Scientist

The Kingston dub engineer Hopeton Brown, protege of King Tubby, whose Scientist Meets the Space Invaders (1981) opens with "Beam Down".

King Tubby's and Channel One

Hopeton Overton Brown was born in Kingston on April 18, 1960. His father repaired televisions and radios and introduced him to electronics, and he began experimenting with parts at 14, building amplifiers and buying transformers from King Tubby's studio on Dromilly Road. In the mid-1970s he joined Tubby's as an assistant, winding transformer coils, and began mixing; his first dubs were reworked Studio One tracks for Don Mais's Roots Tradition label. Wikipedia says Bunny Lee, seeing him, remarked that this little boy must be a scientist, while the Niceup interview credits Tubby with a similar line.

In the late 1970s he left Tubby's to become principal engineer at Channel One, run by the Hoo Kim brothers, moving from a four-track to a 16-track desk. From 1980 Greensleeves began releasing Henry Junjo Lawes productions with him at the board, starting with The Scientist v Prince Jammy (Big Showdown) and Heavyweight Dub Champion. 1981 brought Scientist Meets the Space Invaders, Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires and Meets the Roots Radics, the Radics being his most frequent collaborators. In 1982 he moved to Tuff Gong as second engineer to Errol Brown, and Encounters Pac-Man and Wins the World Cup appeared. His albums, often with space or horror themes, are popular among dub collectors, Grammy.com says.

Abroad

He left Jamaica in 1985, working as a studio engineer in the Washington, D.C. area per Wikipedia, with Grammy.com adding New York and California later. In 1991 he mixed Nando Boom's Reggae Espanol, cited as a precursor to reggaeton. Later albums include Respect Due (1999), Pockets of Resistance (2003), Scientist Launches Dubstep into Outer Space (2010), The Untouchable (2016) and Angels (2023). Roots Archives catalogs 40 albums, 13 compilations and 376 credits.

He toured Australia from October 19 to 28, 2023, mixing live at the console, and has remixed for Khruangbin, Jack Johnson, Sublime and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. He told Grammy.com in 2022: make no mistake about it, dub music was the first electronic music.