I once GMd a guy who was a real life engineer who decided his PC would also be an Engineer - the game involved exploration and extension of the sewers of a fantasy city (based on the Sewers of Paris), it worked because he knew what he was doing and would give advice from a real engineers perspective, I just had to complicate things.
But it was a challenge for me and that is why I think scholar classes are difficult. Most people dont have expertise on the History and Natural Physics of the Forgotten Realms and so playing a class that does those things becomes a case of asking the DM for more data rather than ‘playing the character’.
The closest Ive played is an Alchemist, using real alchemical formulas as well as fantasy potions and I suspect the Artificer started as an attempt at Scholar-Tinkerer that turned magical...