The basis of science is the collection of facts that contribute to the systematization of objective knowledge about the surrounding reality. Sometimes the collection of such facts was accompanied by deadly experiments that scientists put on themselves. Most of all in history, doctors did this, but representatives of other fields of science sacrificed themselves. So, thebiggest will tell about the scientists who conducted experiments on themselves.
1
Santorio (1561–1636)
An Italian scientist was born in Padua in 1561, and in 1582 received a medical prize, graduating from the university of his native city. He worked as a personal doctor of a noble nobleman, after which he opened his own practice in the Venetian Republic.
He devoted his life to the study of metabolism, and lived on the scales for almost 30 years. He ate and drank, and then measured his weight. The weight of the food eaten was commensurate with what came out of it. He proved in this way that part of the food is absorbed by the body.
Invented many useful devices, including a thermoscope and the first pressure measuring device. He became the founder of experimental physiology.
2
Georg Richmann (1711–1753)
A friend and colleague of Mikhail Lomonosov, a German physicist conducted many experiments with electricity. To do this, he created devices himself, and his work was a breakthrough in the field of knowledge of the nature of lightning.
On his house stood an iron pole, which was connected by wires to measuring instruments. Richman was a frequent guest at the court of Empress Elizabeth, and often showed her his entertaining experiences.
During one of the experiments during a thunderstorm, a German physicist died from ball lightning. It was pulled by an ungrounded wire and hit Georg in the forehead.
By the way, thebigget has a very interesting article about unusual and strange glows that puzzled the scientific world.
3
John Hunter (1728–1793)
The famous English doctor treated Benjamin Franklin, Lord Byron, King George III. For the sake of science, I decided on an unprecedented step.
At that time, prostitution flourished in London, and there were 27 “nocturnal butterflies” for one London man. With such statistics, sexually transmitted diseases have become the real scourge of the English capital.
Hunter infected himself with gonorrhea to prove that this disease and syphilis share the same pathogen. He managed to recover safely, but his conclusions were erroneous.
4
William Stark (1740–1770)
The English doctor conducted research in the field of prevention and treatment of scurvy. To do this, he tried 24 diets with a different set of products.
Sitting on water, bread and sugar for 31 days weakened William's health. He began to add animal fats, olive oil to the diet, but his gums continued to bleed. Stark completely ruled out salt. They didn’t know about vitamin C at that time, and yet it could easily recover with citrus fruits.
Then he got hooked only on honey puddings. He recorded all the sensations and even the weather on the street in an observation journal. The last diet was cheese. He died at the age of 29 when he decided to eat only Cheshire cheese.
5
Karl Scheele (1742–1786)
The Swedish chemist-pharmacist measured only 43 years of life, but during this time he did a lot in the development of chemistry. He became the discoverer of oxygen, and also the first to receive chlorine and glycerin.
The scientist constantly conducted experiments, and he tried many compounds to taste. The fact is that according to the rules of that time, chemists had to indicate their taste when describing an element or compound.
In the evening of May 21, 1786, Karl drank hydrocyanic acid. The next morning, the scientist was found dead in his laboratory. An entry was made in the journal that the acid has a bitter almond flavor. The most tragic in this situation is that two days before the death, the scientist got married.
6
Humphrey Davy (1778–1829)
The British inventor, chemist, physicist and geologist began his career as an assistant pharmacist. He was fired for conducting many experiments.
At 23, Davy already received the title of professor of chemistry. He continued his experiments, from which he received multiple injuries. The first to experience the effect of laughing gas, and during experiments with methane, he invented a safe lamp for miners.
During one of the explosions, he lost his eye, and once an assistant saved him from death. By the age of 45, due to the effects of explosions and inhalation of various gases, Davy became disabled and died as a result of several apoplexy strokes at the age of 51.
7
Max von Pettenkofer (1818–1901)
The German chemist, naturalist and doctor became the founder of the first Institute of Hygiene in Europe. In 1890 he was elected president of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.
In his youth, he was actively engaged in chemistry and practical medicine. He wrote works on the arrangement of cities, the organization of waste collection, the construction of sewers for the purpose of recovery.
He studied infectious diseases, and at the age of 73 he drank cholera embryos. The scientist survived, because, learning about his intentions, they sent him weakened bacilli. He committed suicide after the death of his wife and three children.
8
Ilya Mechnikov (1845–1916)
The experiment with the infection of himself with the cholera virus was repeated by a Russian scientist, a Nobel Prize laureate. While in Paris, he intentionally tries to infect himself with cholera in order to check Koch’s findings on cholera pathogens.
Members of the Pasteur Institute, the wife and friends of Ilya Ilyich discouraged the scientist from a dangerous experiment, but he disobeyed, and drank a cocktail of cholera vibrios.
Fortunately, Mechnikov did not get sick, which made it possible to draw certain conclusions about the behavior of pathogens of a dangerous disease. To finally make sure that the conclusions were correct, his assistant Latapi repeated the experiment of the teacher and also did not get sick.
9
Henry Head (1861–1940)
The Englishman, the famous neuropsychologist Henry Head, became famous for his discoveries in the field of neurology. For his work he was awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society of London.
In 1903, Henry, with the help of his assistant, cut the radial and external nerves on his arm. Together with his colleague for 4 years he conducted experiments with a damaged arm. A total of 167 experiments were described in the journal.
As a result of this, two types of sensitivity were discovered and described - protopathic and epicritical. This allowed significant progress in the diagnosis and treatment of the human nervous system.
10
Alexander Bogdanov (1873–1928)
The Russian scientist, revolutionary, doctor and science fiction writer became famous as one of the developers of the ideas of public consciousness.
Leaving revolutionary activity, he took up close interest in medicine, and began to conduct experiments with blood transfusion. After some time of self-experiment, he noticed that he had stopped balding, and his vision improved significantly.
Joseph Stalin became interested in his works, and Bogdanov headed the Institute of Blood Transfusion. During one of the transfusions, he poured himself the blood of a patient with tuberculosis and became ill. But he died two weeks later from a mismatch of Rhesus factors, which were then unknown to the scientific world.
11
John Haldane (1892–1964)
An English biologist and an outstanding geneticist in the 1920s published works on genetics, which significantly enriched the knowledge of people in this field.
A talented scientist and selfless man repeatedly surprised his colleagues with bold experiments, and in 1939 he began to study the effect of deep-sea diving on the body of sailors. The fact is that the crew of the Tatis boat was tragically killed that year.
He locked himself in a steel pressure chamber to experience all overloads. As a result of the experiment, he seriously injured his spine, but made useful conclusions. Based on his findings, methods for saving submariners were developed, and the scientist himself became a national hero.
12
William Randolph Lovelace II (1907–1965)
The American Army lieutenant, military doctor William Lovelace, studied the effects of altitude in flight on humans.
In order to accurately establish all the parameters of influence and sensation, in 1943 he jumped from a height of 12,000 meters. Earlier, he noticed that jumping from planes at high altitude, pilots lost consciousness from a lack of oxygen.
When his parachute opened, William lost consciousness and frostbitten his hand. After he invented the oxygen mask, which is used by pilots. He moved to work at NASA, but there he was no longer allowed to put on himself dangerous experiments.
13
Nicolae Minovici (1868–1941)
The Romanian doctor conducted many experiments and became one of the founders of the emergency hospital behavior system.
In 1904, he decided to describe the symptoms of asphyxiation, for which he choked himself with a rope. To begin with, he choked himself with his hands, and then with the help of a block under the ceiling through which the rope was thrown. He pulled at her, squeezing his neck. As soon as he felt that he was losing consciousness, he let go of the rope.
Accustomed to a slight strangulation, Nicolae literally hanged himself. After 26 seconds, an assistant pulled him out of the loop. He described all his sensations. After that, I could not swallow for a long time, and the stranglehold on my neck lasted a week.
14
Karl Patterson Schmidt (1890–1957)
The American herpetologist worked at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, and in 1955 he headed the department of zoology.
In 1957, an unknown snake entered the zoo, the study of which was taken by Karl Schmidt. After the first inspection of the snake, whose length was 76 cm, he made notes in a notebook. He concluded that she is very similar to a boomslang. When he took the snake in his hands to take a closer look, she bit his thumb. He went to the doctor, and after the hospital he continued to record his feelings at home, believing that the poison was not enough to kill a man.
One day after the bite, Schmidt died of respiratory paralysis. His diary of the last hours of his life was published, and a separate film was published about the scientist on the Air Force.
15
Fedor Talyzin (1903-1980)
The famous Russian biologist, parasitologist. Fedor Talyzin fearlessly participated in the elimination of deadly foci of infection in different parts of the world. He did a lot to create anti-snake vaccines.
It is especially worth noting his work during the years of World War II, when Fyodor Talyzin saved the lives of Soviet soldiers with his discoveries.
In 1941, along with bread, he specially swallowed 2 larvae of bovine tapeworm. While the parasite was inside, it described in detail the symptoms and sensations. These observations have contributed to a breakthrough in personal hygiene prevention. When the experiment ended, the length of the chains was 9.6 m. If you want to learn about the largest worms found in human organisms, then follow the link.
16
Alain Bombard (1924–2005)
The French doctor, a brave traveler, an illustrious biologist and politician did much to develop methods of survival in extreme conditions.
In order to propagate the methods of survival of the shipwrecked, in 1952 he crossed the Atlantic Ocean alone in an ordinary rubber boat. He did not take food supplies and fresh water with him. The boat was designed to rescue boats with an intact food supply.
At the end of the dangerous journey, the commission testified that the selection of products remained intact. After the trip, he made a significant contribution to the development and creation of liferafts, which saved more than one life during shipwrecks.
17
Marie Curie (1867–1934)
Among these selfless people was a woman, a talented scientist Maria Skłodowska-Curie. The first female professor in the history of science. Thebiggest has written about it more than once in its articles. She is one of the most famous women in history, and was also one of the youngest Nobel laureates in history.
In collaboration with her husband, she discovered radium and polonium, conducted numerous experiments with radioactive minerals. Her hands were all sores, since the woman did not take any remedies.
Moreover, the Nobel laureate wore a pendant on her chest in which there was radium. As a result, Maria fell ill with leukemia and died at the age of 66. The husband could repeat the fate of his wife to die of bleeding, but even earlier he died under the wheels of a carriage.
Conclusion
The names of these, as well as many others, not mentioned in the article, scientists in golden letters are inscribed in the history of mankind. Their experiences and self-sacrifice helped to cope with many deadly diseases, as well as to better understand the nature of man and the world around us. Of course, the list is incomplete, and thebiggest editorial board hopes that our reader will add scientists known to him who set experiments on themselves or died as a result of experiments. Please share your thoughts in the comments on this article. Maybe you know other scientists who conducted experiments on themselves, which should be in this article?