8 Scientists Who Experimented on Themselves
Sunday, August 23, 2020
Here are some examples of scientists experimenting on themselves.
1. In 1933, Allan Blair deliberately let a black widow spider bite him to convince those that doubted that the symptoms of the victims were the results of the bite. Blair had to be hospitalized and was in great pain for several days.
2. In 1900, United States Army doctors James Carroll, Aristides Agramonte, and Jesse Lazear let themselves be bitten by yellow-fever-carrying mosquitoes to prove that they're liable for the disease’s spread. Their efforts proved the mosquito-borne nature of yellow jack and saved many lives.
3. John Paul Stapp: Air Force officer and surgeon John Paul Stapp's self-experimentation earned him the nickname "the fastest man on earth." In his research, Stapp repeatedly strapped himself into a rocket sled, nicknamed the "Gee Whiz," and was propelled forward at speeds on the brink of that of sound. He would then brake abruptly to work out the human body's ability to face up to abrupt deceleration. Many broken bones and a temporarily retinal detachment later, Stapp determined a person's body can withstand 45 g of forwarding motion with an adequate harness.
4. In 1921, at the age of 60, Evan O’Neill Kane became the primary person to perform self-surgery to get rid of his appendix. He wanted to make sure that the procedure might be tolerated with just local anesthesia by patients on whom general anesthesia can't be used.
5. Werner Forssmann: In 1929 in the basement of the Eberswaled Hospital in Germany, surgical resident Werner Forssmann inserted a ureteral catheter tube into his elbow, feeding it through a vein up to his heart. He used a mirror as his assistant since he had restrained his nurse to the table. He then took an x-ray of his chest (at left) to work out the catheter had indeed made it to the proper atrium. rather than praise, Forssmann was met with condemnation. This rejection led him to abandon cardiology for urology, but he was later rewarded with the Nobel prize in 1956.
6. Albert Hoffman: Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman was researching the fungus ergot for a drug company when he discovered acid. His initial tests were inconclusive, but Hoffman decided to retest a synthesized version of the acid. In April of 1943, he ingested 25/1000 of a gram of a substance he called LSD-25 in his lab. Legend has it, on his bike ride home his eyes were opened to a brave new hallucinogenic world. to the present day, LSD enthusiasts observe April 19 as "Bicycle Day." Hoffman would still experiment with LSD until his death at 102.
7. In 1984, Barry Marshall drank a broth containing Helicobacter pylori to prove that it had been the bacteria and not stress or spicy food that causes peptic ulcers. In 2005, he and his long-time collaborator, Robin Warren, were awarded the Nobel prize for locating the bacteria.
8. During the Age of Discovery, British scientists were discovering new “airs.” At the start of the Age, there have been three known airs: air (air), fixed air (carbon dioxide), and inflammable air (hydrogen gas).
(Sir Humphry Davy, the Walter White of the late 18th Century)
Sir Humphry Davy was an chemist and avid self-experimenter. Having replicated the dour Joseph Priestley’s synthesis of phlogisticated nitrous air, he tested it on himself and named it “laughing gas.” With the help of inventor Watt , he perfected the tactic of creating a pure laughing gas (without nitrous air, see below). He shared the perfected gas with friends, including Watt and therefore the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Among other tests, they got roaring drunk one night, then subsequent morning tried the wine and nitrous oxide , proclaiming it a cure for the hangover.
(James Watt, AKA Cap’n Cook)
Besides laughing gas , he synthesized many other airs to check on himself. Breathing nitrous air (nitric oxide) reacted with the oxygen and water in his mouth to make nitric acid which burned his mucous membranes. Breathing pure hydrocarbonate gas (carbon monoxide) left him whispering, “I don't think I shall die.” He didn’t and even took his own pulse while recovering.
He did continue to isolate magnesium, barium, strontium, and boron, and find out potassium, sodium, and calcium, all of which apparently he managed to not snort.
(Sir Humphry Davy, the Walter White of the late 18th Century)
Sir Humphry Davy was an chemist and avid self-experimenter. Having replicated the dour Joseph Priestley’s synthesis of phlogisticated nitrous air, he tested it on himself and named it “laughing gas.” With the help of inventor Watt , he perfected the tactic of creating a pure laughing gas (without nitrous air, see below). He shared the perfected gas with friends, including Watt and therefore the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Among other tests, they got roaring drunk one night, then subsequent morning tried the wine and nitrous oxide , proclaiming it a cure for the hangover.
(James Watt, AKA Cap’n Cook)
Besides laughing gas , he synthesized many other airs to check on himself. Breathing nitrous air (nitric oxide) reacted with the oxygen and water in his mouth to make nitric acid which burned his mucous membranes. Breathing pure hydrocarbonate gas (carbon monoxide) left him whispering, “I don't think I shall die.” He didn’t and even took his own pulse while recovering.
He did continue to isolate magnesium, barium, strontium, and boron, and find out potassium, sodium, and calcium, all of which apparently he managed to not snort.