#6. Michael Faraday
The Amateur:
A guy who worked in a London book shop, with virtually no
formal education.
The Accomplishment:
Revolutionized our understanding of electricity, and a
whole lot more.
If you are using anything powered by electricity, if you
know anything about magnetism, if you have ever used a
Bunsen burner or if you are a big fan of benzene and the
clathrate hydrate of chlorine (and who isn't?), then you owe
some respect to Mr. Faraday. Michael Faraday was a
genuine experimental genius and is considered one of the
most influential scientists of all time. Oh, and he never had
any formal education.
Getty
"If a guy can electrify a frog and be called a genius, I think
we're going to be fine."
Faraday was born into a poor family in industrial London,
so he never had any money to pay for a proper school.
Instead, at age 14 he took an apprenticeship at the local
book-binder for seven years. While he was there, he
started to read some of the books that he was binding
sort of like working in a chocolate factory and eating all
the chocolate, only you don't get fired for it.
iStockPhoto
Unless you think this is the best way to absorb
information.
Now, having read up on a bunch of science stuff and finding
himself fascinated with it, he asked London's best
scientist, Humphrey Davy, for an assistant job. Humphrey
declined. To be honest, Faraday was a guy with absolutely
no scientific experience or education who had just asked
the best chemist in the business for a job.
Getty
While nowadays, we line mattresses with newly graduated
college students.
He did get a job in the next year though, and then shit went
down. In short time, Faraday invented the electric motor,
the electric generator, the Bunsen burner, electrolysis and
electroplating. He discovered electro-magnetic induction,
he discovered benzene, he figured out the shape of
magnetic fields, discovered metallic nano-particles
(thought to be the birth of nano-science) and something
complicated about chlorine. Basically, he was a science
machine.
Today, his legacy lives on as one of the best scientists the
world has ever seen, despite having never been taught
science in his life. Besides, no one could really teach him
much science because he discovered most of it. Davy, the
world famous chemist who turned down his initial job
application, was once asked, "What was your greatest
discovery?" He replied, "Michael Faraday."
#5. A Musician Discovered the Planet Uranus
The Amateur:
A composer who played the cello and oboe, who had no
education in astronomy.
The Accomplishment:
Discovered several moons and, oh yeah -- a new planet.
German native William Herschel dreamed about outer
space, but in his day-to-day life found himself about as far
away from the stars as one can get; namely, England in the
18th century. He was a talented musician and by his late
20s, was taking prominent jobs in the exciting world of
professional organ playing, and all the professional organ
player groupies that presumably came with a gig like that.
Oh, and Herschel also happened to be a certified genius.
Though being seriously interested in all things extra-
terrestrial, he didn't have a telescope. Obviously, the most
sensible solution was to spend 16 hours a day grinding up
mirrors and lenses to make his own. To fill out the
underdog shape of this story arc, we like to think this
happened after the rich, popular scientists made fun of him
for not having a telescope at a dance.
Wikipedia
"I'll show them, with the skills I learned grinding organs!" -
Grinding To Uranus: The William Herschel Story
According to his journal, he "began to look at the planets
and stars" in May 1773, as opposed to, you know, using the
telescope to spy on nude sunbathing neighbors (they used
to do that in 1773, right?). A few years later, after some
casual, mind-numbingly intense searching of the sky, he
found something interesting.
Getty
No, not her.
As he searched the sky, he found something that didn't
quite fit as a star or a comet. After sending off his
observations to a Russian professional he realized he'd
discovered a freaking planet . Uranus, to be exact.
observadores-cometas.com
Probably shown here.
Obviously he was rather pleased. Herschel decided to
name the planet the "Georgian Star" after King George III,
because although being only an amateur astronomer, he
was a professional suck up. The name didn't catch on, but
somehow "Uranus" did -- so he went with that. Honestly,
the people naming the first planet discovered since the
ancients should have been able to hire a better PR team.
Still, Herschel discovered a planet, which is quite a bit
more than we've accomplished to date, even if you count
going this entire entry and only making one your-anus
jokes.
Getty
"What ever did that gentlemen mean? My anus. How
preposter ...
OH GODDAMMIT PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE DOING THAT
FOR CENTURIES."
#4. Srinivasa Ramanujan
The Amateur:
An impoverished Indian teenager.
The Accomplishment:
Lived Good Will Hunting in real life.
If you paid really close attention in Good Will Hunting , you
might recall that at one point, Robin Williams has a
conversation in which Matt Damon's genius janitor is
compared to someone named Srinivasa Ramanujan. It was
right after a "dots not feathers" racist joke. We knew that
would jog your memory. Well, that was a real guy . He
taught himself math, and turned out to be one of the
greatest math geniuses to come along in the last few
centuries.
colnet
Seen here, mocking you endlessly while you try to figure
out the postage from India.
Ramanujan was insanely good at math, and it wasn't due
to any education, either -- he was entirely self taught. His
parents gave him a math textbook on advanced
trigonometry around age 11. He decided to learn the hell
out of that book, and then because advanced trigonometry
was so piss easy, he derived his own sophisticated
theorems all by himself.
At age 13.
He did go to college later, but failed out of school because
it was hard to focus on classes about art history and
fungus biology when he was inventing new math in his
spare time.
Getty
"This isn't even a goddamn triangle."
Still living in abject poverty, he started sending his
theorems off to various important math people
India, some in England. Almost every time his work was
dismissed as a hoax, or returned without comment,
presumably unread. Other times the mathematicians on
the receiving end had no idea what they were looking at,
because these were equations no human had ever created.
Finally, when a professor at Cambridge University saw the
theorems, he recognized the work of a genius and invited
Ramanujan to England. Ramanujan refused to leave India
"to go to a foreign land," despite Professor Hardy offering
possibly his only chance at recognition. At this point, we'd
probably make a joke that he had the biggest balls in
mathematics, but he actually had a medically swollen
testicle that had to be drained annually, so that seems a
bit insensitive.
Wikipedia
Unlike his testicle.
Today, his formulas have found uses in everything from
string theory to crystallography. Hardy said that his
mathematical genius was comparable to guys like
goddamned Isaac Newton and Archimedes . Yeah, that's
going back more than 2,000 years to find somebody in his
class. If he hadn't died at the young age of 32, he probably
would have been the sort of household name you don't
need racist and ball jokes to remember.
The Amateur:
A guy who worked in a London book shop, with virtually no
formal education.
The Accomplishment:
Revolutionized our understanding of electricity, and a
whole lot more.
If you are using anything powered by electricity, if you
know anything about magnetism, if you have ever used a
Bunsen burner or if you are a big fan of benzene and the
clathrate hydrate of chlorine (and who isn't?), then you owe
some respect to Mr. Faraday. Michael Faraday was a
genuine experimental genius and is considered one of the
most influential scientists of all time. Oh, and he never had
any formal education.
Getty
"If a guy can electrify a frog and be called a genius, I think
we're going to be fine."
Faraday was born into a poor family in industrial London,
so he never had any money to pay for a proper school.
Instead, at age 14 he took an apprenticeship at the local
book-binder for seven years. While he was there, he
started to read some of the books that he was binding
sort of like working in a chocolate factory and eating all
the chocolate, only you don't get fired for it.
iStockPhoto
Unless you think this is the best way to absorb
information.
Now, having read up on a bunch of science stuff and finding
himself fascinated with it, he asked London's best
scientist, Humphrey Davy, for an assistant job. Humphrey
declined. To be honest, Faraday was a guy with absolutely
no scientific experience or education who had just asked
the best chemist in the business for a job.
Getty
While nowadays, we line mattresses with newly graduated
college students.
He did get a job in the next year though, and then shit went
down. In short time, Faraday invented the electric motor,
the electric generator, the Bunsen burner, electrolysis and
electroplating. He discovered electro-magnetic induction,
he discovered benzene, he figured out the shape of
magnetic fields, discovered metallic nano-particles
(thought to be the birth of nano-science) and something
complicated about chlorine. Basically, he was a science
machine.
Today, his legacy lives on as one of the best scientists the
world has ever seen, despite having never been taught
science in his life. Besides, no one could really teach him
much science because he discovered most of it. Davy, the
world famous chemist who turned down his initial job
application, was once asked, "What was your greatest
discovery?" He replied, "Michael Faraday."
#5. A Musician Discovered the Planet Uranus
The Amateur:
A composer who played the cello and oboe, who had no
education in astronomy.
The Accomplishment:
Discovered several moons and, oh yeah -- a new planet.
German native William Herschel dreamed about outer
space, but in his day-to-day life found himself about as far
away from the stars as one can get; namely, England in the
18th century. He was a talented musician and by his late
20s, was taking prominent jobs in the exciting world of
professional organ playing, and all the professional organ
player groupies that presumably came with a gig like that.
Oh, and Herschel also happened to be a certified genius.
Though being seriously interested in all things extra-
terrestrial, he didn't have a telescope. Obviously, the most
sensible solution was to spend 16 hours a day grinding up
mirrors and lenses to make his own. To fill out the
underdog shape of this story arc, we like to think this
happened after the rich, popular scientists made fun of him
for not having a telescope at a dance.
Wikipedia
"I'll show them, with the skills I learned grinding organs!" -
Grinding To Uranus: The William Herschel Story
According to his journal, he "began to look at the planets
and stars" in May 1773, as opposed to, you know, using the
telescope to spy on nude sunbathing neighbors (they used
to do that in 1773, right?). A few years later, after some
casual, mind-numbingly intense searching of the sky, he
found something interesting.
Getty
No, not her.
As he searched the sky, he found something that didn't
quite fit as a star or a comet. After sending off his
observations to a Russian professional he realized he'd
discovered a freaking planet . Uranus, to be exact.
observadores-cometas.com
Probably shown here.
Obviously he was rather pleased. Herschel decided to
name the planet the "Georgian Star" after King George III,
because although being only an amateur astronomer, he
was a professional suck up. The name didn't catch on, but
somehow "Uranus" did -- so he went with that. Honestly,
the people naming the first planet discovered since the
ancients should have been able to hire a better PR team.
Still, Herschel discovered a planet, which is quite a bit
more than we've accomplished to date, even if you count
going this entire entry and only making one your-anus
jokes.
Getty
"What ever did that gentlemen mean? My anus. How
preposter ...
OH GODDAMMIT PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE DOING THAT
FOR CENTURIES."
#4. Srinivasa Ramanujan
The Amateur:
An impoverished Indian teenager.
The Accomplishment:
Lived Good Will Hunting in real life.
If you paid really close attention in Good Will Hunting , you
might recall that at one point, Robin Williams has a
conversation in which Matt Damon's genius janitor is
compared to someone named Srinivasa Ramanujan. It was
right after a "dots not feathers" racist joke. We knew that
would jog your memory. Well, that was a real guy . He
taught himself math, and turned out to be one of the
greatest math geniuses to come along in the last few
centuries.
colnet
Seen here, mocking you endlessly while you try to figure
out the postage from India.
Ramanujan was insanely good at math, and it wasn't due
to any education, either -- he was entirely self taught. His
parents gave him a math textbook on advanced
trigonometry around age 11. He decided to learn the hell
out of that book, and then because advanced trigonometry
was so piss easy, he derived his own sophisticated
theorems all by himself.
At age 13.
He did go to college later, but failed out of school because
it was hard to focus on classes about art history and
fungus biology when he was inventing new math in his
spare time.
Getty
"This isn't even a goddamn triangle."
Still living in abject poverty, he started sending his
theorems off to various important math people
India, some in England. Almost every time his work was
dismissed as a hoax, or returned without comment,
presumably unread. Other times the mathematicians on
the receiving end had no idea what they were looking at,
because these were equations no human had ever created.
Finally, when a professor at Cambridge University saw the
theorems, he recognized the work of a genius and invited
Ramanujan to England. Ramanujan refused to leave India
"to go to a foreign land," despite Professor Hardy offering
possibly his only chance at recognition. At this point, we'd
probably make a joke that he had the biggest balls in
mathematics, but he actually had a medically swollen
testicle that had to be drained annually, so that seems a
bit insensitive.
Wikipedia
Unlike his testicle.
Today, his formulas have found uses in everything from
string theory to crystallography. Hardy said that his
mathematical genius was comparable to guys like
goddamned Isaac Newton and Archimedes . Yeah, that's
going back more than 2,000 years to find somebody in his
class. If he hadn't died at the young age of 32, he probably
would have been the sort of household name you don't
need racist and ball jokes to remember.
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