Charles Darwin: deaf worms
Darwin was the first to discover the undoubted usefulness of worms for soil. He also established many other facts concerning worms.
In his work on the observation of the way of life of earthworms, Darwin wrote: "Worms have no sense of hearing at all. While in a chair placed against the keys of a grand piano, they remained quiet at the loudest play."
Then Darwin delved into the soil of the study, so to speak: "In the same way, they were indifferent to my breathing when I chewed tobacco or when I held a absorbent cotton in my mouth with a few drops of floral perfume or acetic acid."
The scientist concluded his work by asserting that perhaps the worms "have traces of social feeling, for as they crawl over each other they show no anxiety and often lie next to each other."
John Burdon Sanderson Haldane: experiments on students
The eccentric biologist with the long name liked to experiment on himself. One day Haldane drank a bottle of hydrochloric acid to see what would happen to his body. He didn't find the effect impressive, and a few days later he ate an almost lethal dose of calcium chloride.
Fortunately for science (Haldane still had many important discoveries to make), the scientist got away with only spectacular diarrhea. Haldane also experimented on others, without their permission.
Once, during a lecture on the dangers of a gas attack in the trenches, he sprinkled a spoonful of pepper over a kerosene lamp. The room instantly filled with eye-eating smoke.
"If you're already sick, how will you behave in a real gas attack?" - shouted Haldane after the coughing students who were crawling out of the auditorium on squats.
Humphrey Davy: fish suit
Chemist, physicist, geologist, and even an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Englishman Humphry Davy loved fishing. In fact, he discovered the anesthetic properties of nitrous oxide and invented the mine lamp, but fishing was his favorite pastime.
Davie thought a lot about the psychology of fish and eventually came to the conclusion that fish bite better if you dress in all green. Nowadays no one would be surprised on the river wearing a green suit, but in the nineteenth century such a closet liberty was perceived as a scandalous prank.
All the more so when out hunting, by contrast, Davie dressed head-to-toe in red: he did not trust his fellow riflemen and feared they would accidentally shoot him (probably mistaking him for a fish).
Charles Babbage: overheating in the furnace
An enterprising mathematician and inventor, Charles Babbage has gone down in history as the inventor of the Babbage difference machine, a mechanical machine designed to automate calculations by approximating functions by polynomials and calculating finite differences. And now in Russian: Babbage created the prototype of the modern computer.
But he wasn't just interested in mathematics. Charles tried to learn to walk on water by tying a plank to his feet and nearly drowned during the experiment. Babbage also established the effects of high temperatures on the body - for this he lay down in an oven.
According to the scientist's notes, the maximum temperature at which he felt comfortable was 120 degrees Celsius.
Isaac Newton: a door for the cat
The great scientist and inventor of apples (or something associated with them) was also known among his contemporaries as the manager of the Mint. This position Newton held for almost 30 years and managed to noticeably improve the monetary system of England.
But personally we value Isaac for his undeniable contribution to cat breeding: it was Newton who invented the idea of cutting little doors for cats in human doors so that they could go in and out without hindrance, which is what cats are usually doing all day (of course, when they are not asleep).
By the way, Newton had two such doors: a bigger one and a smaller one for his cat and her kitten.
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