science
Discoverers who found light in urine and hydrogen in the air.
The Man Who Laughed at Everything
He correctly described the structure of all matter in the universe. Plato tried to have his books burned. Plato won.
The Surgeon Who Tried the Experiment
He inoculated himself with a patient's discharge to settle a scientific question, and his reputation was so enormous that nobody checked his work for fifty-one years.
The Man Who Drank the Plague
He built a small closet, filled it with the vomit of the dying, and sat inside breathing deeply — all to prove yellow fever wasn't contagious.
The Woman Who Wrote the Future
She arrived at the Royal Society in 1666, critiqued their methods to their faces, and they used her visit as justification to ban every woman who came after her — for 278 years.
The Man Who Ghosted the Most Famous Scientist on Earth
Alexander von Humboldt, the most celebrated scientist alive, wrote to the dictator of Paraguay personally. Francia made no answer. For nine years.
The Woman Who Warmed the World
She discovered that carbon dioxide traps heat in 1856, and then history erased her name for 154 years.
The Woman Who Discovered Climate Change from Her Seat
She discovered the greenhouse effect in 1856, then sat in the audience while a man read her paper aloud because women weren't allowed to present their own work.
The Man Who Listened to Plants Die
In 1895, a scientist invented radio components he refused to patent, then built a machine that recorded the exact moment a plant died.
The Man Who Weighed the Earth and Hid From His Housekeeper
He measured the density of the entire Earth. When he saw his housekeeper on the stairs, he built a second staircase.
The Man Who Ate Everything
William Buckland was a leading scientist who also made eating animals a research side quest.