The Scientist Behind It

The humans behind the breakthroughs — eccentric, stubborn, brilliant, and often wrong.

13 stories

• The Scientist Who Weighed the Earth but Couldn't Speak to His Housekeeper
• The Graduate Student, the 'Little Green Men,' and the Nobel That Got Away
• The Movie Star Who Patented a Secret Weapon the Navy Rejected
• The Chemist Who Fed the World and Gassed the Trenches
• The Circus Strongman Who Found Egypt's Greatest Tomb
• The Corn Geneticist Who Saw Genes Jump — And Waited 32 Years to Be Believed
• The Doctor Who Discovered Handwashing — and Was Locked Away for It
• The Farm Boy Who Discovered Pluto — and Now Sails Past It Forever
• The Geologist Who Tried to Eat His Way Through the Entire Animal Kingdom
• Nikola Tesla and the Pigeon He Loved
• The 100-Hour X-Ray Photograph That Revealed the Shape of DNA
• The Alchemist Who Boiled Urine Looking for Gold and Found Phosphorus
• The Astronomer With a Metal Nose and a Beer-Drinking Elk

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