Dr. Bruce Banner (purpleshorts) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2013-03-01 14:43:00 |
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Entry tags: | !network post, barbara gordon / oracle (birds of prey), bruce banner (mcu), claudia donovan, darcy lewis, jane foster (mcu), peter parker / spider-man (616), regulus black |
It was indicated to me that I hadn't written publicly on the network recently, so uh here I am. I don't know what to s
In the extremely-limited occasions where the press succeeds in asking me questions, they never ask me questions that I find particularly compelling. One of the questions I'd wish they'd ask would be which scientists I admire, and why. So I guess I'll write about that.
There are many brilliant pioneers in my field whose work has directly dovetailed with my own, and in fact a handful of them live and work here in NYC. However, one historical figure I've admired since I was young was one German chemist Robert Bunsen. No, he didn't invent the Bunsen Burner, although he was responsible for the improvements that led to its ultimate popularity. Bunsen was, in scientific terms, capable of genius-levels of death-defying badassery.
We'll start with his love affair with arsenic. His experiments with cacodyls (which are arsenic-based) made him hallucinate, coated his tongue in a black covering (that was never actually sussed out rationally, by the way, but then again: would you mess around with that?), caused his hands and feet to tingle, and produced in him giddiness and insensibility that led to some truly awkward academic conferences. Eventually, Bunsen developed the antidote to arsenic poisoning that is still in use today. He only stopped experimenting with the dangerous chemical when the explosion of an arsenic-laced glass beaker took out his right eye.
After that, Bunsen decided to tone down his difficult, deadly experiments by going into a more peaceful direction. Oh wait - no he didn't. He built a geyser in his lab to understand the mechanics of natural explosions. Bunsen collected vapors, boiling liquids, and samples of magma in his travels in an attempt to determine how to make the biggest boom. And boom he did - he succeeded in setting fire to his lab twenty-three times. His research eventually gave birth to the spectroscope that paved the way to the modern periodic table of elements.
I have other scientists, but I will save them for another day, I think.