25 most insane and brilliant scientists in history (26 photos)

They say madness borders on genius. In this list - and crazy and brilliant scientists. Some of them have become infamous failed experiments, while others have made significant contributions to science. IN each of them, for sure, had a share of madness - after all, they just took and brought their most grandiose and eccentric ideas to life.





Henry Head



English neurologist Henry Head (1861-1940) is famous for studies of nerves and somatosensory system - structures, providing encoding of stimuli affecting the body. For Sir Henry Head even used his own body for his experiments. IN two disorders are named after him: Ged-Holmes syndrome and Geda-Riddoha.

Erwin Schrödinger





Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961) - Austrian theoretical physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics. A famous scientist discovered the equation (Schrödinger equation), which describes the motion of a particle in a quantum mechanics. It describes the change in time of the state of quantum objects, characterized by a wave function.

Michael Persinger



American-Canadian Professor of Psychology Michael A. Persinger (1945-2018) from 1971 until his death he was a professor at Laurentian University in Ontario, Canada. He chose an unusual area of research - parapsychology. He put forward the hypothesis that there is a connection between the temporal lobes of our brain and mystical experiences. And also, he sought to find scientific explanations for the paranormal. abilities: for example, clairvoyance and telepathy.

Giovanni Aldini



The Italian physician Giovanni Aldini (1762-1834) is famous for works and experiments in the field of galvanism - or induction electric current from a chemical reaction. Some of their experiments, he tried to find out ways to escape during fires. In addition to his native Italian and Latin, he also wrote in English and French, which brought him worldwide fame. By the way, work the scientist was inspired by the writer Mary Shelley when she wrote "Frankenstein".

Charles Claude Guthrie



American psychologist and physiologist Charles Claude Guthrie (1880-1963) known for his work in pharmacology and physiology. Conducted experiments on transplanting heads to dogs, which caused a lot of disputes. Perhaps because of this, he never received the Nobel Prize.

Albert Bandura



Albert Bandura (1925-2021) was a psychology professor at Stanford University, USA. Studied personality psychology, social cognitive theory and therapy. His most famous experiment is with a doll Bobo, which he first hosted in 1961. During the experiment adults showed different aggressive actions in relation to the inflatable doll - and scientists tracked the reactions of children. The experiment showed that children who observe aggressive behavior of adults mostly imitate and model this behavior.

Wilhelm Reich



Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) - Austrian and American psychologist, student of Sigmund Freud. Author of influential books in psychology - "The Function of Orgasm" (1927) and "Psychology of the Masses and Fascism" (1933). Having lived most of his life in Europe, in 1939 he moved to work in the United States. There became famous for the creation of orgone accumulators in the form of chambers, which irradiated the body of patients and charged the entire body with "life force". Behind violation of the ban on the sale of these batteries in 1957 by Reich sentenced to two years in prison. In the same year he died in prison heart failure.

Carney Landis



American psychologist Carney Landis in 1924 conducted experiment to test the links between different emotions and expression faces. Many considered it unethical and criticized. During the test, the doctor showed subjects shocking images, forced them to touch live electrical wires, sniff ammonia and even cut rat headm (many, by the way, agreed). Ultimately, no The scientist did not find patterns in facial expressions. But confirmed that many subjects easily obey authority and are ready to do a lot, what they will be told.

hwang woo seok



Hwang Woo Seok is a South Korean veterinarian considered one of the the most advanced scientists in the field of stem cell research. He cloned a dog for the first time in the world. However, in addition to this, he participated in loud scandal - his colleagues confirmed that the scientist had falsified data on human stem cell cloning. Because of this, he was fired. from the post of professor at Seoul National University. Later Juice admitted that during the research he used the eggs of his female students and other women purchased on the black market.

Sergei Sergeevich Bryukhonenko



Sergei Sergeevich Bryukhonenko (1860-1960) - Soviet physiologist who made a significant contribution to the performance of open surgery heart, and created the world's first heart-lung machine. He worked at the Research Institute of Experimental Surgery in Moscow. First open heart surgery was successful held in 1957 by Bryukhonenko's colleague Alexander Vishnevsky.

Louis Jolyon West



American psychiatrist Louis Jolyon West (1924-1999) began his career as a professor of psychiatry at the University of Oklahoma, USA. His most influential research is in the field of brainwashing, drug abuse and cult communities. He was also activist against the death penalty.

Sidney Gottlieb



Sidney Gottlieb (1918-1999) became infamous as CIA chief chemist. He worked for a CIA project called MK-ULTRA, where he used extreme temperatures, hard drugs, electroshock, food and sleep deprivation for his experiments to control the mind of people. The illegal project lasted from 1953 to 1973.

Max Joseph Pettenkofer



Max Joseph von Pettenkofer (1818-1901) was a German chemist, naturalist and hygienist. Developed a method for determining carbon dioxide in the air (it was used as an indicator of the purity indoor air), sanitary measures to clean cities, developed wastewater treatment systems. Before his scientific work, many people were not aware of the beneficial effects of fresh air and clean water.

Robert White



Robert White (1926-2010), American neurosurgeon the world's first live monkey head transplant. Operation declared successful, however, none of the monkeys lived more than nine days.

John Burdon Sanderson Haldane



John Burdon Sanderson Haldane (1862-1964) - English biologist, known for his work in the field of genetics. In 1961 Haldane renounced British citizenship because of his Marxist views, and became a citizen of India. He is also known for coining the words "clone" and "cloning".

Jose Delgado



José Manuel Rodríguez Delgado (1915-2011) was for many years professor of neurophysiology at Yale University, USA, and then moved to Madrid. There, in 1975, he opened a medical school. Famous mind control experiments, for which he used electrical stimulation in monkeys and humans.

Duncan McDougall



American physician and biologist Duncan McDougall (1866-1920) known for the "21 grams" experiment, the results of which were published in 1907. He hypothesized that the human soul has weight 21.3 grams. During the experiment, he weighed patients who were in the dying stage, and calculated how much weight they dropped at the time of death.

William Buckland



English theologian, geologist and paleontologist William Buckland (1784-1856) - the first person in history to describe a fossil dinosaur. He obnashot him in Kirkdale Cave in the English county North Yorkshire, and named Megalosaurus.

Francis Creek



Francis Crick (1916-2004) - English molecular biologist. He is best known for discovering the structure of the DNA molecule together. with colleague James Watson.

Stubbins Firth



American physician Stubbins Firth (1784-1820) looked for reasons yellow fever, a viral disease that, in his opinion, is not was contagious. The scientist was mistaken in believing that the cause of yellow fever is high temperature, but his research helped in scientific understanding this ailment. Only later did the Cuban scientist Carlos Finlay discover the true cause of yellow fever is mosquito bites.

Robert Galbraith Heath



Robert Galbraith Heath (1915-1999) American psychiatrist. He considered the only cause of mental ailments to be lesions of the brain brain - therefore, I believed that any mental disorders can be cure by direct action on the brain. The scientist has done many experiments that involved stimulating the brain with electrical pulses through electrodes implanted in the nervous tissue. The experiments were partially funded by the CIA.

Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov



Soviet animal biologist Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov (1870-1932) mainly engaged in artificial insemination. Known for trying create a hybrid of man and ape, during which he spent artificial insemination of female monkeys with human sperm. Fortunately, the experiment failed - pregnancy did not occur.

John Parsons



John Parsons (1914-1952) - rocket engineer, one of the most influential scientists in the history of the US space program. Parsons had their oddities. For example, addiction to the occult and belief in supernatural. He even performed rituals to summon spirits and mythical goddesses. Died at the age of 37 - from an explosion in the home laboratories.

Paracelsus



Paracelsus (c. 1493-1541) - Swiss era alchemist Renaissance. The scientist is known for many medical achievements of his time, and also invented several effective drugs. In addition, he isolated and applied medicines from plants in the form of extracts and elixirs. Bringing chemistry closer to medicine, he became one of the founders of iatrochemistry (or medicinal, healing alchemy).

Nikola Tesla



Our list is closed by Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) - Serbian-American engineer and physicist. His work in the field electrical and radio engineering have left a significant mark in science. Most famous invention of Tesla - coils, which proved his idea that that the Earth is a huge magnet capable of generating electricity, that means that energy can be teleported from one corner of the Earth to another.