" and "Desperate Measures," Eiffel encourages the team to change the plan and stop anybody from being killed. They all agree to try a non-lethal approach and try to knock out Maxwell and Jacobi to fight Kepler. Unfortunately, Eiffel's plan falls through when Jacobi does not show up when he was supposed to. Hilbert tells Minkowski that they should return to the original plan and goes to get the napalm. While doing that, he unknowingly becomes a hostage for Jacobi, who had set up C-4 in the room Hilbert was gathering the napalm from. Jacobi jams Hilbert's comms so he can only speak to Minkowski, but can't hear her responses. Jacobi threatens to kill Hilbert if Minkowski doesn't surrender Maxwell and give up their little mutiny. When Minkowski refuses, Jacobi detonates the explosives, killing Hilbert.

## Trivia

* His name is most likely a reference to David Hilbert, a prominent 20th century mathematician known especially for posing a set of unsolved problems as a research program.
* The name "Selberg" likely refers to Atle Selberg, another 20th century mathematician, known mainly for his work in analytic number theory.
* Dr. Hilbert acquired an affinity for pecan pie when he tried it once at a bakery in Waco, Texas. He enjoyed it so much, he ate nothing but it for the next week.

## Image gallery

* Dr. Hilbert's character sheet from the Wolf 359 website.
1/1
## External links

* Character biography from wolf359.fm
* Hilbert - Rebranding, character playlist by wolf359radio

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *Wolf 359* episode 25: "Lame-O Superhero Origin Story."
2. ↑ personalinsanitymoment. "Another name question 'cause I'm a big ol' nerd for this stuff..." *Gabriel's Writing Workshop*, October 7, 2015, http://personalinsanitymoment.tumblr.com/post/130728183273/another-name-question-cause-im-a-big-ol-nerd
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 *Wolf 359* mini-episode 7: "Rebranding."
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Wolf 359* episode 5: "Cigarette Candy."
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 *Wolf 359* episode 15: "What's Up, Doc?."
6. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 10: "Extreme Danger Bug."
7. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 38: "Happy Endings."
8. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 12: "Deep Breaths."
9. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 13: "Gas Me Twice."
10. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 16: "Painfully Ever After."
11. ↑ *Wolf 359* Mission Mishaps episode 6: "Cold Turkey."