In every generation, daring scientist push boundaries and achieve breakthroughs. Some of these scientists go down in history as geniuses while other go down as mad. Why is this the case?
Whether it is in fiction, like Doc from Back To The Future trying to achieve time travel, (great trilogy by the way) or in real life, scientists have always looked to achieve new discoveries. Unfortunately, not all of them work nor do they seem logical.
4 Mad Scientists
Here is a list of four mad scientists from the past and somewhat recent present that will definitely be regarded as mad.
Nikola Tesla
When you think of a mad scientist, one of the first thoughts are of a man (or woman) pulling down the switch to a huge machine in an array of fiery sparks. Nikola Tesla was in fact this scientist. He is credited with the invention of the wireless radio and the AC generator that kick-started the electrical age. How ironic this happened during an intense lighting storm. The other reason he is, and was, known as a mad scientist was due to the fact that he often used his own body as a conductor in public demonstrations.
Richard Feynman
Part of the Manhattan Project’s team of scientists and chemists that developed the atomic bomb, physicist Richard Feynman went down in history as one of the most important scientists in the 20th century. He was not looked at or revered as mad scientist. Rather he was known to be free-spirited and often examined nature and music. He is also credited for decoding Mayan Hieroglyphics. The one question I have surrounding Mr. Feynman is why did he spend so much time learning the art of picking locks? Maybe there was more to his genius then we realize.
Sidney Gottlieb
Due to his knowledge in psychiatry and Ph.D. in chemistry, Sidney Gottlieb served in the U.S. military. The point of this was, simply put, to help the U.S. out think the enemy. The reason he made this list is simple. Gottlieb’s knowledge, ideas and thinking in the areas of science basically led him to think that poisoning everyone on the other team was the way to come out a winner. He even went as far as proposing that killing Castro could be as simple as poisoning his cigar. Not all scientists are created equal.
Robert J. White
Dr. Robert J. White is an American surgeon famed for his expertise in the field of transplantology. His years of research into the human nervous system and the brain lead to the discovery of a spinal cord cooling process used by almost all medical institutions today. Here is why he made the list of mad scientists. In 1962, Dr. White was the first person to succeed in removing the brain of a dog and keeping it alive outside the body. The canine gray blob was hooked up to a brain wave monitor which proved that, yes, it was still active and full of thoughts. If this weren’t enough to qualify him for our list, two years later Dr. White took things a step further. He transplanted the brain of one dog into the neck, yes the neck, of another. What was he thinking? I thought brains belong in the safety of the skull, not behind the thin line of skin on the neck.
The four mad scientists certainly are not the only people in history that could find their names on this list. But history tells us one thing. Without testing limits and pushing boundaries, breakthroughs would never happen. The question we might need to stop and ask ourselves is, does the world need more mad scientists?