SERIOUSLY UNDERRATED PEOPLE IN HISTORY

LISE MEITNER

Although she discovered nuclear fission, her colleague

Otto Hahn got all the credit and denied that she had

helped him. Eventually, however, the truth came out and

today she even has an element named after her, meitnerium.

ALICE PAUL

After picketing for women’s rights for years, being thrown in

jail, and sent to an insane asylum, word finally got out about

how she was being treated and she was released. It led to

the near immediate passing of the 19th Amendment.

ANTONIO SALIERI

He trained both Beethoven and Schubert but is not

nearly as well known.

WITOLD PILECKI

A Polish soldier, he willingly got himself sent to Auschwitz

and successfully set up a resistance movement.

CECILIA HELENA PAYNE-GAPOSCHKIN

She discovered the composition of stars but was told to

leave it out of her PhD thesis because it was

unconventional and she was a woman. Not long after,

somebody else got credit for her discovery. In recent

years, however, the injustice has been somewhat rectified.

ALEXANDER FLEMING

He invented antibiotics and has probably saved your life

multiple times. Actually, you probably wouldn’t even be here

if it weren’t for his discoveries.

MALCOM MCLEAN

In 1956 he patented the shipping container and standardized

the shipping industry. It pretty much revolutionized international trade.

JOHN SNOW

An English physician, he was a leader in the adoption of

anaesthesia and medical hygiene. He is also considered

the father of epidemiology and advocated strongly for

better waste management in London following a cholera

outbreak. His ideas spread around the world, vastly

improving public health, and possibly saving

millions of lives.