1Alan Turing
Alan Turing once bought 150lbs of silver but didn't trust banks so he buried it in the woods instead. After the price of silver had almost doubled, he went to dig it up, but could no longer find it.
2Max Planck
Max Planck's life was filled with tragedy. His wife died early, his oldest son died in World War 1, his two twin daughters both died while giving birth, and lastly, his second son was executed by Nazi Germany because of his participation in the failed attempt to assassinate Hitler.
3Heinrich Hertz
Heinrich Hertz, upon proving the existence of radio waves, stated that “It’s of no use whatsoever.” When asked about the applications of his discovery, he said, “Nothing, I guess.”
4Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell offered to sell his telephone patent to Western Union for $100,000 in 1876. The committee appointed to investigate the offer concluded the telephone was "hardly more than a toy" and "inherently of no use to us."
5Stephen Hawking
There was a rumor that Stephen Hawking would deliberately run over the toes of people he didn’t like. He denied this rumor by stating it was “A Malicious rumor” and “I’ll run over anyone who repeats it.”
6James Watson
Famed molecular biologist James Watson put his Nobel Prize up for auction in 2014 due to financial hardships. It sold for $4.1 million and was promptly returned to him by the buyer.
7Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday, one of the foremost experimenters of his time, declined a knighthood, believing that it was against the word of the Bible to pursue worldly reward. He stated that he preferred to remain "plain Mr. Faraday to the end."
Latest FactRepublic Video:
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
8J.C. Maxwell
J.C. Maxwell, the inventor of color photography and founder of the theory of electromagnetism, killed a lot of cats by throwing them out of windows to find the precise height from where the cat couldn't land on its feet anymore.
9Robert Bunsen
Famous chemist and lifelong bachelor Robert Bunsen once proposed to a girl who said yes, but he then lost himself in his work for a few weeks. When he finally emerged from his lab, he couldn't remember if he ever proposed or not, so he did it again, only to have her turn him down.
10Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin ate every animal he ever discovered. He sought out “birds and beasts which were unknown to the human palate.”
