Discover and Die
Marie Curie made almost a habit of working with radioactive element. Her research brought her two Nobel Prizes and she remains one of the most scientists in history. She also died directly as a result of her research from too exposure to radioactivity.
Fritz Haber
Winning a Nobel Prize almost seems to be a kickstart to irony. Fritz Haber won a Nobel Prize in 1918 for research which led to the process of creating modern fertilizer. One year later he was labeled an international war criminal for his part in making chemical weapons used during World War I even more horrifically effective and brutal.
Science and Sales
The cruelest irony of the periodic table is how often the discovery of the magic properties of elements initially wind up being used for commercial-sold products that inevitably wind up physically harming or killing consumers. The Revigator was a radium-lined water crock that came with the recommendation of drinking more than six glasses of water a day. Radium was also briefly an incredibly popular material used to make glow-in-the-dark clocks and watches. Other examples of dangerous merchandise springing from elemental discoveries abound.
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The expedition led by Lewis and Clark across the expanse of the American continent is one of the most detailed treks in the history of exploration. One can trace their movement back and forth almost mile by mile thanks to compulsive record-keeping. Ironically, they perhaps need not have bothered being quite so scrupulous. Another example of dangerous merchandise applies to the irony here as well. Mercury pills to present digestive problems accompanies those Lewis and Clark on their expedition and their trail can be tracked by mercury-poisoned undersoil the company of explorers used for latrines.
The Secret to Winning a Nobel Prize
What is revealed over the course of the book is perhaps not really ironic, but simply part of the scientific process. What is not part of the scientific process, however, is which of those scientists go on to become famous, rich, and collect prestigious awards. There may be no genuine irony in the fact that so many of the discoveries of the elements that make up the periodic table came about through a process utterly dependent upon sheer luck, but that so much of that luck has been hailed as examples of pure scientific genius through the conferring of the Nobel Laureate honor is surely ironic.
