Introduction:
Undoubtedly, the world wouldn’t ever be the same without the inventions and ground-breaking contributions from the talented and genius minds of scientists and inventors whose discoveries and creations have played a big part in propelling humanity to new heights of advancements. The world is at a stage of hyper-globalization that has never been done or seen before. However, beneath the fame and praise that is often doled out to many acclaimed scientists, there is a sinister and lesser known side to them that is hidden from the general public.
List of Famous Scientists with Questionable Acts:
Albert Einstein
This well-known scientist hailed as the person of the century achieved world wide fame for his Theory of General Relativity. However, a lesser known fact is that his wife, also specializing in Physics and mathematics provided him with intellectual and emotional support during his early and difficult years as a budding physics researcher.
Her name was Mileva Einstein Maric and she was Einstein’s first wife. In 1986, some of the personal letters of the two that were in possession of their firstborn son came to light. The letters suggested at something astonishing- that Einstein’s first wife may have very well contributed, co-authored and even wrote some of his entire research papers! Since then the account has been a constant source of debate and public talk. Because this wouldn’t be the first time the contribution of women in history and scientific fields have been discredited, suppressed or not bestowed on them.
Watson and Crick
Famous for discovering the structure and function of DNA, many people were outraged at the discovery of many confirmed accounts from various others who revealed that the famous scientists had actually stolen the unpublished research work of a woman- Rosalind Franklin, without her knowledge and consent. The work Rosalind had done was so important and profound that the scientists were able to solve the problem that had them at a standstill, they proved the structure of the DNA was a double helix using her work only in a few days.
It is saddening but not unheard of that yet, another woman has had her contribution not just stolen, but also her name completely swept under the rug. Since the Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously, she was even deprived of that honor whereas the other two went on to be awarded.Fritz Haber: He was a German chemist who discovered the widely used and very important Haber-Bosch Process which is used in many industries to make ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen gas. This process is used for making fertilizers and explosives. For this reason he is also known as the ‘Father of Chemical Warfare‘. He was directly involved in weaponizing chemicals like chlorine and other poisonous gases in WWI.
Thomas Edison
Known as an inventor of many things but most prominently for the early version of light bulb and electric chair used to torture many prisoners of war. However, a lesser well-known fact is that Thomas Alva Edison was a greedy capitalist who tried to profit off his inventions more than usual. He patented something roughly every eleven days. Altogether he had patented 1093 inventions in his lifetime all to set up companies and business ventures. He invented for the sake of profit rather than for the sake of inventing to solve problems itself.
Julius Robert Oppenheimer
Known as the ‘Father of the Atomic Bomb’ and an American theoretical physicist. He developed the atomic bombs that were then used in killing millions of people in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki regions of Japan on 6th and 9th August of 1945 respectively during WWII.
Check out: What is Nuclear Energy? – Uses, Advantages, Disadvantages Also: Impact Of Nuclear Weapons On The Environmen
Richard Feynman
He was an American theoretical physicist, known for his work in quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics along many other contributions. He was married thrice and he is a known abuser and has multiple charges against him for harassment. His wife even accused him of domestic violence and getting physical with her if she ever interrupted him talking. He openly made sexist and derogatory remarks about women in “Surely, you’re joking Mr. Feynman” across several sections of the book.
Dr. Sigmund Rascher & Dr. Joseph Mengele
Both of these two doctors were Nazi Doctors who conducted deadly and inhumane experiments on Jews under the Nazi rule. Dr. Sigmund Rascher along with his wife were arrested on the grounds of defrauding the public with their fertility clinic by ‘hiring’ and kidnapping babies. He was also accused of murdering his former lab assistant, scientific fraud. He also performed deadly experiments on humans by coagulating their blood and freezing their bodies at high altitudes.
Dr. Joseph Mengele who was also a German SS doctor like Rascher was even worse in some aspects than Rascher. He was nicknamed Angel of death because he was a member of the team of doctors who selected victims to be murdered in the gas chambers in Auschwitz II concentration camp and was one of the doctors who administered the gas. He also conducted deadly genetic research on twins exclusively without any concern for their safety.
Shiro Ishii
Surgeon General Shiro Ishii was a Japanese microbiologist, war criminal and army medical officer assigned to the notorious Unit 731 where he indulged in deadly human experimentation and biological warfare that was used in the second Sino-Japanese wars. Two Chinese cities were even targeted with the Bubonic plague mostly civilians and POW. As many as 300,000 people were killed most of them civilians or prisoners of war. He also lead an attack against the US. Later, after being tried for his crimes, he was granted immunity. The United States government in exchange for information and research for the US biological warfare program.
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