Page 92 - (DK) Danger! Open with Extreme Caution!

MAD SCIENTISTS

Barry Marshall
Throughout history, many important advances in science Everyone said that stress causes stomach
ulcers, but I thought the culprit might be
and medicine were the result of people experimenting on
a common bacterium, Helicobacter pylori.
themselves. Whether they were doctors who had a taste So I downed a petri dish full of the stuff,
of their own medicine or scientists who were willing to be and, sure enough, a few days later, I came
down with gastritis. A course of antibiotics
the experiment, these radical researchers pushed the limits soon put things right. And here’s
to test their theories. Were they crazy in a good way or just something to raise a glass to: I won
a Nobel Prize in 2005. Cheers!
crazy? Let them tell their stories, and then you can decide.

Alexander von Humboldt
As a great naturalist, botanist, zoologist, and artist
of the early 19th century, I practically invented
multitasking. I had a theory that mechanical and
chemical forces worked together to sustain
life. While researching whether the human
body had electrical currents, I held an electric
eel in one hand and metal in the other
to make the charge that went
through me stronger.
Shocking!

John Scott Haldane
Breathing in deadly fumes while locked
inside a sealed chamber? It’s a gas!
I researched the effects of different gases
in 1927 by sniffing them to see what
happened to me. It caused quite a stink,
although the results were nothing to sniff Sir James Young Simpson
at—I developed a gas mask and figured Humboldt, you clearly were a man in charge. As
out how deep-sea divers could a doctor in the 1800s, I knew medical procedures were
avoid getting “the bends” a pain, so I wanted a good anesthetic. One night at
(decompression sickness). my place, a few friends and I tried inhaling chloroform.
We woke up the next day under a table! I’d found a safe
way to put patients (and friends) to sleep. How’s
this for a royal request? In 1853, Queen Victoria
used chloroform for a pain-free birth.

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