Carl Steubens

Dr. Carl Steubens was a Nobel Prize candidate scientist employed by the Sendrex Corporation to work at the KIVA Laboratories complex. Assisted by Barbara Spencer, Dr Steubens was conducting research into magnetic fields in the Ozone layer (nicknamed Rainmakers). Both he and his friend and colleague, Dr. Sidney Marlowe, were considered experts in the field. They also shared a love for the game of Chess, which they played via long distance telex. 

When Sendrex Corp had ordered a new series of experiments, Steubens feared his work was being used to create the ultimate doomsday weapon by creating chain reactions in the ozone layer which would cause the ozone layer to self-destruct and leave the Earth vulnerable to the sun’s ultraviolet rays killing everything on the planet. Steubens, who had spent his whole life trying to stop suffering, refused to allow his work to be used as a weapon, so he invited the only other expert in the field, Dr. Marlowe to the KIVA complex where he had set explosives to kill them both and thus set the research back 20 (or more) years. 

His plan however didn’t work as he expected and although the explosion did destroy the facility, Steubens and Marlowe survived and were trapped 300 feet below ground on level three of the complex. Once MacGyver was able to reach them Steubens threatened to shoot both himself and Marlowe as a way of protecting his work, but he instead accidentally shot Barbara Spencer in the abdomen before MacGyver was able to wrestle the gun away from him. Spencers wound was not life threatening and they were all returned to the surface safely.

Trivia: 
This episode of MacGyver was the actor Paul Stewart’s last acting appearance before his death in 1986