Today, information based on scientific fact is more important than ever, as we face global
crises such as pandemics and climate change. However, a sea of misinformation online makes it
increasingly difficult to tell fact from fiction. Often driven by corporate and political agendas,
some of this misinformation encourages hostility towards science and scientists.
It isn’t the only time in history though that science has been a dangerous endeavor.
This is Unveiled and today we’re taking an extraordinary look at four
scientists who were killed for telling the truth.
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While the pursuit of truth is a noble cause, sometimes searching for that truth can lead
to tragic ends. Discovering the way the world works isn’t always safe, and it’s not unheard
of for scientists to meet a fatal end in an experiment gone wrong. This was the case for
Russian physicist Georg Wilhelm Richmann, who in 1753 was the first person in history
to be killed during electrical experiments. Eager to investigate the thunder he heard,
he was struck in the head by ball lightning. This is of course a case of accidental death,
but there are also many cases where scientists have been deliberately targeted and killed.
According to anecdotes, a prime example of this was Hippasus of Metapontum,
a Greek philosopher and follower of Pythagoras whose life spanned the 6th and 5th centuries
BC. The mathematician had a devout school of followers called the Pythagoreans who preached
the importance of numbers in the universe, believing that whole numbers (and their ratios)
provided insights into the nature of the cosmos. Hippasus is sometimes specifically credited with
the discovery of irrational numbers, though, and it’s said that this truth may have cost him his
life. When considering what the square root of 2 was, Hippasus realized that the answer
cannot be represented by a fraction of two whole numbers. But, after he announced his discovery,
the Pythagoreans supposedly weren’t happy… and Hippasus subsequently
drowned at sea. A punishment from the gods … or, some stories claim, the Pythagoreans!
Another famous scientist to meet an untimely end was the 16th century Italian philosopher,
mathematician, and cosmologist Giordano Bruno. Bruno dared to disagree with the then-popular
notion that the Earth was the center of the universe, and that the Sun revolved around it.
Embracing the Copernican model of the universe, instead, Bruno believed that the Earth revolved
around the Sun … which is of course correct. He also held that the universe was infinite,
and therefore had no center, and that the stars were distant suns with their own
planets - some of which might harbor life. Back then, this idea was known as “cosmic pluralism”,
and it sent the Catholic church into paroxysms of rage. The church, along with some historians, has
insisted that its persecution of Bruno had nothing to do with his cosmology. But his belief in
other worlds featured prominently in accusations against him and during his trials. For the church,
such a belief went against the concept of the human race as being special creatures created
in the image of God, and it threatened to reduce our importance in the universe.
Ultimately, Bruno was burned alive in 1600, his own written works surrounding him and
fueling the fire. Some years later, the famed astronomer Galileo Galilei would
be sentenced to life imprisonment for also believing that the Earth orbits the sun.
While Hippasus and Bruno were killed as a result of telling the truth in some way,
Ignaz Semmelweis suffered more indirectly for his discovery. Semmelweis was a Hungarian physician
who very early on championed the use of antiseptic procedures in hospitals. Although the importance
of washing our hands seems obvious now, that was far from the case in the 19th century. Semmelweis
sought to answer the question of why doctor’s wards had a much higher mortality rate than those
of midwives. After trial and error, he theorized that it was because doctors handled cadavers,
then interacted with other patients - leading to contamination. His results were undeniable:
hand-washing significantly reduced mortality rates. But this was a time before the concept
of germs was accepted, so when questioned about a theoretical explanation for his conclusion,
he couldn’t give a solid answer. Doctors ridiculed him and he suffered a mental breakdown,
and in 1865 was confined against his will in an asylum. There, he was brutally beaten, put into
a straitjacket, and died of infection after just two weeks. Had the medical community recognized
his discovery at the time, many lives could have been saved as a result - including his own.
And finally, another scientist who met a tragic fate during confinement was the Soviet botanist
Nikolai Vavilov. Unfortunately for him, he was a prime example of having the right
knowledge at the wrong time. Today, Vavilov is remembered as an outstanding botanist,
who dedicated much of his work to improving essential crops such as wheat and maize. However,
he ran afoul of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who by the 1930s had become a brutal dictator.
Vavilov believed in Mendelian inheritance, which demonstrated how invisible factors - now
recognized as genes - predictably determine the traits of a plant or animal. However,
Stalin favored a pseudoscientific biologist named Trofim Denisovich Lysenko, who believed instead
in Lamarckism - the inheritance of acquired characteristics. According to this theory,
parent organisms can pass on traits acquired during their lifetime to their offspring. While
this theory once had many proponents, we now know that it’s fundamentally incorrect. Sure,
our parents have a psychological impact on who we become, but biologically,
the traits we inherit at birth are based on their genetic information.
Nevertheless, Stalin’s favorite, Lysenko, rose to a position of influence, becoming
director of the Institute of Genetics in the USSR’s Academy of Sciences. Vavilov, however,
denounced Lysenko’s ideas, fearing that they could have disastrous consequences for
agriculture. In August 1940, Vavilov was then arrested on charges of espionage and sabotage,
as authorities claimed he was attempting to undermine Soviet research. He was interrogated,
given a death sentence which was later changed to 20 years behind bars, but he died in prison
in early 1943 due to the harsh conditions. He was most likely starved to death in a gulag
or forced labor camp. Some accounts claim that he didn’t die from starvation, however,
but was murdered by being thrown into a limepit. Either way, Vavilov’s attempt to lead his country
in the right direction ultimately cost him his life. Meanwhile, Lysenko’s ideas contributed to
famines that killed millions of people in both the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China.
Clearly, scientists can face risks from several different directions. While most
fields are relatively safe, others do involve hazards when it comes to experimentation. The
other threat to scientists, though, comes from people who oppose their research, theories,
and conclusions. Today, in an increasingly divided political climate, there has also
been a notable rise in violent rhetoric. Some of this anger and hate has been aimed at scientists,
from individuals and groups who disagree with scientific opinions. While scientists can be
wrong, and don’t always act ethically, much of this anger is still fuelled by
misinformation… carefully cherry-picked or drawn from suspect sources. Looking back at history,
we can see that sometimes, these threats are more than idle talk.
Because those are four scientists who were killed for telling the truth.
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these other
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