The Resume

(June 6, 1896-October 31, 1986)
Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts
Professor of physics and chemistry at the University of Chicago (1961-85)
Used quantum mechanics to explain how electron orbitals change as atoms combine to form molecules
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1966)

Why he might be annoying:

Early on, he wanted to be a philosopher: ‘Then I got hold of a book on philosophy and I found that all the philosophers, every one, had entirely different ideas, no two could agree. I concluded they were all wrong and science was obviously much preferable.’
During World War I, he served in the Army’s Chemical Warfare Service, synthesizing poison gas.
He suffered burns when he mishandled mustard gas. (‘It’s not a very nice thing to play with.’)
When he first learned about quantum mechanics, he called it ‘a disorganized chaos.’

Why he might not be annoying:

When he joined the National Academy of Science, he was the youngest member in the organization’s history at the time (1928).
When he was 74, he spent a summer at IBM’s San Jose lab, where he learned how to write computer programs.
He was one of 72 living Nobel laureates to file a friend of the court brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down as unconstitutional a Louisiana law mandating that ‘creation science’ be taught along with evolution (1986).

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• 20th Century Scientists
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 76]
• Celebrities Born on the Same Date [June] (Ranked: 6061896)
• Guggenheim Fellowship Grant Recipients
• I Attended MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
• I Attended University of Chicago
• I Died in 1986 (Ranked: 90)
• I Earned a Doctorate
• Look at me, I'm Busted
• Look at Me, My Picture Is Art
• Manhattan Project
• Nobel Prize for Chemistry (Ranked: 1966)
• Profiles 47001-47250 (Ranked: 47048)
• Scientists
• Trick or Treat - I'm Dead [October 31st] (Ranked: 1986)
• We Died on the Same Day (Ranked: 19861031)

Year In Review:

In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying