Over the centuries, strange scientists have abounded. Humphry Davy was so addicted to laughing gas he died from it. Francis Crick thought life on Earth was seeded by aliens. Eccentric? Yes. But compared to these guys, they are the very models of sanity.

Here, we honor science's finest nutjobs.

Fritz Zwicky (astronomer, 1898-1974)

Science:
Zwicky deduced the existence of dark matter and neutron stars, and figured out what supernovae were (coining the name in the process).

Madness:
The reason Zwicky deduced all these things was because he was "an extraordinarily original thinker." Lots of people are extraordinarily original thinkers. Most of them are under arrest or locked safely away in rooms with heavily padded walls. Some of Zwicky's "original ideas" turned out to be true, which is why he has escaped being labeled as a crackpot for his other ideas, including nuclear goblins and planet relocation.

Zwicky also didn't have very good people skills. Even his closest collaborator, Walter Baade, refused to be left alone with him.

Carl Scheele (chemist, 1742-1786)

Science:
Scheele was almost ridiculously proficient at discovering elements (eight, including oxygen) and useful chemical compounds thereof.

Madness:
He was also insistent on tasting everything he worked with, and we mean everything—mercury and prussic acid were just two of the many noxious substances known to enter his palate.

He eventually died at age 43 of (what else) poisoning, but as to what exactly killed him, take your pick: he was found at his workbench surrounded by dozens of different toxic chemicals.

Henry Cavendish (chemist and physicist, 1731-1810)

Science:
The introverted Cavendish was the preeminent scientist of his day, isolating hydrogen to discover the famed H2O formula and the density of the Earth.

Madness:
Did we mention he was introverted? How about shy to the point of mania? He was so determined to avoid all direct human contact that even his housekeeper had to communicate with him by letter. Naturally, all this clandestine activity had a bit of a drawback—namely, other scientists being credited with dozens of laws and discoveries up to over 150 years after he found them by himself without telling anyone.

Not to mention the experiments he conducted (alone, natch) that involved self-electrocution, since no mad scientist worth his salt would be unwilling to use himself as a test subject.

Rev. William Buckland (geologist and paleontologist, 1784-1856)

Science:
Reverend Buckland was the first man to write a full account of a dinosaur fossil (Megalosaurus), the same year he rose to the position of president of the Geological Society of London.

Madness:
As a gastronome, Buckland surpassed Carl Scheele in grossness if not lethality. He was determined to eat his way through the animal kingdom (finding only moles and bluebottles unpalatable)—culminating, to the certain surprise of a museum guide, with the preserved heart of King Louis XIV.

Then there is the matter of the menagerie of wild animals roaming freely about his house and garden (free-range meals?) and his collection of fossilized crap, which he had made into a table. (No word on whether he ate any of the specimens, but it wouldn't surprise us.) Buckland is also notable for being the only scientist on this list to go "officially" mad and end up in an asylum.

Isaac Newton (everything, 1643-1727)

Science:
A few minor things you've probably never heard of.

Madness:
Newton's insanities were as variegated as his scientific accomplishments. Both were evident from an early age: by age 20, Newton had both discovered the generalized binomial theorem and threatened to kill his mother and stepfather. Things just took off from there. His experiments included inserting a needle into his eye socket and staring directly at the sun; over half his working life was devoted to alchemy and esoteric spiritual pursuits, writing so much about occult subjects that a whole separate Wikipedia article is needed to describe them.

In addition to being the original mad scientist, Newton was also the original absentminded professor, making minor discoveries like, oh, calculus and the laws of planetary motion, and then forgetting to tell anyone about them for years or even decades—and in the case of the laws of planetary motion, even misplacing the paperwork, a blunder akin to a modern scientist misplacing the formula for the cure for cancer.

J.B.S. Haldane (biologist, 1892-1964)

Science:
Haldane was one of the founders of population genetics and discovered or co-discovered two biological principles. He was also fascinated with the study of the dangers to deep-sea divers. (Remember that last part.)

Madness:
"Jack" Haldane is proof that scientific insanity can be genetic—father John was ridiculously absentminded and poisoned himself to the point of death with carbon monoxide (for "study purposes." Right). But Jack took the crazy to a whole new level.

After starting out testing gas masks with Dad (guess how), J.B.S. took a time out from science to serve in World War I, calling it "a very enjoyable experience." Upon his return, he acquired a pressure chamber, and that's when things really hit the fan. Test subjects in his demented experiments—including his own wife and an ex-Prime Minister of Spain—routinely ended up suffering the gamut of resultant symptoms from bleeding and vomiting to seizures and collapsed lungs.

Naturally, Haldane followed in the grand insane scientist tradition of self-experimentation as well, suffering crushed vertebrae and loss of feeling in his lower spine; mere perforated eardrums amused him sufficiently to perfect the art of blowing smoke out of his ears, which must have made him very easy to track in a crowd.

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