11 iconic scientific discoveries that turned the world upside down, although they seemed to be nonsense to contemporaries

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The path of geniuses is rarely easy and successful, because it is always difficult to bring something new into the world. Moreover, geniuses themselves are eccentric people, they do not give the impression of being solid and serious people. The tragic fate of unrecognized geniuses only confirms the fact that many of them were ahead of their time, and society was too wary (or indifferent) to any innovations and progress in general.

Fight against viruses and bacteria from Ingats Philip Semmelweis

He was an obstetrician who was in charge of the hospital. Once he drew attention to the fact that in one corps the mortality rate of women in childbirth is many times higher than the indicators of the second corps. He tried to find a logical explanation for this, while his colleagues were sure that the first

But these arguments seemed stupid to Semmelweis, because he was used to reasoning more pragmatically. Plus, the difference in numbers was frightening. If in the second building less than 3% of women in labor died, then in the first one third of all women who gave birth could not be saved. The doctor, who clearly did not keep up with the times, but was ahead of him, decided to consider the problem in more detail and came to the conclusion that the reason lies in the lack of disinfection.

The fact is that in the first building there was another department, from which doctors often fled to help women in labor, simply wiping their hands in haste. Today it seems wild, but there was no disinfection at all, yes, that there, they forgot to simply wash their hands before proceeding to obstetric care.

The head of the hospital taught his staff not only to wash their hands thoroughly, but also to use bleach. After that, the mortality rate in the maternity ward dropped to a record 1%! But no one supported the doctor's initiative, especially among colleagues who did not perceive statistics, and the innovation was considered a waste of time.

The pioneering doctor died in a psychiatric clinic (which is not uncommon for geniuses), and only 20 years later, Joseph Lister promulgated the idea of the need to decontaminate hands and instruments. The medical community supported Lister's idea, and no one remembered Semmelweis by that moment.

Smallpox victory by Edward Jenner

Smallpox today is considered an officially defeated disease, but if it were not for Jenner, it is not known how many lives it would have claimed. Today, the smallpox virus is stored in two laboratories, one of the most terrible diseases of mankind has been pacified. The Hindus even believed that there was a goddess who brought this disease to people and brought alms to her, trying to get her mercy. It is said about smallpox in the Bible and the Koran, almost every European managed to get sick with it. Moreover, according to official statistics, every third person died from it. And this is if you do not take into account how many deformities she left behind.

Something similar to vaccinations existed and then, for example, in China and India, pus from smallpox patients was specially rubbed into the wound in order to get sick at a young and strong age in a milder form and get immunity. But this approach often caused new outbreaks of epidemics.

Jenner suggested vaccinating people not with human smallpox, but with cowpox. The latter was transmitted to humans as well, but was transferred in a mild form. But at the same time, immunity to both forms of diseases was developed. He conducted an experiment on a boy and confirmed his theory. First, he deliberately infected the child with cowpox, and then - human. The first illness passed easily, but in the second case, infection did not occur at all. He realized that this was a success.

But the scientific community reacted to this kind of innovation with skepticism. Religious leaders and royal physicians were especially indignant. Is it a heard thing to seek the salvation of people in cow disease? Anti-vaccination workers launched a real propaganda campaign, even cartoons were distributed, ridiculing the cow vaccination.

But getting infected with smallpox and getting sick in a severe form was still more terrible, because views changed, and vaccination became mandatory in many countries. Jenner became famous after so many years of ridicule. However, the main thing for him was that he managed to save many lives.

Alfred Russell Wallis's Clue to Natural Selection

If Wallis's theory were appreciated, then Darwin's theory would not exist, but the theory of Darwin and Wallis. It was Alfred who was engaged in scientific research that led him to the solution to "natural selection", which he formulated as "the fittest survives." However, Darwin's theory is based on the same principle. Therefore, it is possible to single out two inaccuracies at once: it would be more correct to say “the fittest survives”, rather than “the fittest survives,” and it would also be unfair to call this development Darwin's theory.

Wallis wrote a letter to Darwin while he was working on his Origin of Species and asked him to read his works on the same topic. Darwin could not fail to note the similarity of the conclusions, he told Wallis about this and assured him that he would include his thoughts with an indication of authorship in his works.

Darwin, however, is difficult to blame for “stealing” Wallis's success, even if he came after his life. Darwin, presenting his work, first of all read Wallis's letter and drew the attention of the audience that they independently came to similar conclusions. Despite the fact that Darwin and his theory were recognized as having the right to exist, this did not bring fame.

It was only in the 20th century that the theory of Darwin and Wallis was appreciated at its true worth, but by that time not a trace remained of the surname of the second author. Therefore, in the memory of descendants, the theory remained Darwinian.

New lands discovered by Christopher Columbus

Yes, Columbus was a traveler, not a scientist, but the idea of his whole life was very scientific - he was looking for a western route to India, this would prove that the Earth is round. Columbus sought the support of the monarchs, because travel was a costly affair, and expeditionary trips all the more, but he was brushed aside because his arguments seemed unconvincing. There were those who supported him, but the costs were too high and Columbus himself also went into debt in order to fully cover the costs of the expedition.

He was the first European who managed to cross the Atlantic, he discovered new lands, but this seemed insufficient and all his discoveries were depreciated to the utmost. He was called a fraud, and his discoveries were a dummy. Once he was even shackled and sent home. But Columbus was clearly not one of those who easily give up, he stood his ground, which only annoyed others. So he ended his life as an unrecognized genius.

Motor ship from Robert Fulton

Another innovator unrecognized during his lifetime, whose invention is still used today. He devoted his life to creating a motor ship from an ordinary boat driven by a sail. It was the 19th century, not the Middle Ages at all, but all of its developments did not make any impression on the public. And this is extremely strange considering the advantages of a steam engine over a sail.

The country's chief of the fleet said that Fulton's invention was foolish, and the sail would always remain a sail and nothing could replace it. However, this inventor was not so simple, he managed to create not just a model of a steamer, but the ship itself on a steam engine. And this is practically alone. However, even the experiment on the river, when his ship sailed against the current, developing a speed of three knots, no one was particularly impressed.

Innovative developments reached Napoleon himself, but he considered the inventor to be an ordinary rogue, hungry for fame and money. True, after only ten years, the development was still taken into service. According to the sketches left over from Fulton, a military vessel was built, on which there were even cannons. But by that time the inventor himself was no longer alive, so he did not find the triumph of his invention. However, nothing surprising.

Printing press from Johannes Gutenberg

The person to whom society owes all the periodicals was also not appreciated. Before his invention, the printing press, books were copied by hand, a huge amount of time, effort and money was spent on this. Needless to say, such publications were worth huge sums of money?

Gutenberg came up with the idea of casting letters from tin (he called them letters) and from them to compose words, sentences, pages and whole books. If the letters are covered with paint, they will leave an imprint on the paper. Gutenberg himself had no money, he managed to persuade a wealthy businessman to sponsor his inventions. And so, the first book was printed, it would seem, success is close. But society again expressed its "phi", not appreciating all the possibilities of the printing press.

The inventor had to return the borrowed money, driving himself into a financial swamp. The book-printing craft did not bring Johann any success or money. And the church even declared this occupation forbidden, because it would be possible to make a book so quickly only with the help of the devil.

Steam Locomotive by Richard Trevithick

The invention of this genius was truly grandiose, but it was so ingenious, so great resistance was met among the public. To a modern person, this seems ridiculous and ridiculous, but the inhabitants of England refused to ride the invented steam locomotive, because they were afraid that high speed (40 km per hour) could cause mental deviations, because an immediate concussion would follow with all the ensuing consequences.

It all started with the fact that the Englishman decided to invent a self-propelled car for a couple, a kind of replacement for a horse harnessed to a cart. But given the quality of the roads, he decided that such transport needed rails. Moreover, the invention took only a few years, after which he patented it.

However, the public, instead of enthusiastically accepting the fact that from now on they can move much faster, save their own time and visit much larger places, they were very skeptical about Trevithick's invention. Most were convinced that inside the trailer, people would simply suffocate, because the air would not flow there. It got to the point that the population destroyed railroad tracks, and newspapers wrote about the dangers of traveling at high speeds. Who would have thought at that time that this invention would truly turn the world upside down.

Heat engine from Ivan Polzunov

This inventor differs from the others in that he was able to see the result of his work, but not in full. He created a heat engine that replaced workers in smelting furnaces and significantly reduced the cost of the process, and even accelerated it.

He managed to see his brainchild at one of the Russian factories, the installation worked on the smelting of heavy metals. But, literally right after that, the inventor died, and his invention died out after a little over a month. He brought a copper boiler, it was necessary to replace the metal from which it was made. But Polzunov was gone, and those who could modify his steam engine were in sight.

Yes, the efficiency from the machine was obvious, the net profit increased, but the manufacturers did not waste time and effort looking for a new genius, they simply took the car out of production and melted it down. Moreover, there was no shortage of cheap labor during tsarist times. Later the steam engine was developed and patented in England.

Fundamentals of Genetics by Gregor Johann Mendel

Today his scientific research is known as "Mendel's Laws", he laid the foundations of genetics, however, as usual, during his lifetime his works were not appreciated. Although he was extremely trying to get not just the approval of the scientific community, but to benefit from the whole society.

He shared his developments with the scientific community in detail, even made 40 copies of his work and sent it to the most eminent botanists, so that they not only express their point of view on this issue, but also use it in their works.

But, despite all his efforts, he did not receive a proper assessment during his lifetime, but he believed in it to the end. Even on his gravestone is carved: "My time will come!"

Aircraft from Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky

He did not have enough money to bring his development to its logical conclusion. He invented the plane, and at his own expense, without any support from the state. To do this, he attracted other colleagues as experts, consulted with them regarding the design of the future aircraft and its technical characteristics.

The first time its development took off in 1882, the plane managed to take off and even cover a certain distance, then fell, one of the wings of the structure was broken. Mozhaisky could not repair his brainchild, for the simple reason that his own accumulations were over, and at the state level, no one was interested in his scientific research.

In the next century, when the inventor was no longer alive, his developments were very useful in the design of the aircraft. It turned out that he did everything right, only he lived too early and worked ahead of his time.

Electromagnetic Fields by James Maxwell

It is to this physicist that the theory of the electromagnetic field belongs. This scientific research became the basis for the discovery of radio, television, the Internet and mobile communications. But that was the 19th century, Maxwell's invention was not recognized as a discovery as such, because he could not prove to his colleagues the existence of electromagnetic waves in practice. He had only theoretical developments, which seemed insufficient.

Maxwell received no bonuses from his discovery. But after a rather small amount of time - some 9 years, his colleague was able to prove the presence of electromagnetic waves experimentally.

Arc lamp from Pavel Yablochkov

Despite the fact that Yablochkov received a well-deserved share of success, money and fame, there is also a note of sadness in his story. He left for France after his scientific developments in Russia were not supported. In the same place he invented a light bulb, which they began to call "Yablochkov's candle" or "Russian light". It immediately began to be widely used, lighting theaters, streets, trading houses.

It was written about the invention in the newspapers, and it was the correspondents who called Yablochkov's invention "Russian light", but the light was in no hurry to come to Russia itself. Until recently, he did not sell the patent for the manufacture to other countries, he was waiting for a response from Russia, offering his compatriots to take the patent for free. A very broad gesture, considering that the invention was made on a French basis. He never received a response from his homeland, he sold the patent to the French.

But at one of the technical exhibitions, he met a Russian prince, who promised to help him with the promotion of business in Russia. Yablochkov immediately bought back his patent and left for his homeland.

The history of all the things that surround us and that we use every day is very rich. So, the sewing machine, which significantly reduced the cost and accelerated the process of making clothes, has an equally exciting history of invention.