37
submitted 2 months ago by absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

I was reading a post about unique things you wouldn't want, such as a nasty medical condition named after you.

That got me thinking.

What is the most unique thing.

Being the tallest person doesn't count, because there is always a tallest person...

I thought maybe units of measure, there are not really that many units named after people. Newton, Pascal, ampere etc... Turns out there are quite a few.

Next thought was atomic elements, there are 19 named after 20 people. That is fairly unique 20 people out of the ~110 billion to have ever lived, have an element named after them.

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[-] Akasazh@feddit.nl 30 points 2 months ago

Saving the world from nuclear war is a good unique one:

Vasili Arkhipov

[-] moonlight@fedia.io 14 points 2 months ago
[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 1 points 2 months ago

These are great examples.

I knew about Petrov. Great humans both of them!

[-] 5oap10116@lemmy.world 23 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Robert Liston performed a single surgery with a 300% mortality rate (probably).

[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 months ago

I wonder how much is embellishment over the years.

If you sawed off your assistants fingers (hard to do with a hand saw); good chance they would also catch gangrene. Far more likely is that at the first sign of a saw hitting your finger, you move it out of the way.

The third person "died of fright", could have been heart attack. So definitely plausible.

[-] shalafi@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

These surgeons were moving fast, I can see it.

I was sawing wood one night and barely touched my thumb webbing, split open like a mouth. Bet you could take 3 fingers an single forward and back stroke. You can for sure with modern blades.

(If anyone is considering a new saw, get the kind with this sort of edge: https://www.amazon.com/REXBETI-Folding-Camping-Pruning-Quality/dp/B07BLQBN8X/ Those are modern day light sabers.)

[-] TheFriar@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

These surgeons were moving fast, I can see it

Everybody was limb-fu cutting (hiya!)

Those cats were fast as lightning (hiya!)

[-] TheRealKuni@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Can confirm, I cut down an entire small tree with one of those very easily when I was younger.

[-] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 points 2 months ago

Surgeons back then were basically professional limb amputaters. Note that he went through a whole leg in 2.5 minutes. He would have blown through some fingers in no time.

[-] Naich@lemmings.world 19 points 2 months ago

Thomas Midgley Jr. Invented putting lead in fuel and using CFCs for refrigeration. He died when he was strangulated by the machine he invented to help him get out of bed.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.

[-] very_well_lost@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Environmental historian J. R. McNeill opined that Midgley "had more adverse impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history"

Ouch.

[-] Subtracty@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

I have often thought about who the person with the worst carbon footprint would be if you accounted for factors like inventions/policies/war etc. This answers my question, unless there are even worse contributors.

[-] very_well_lost@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

I don't think Midgley really did anything to increase the amount of carbon in the atmosphere — just the amount of lead and CFCs.

[-] Subtracty@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

I was wrong to say carbon footprint, I suppose I'm curious about who has contributed the most to polluting the environment and damaging our climate.

[-] EvilBit@lemmy.world 18 points 2 months ago

Born under a bad sign? This guy is the only officially recognized person to have survived two nuclear bomb detonations.

https://www.damninteresting.com/eyewitnesses-to-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_Yamaguchi

[-] ace_garp@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago
[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 months ago

I remember reading about that guy a few years ago....unlucky / super lucky.

[-] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 2 months ago
[-] Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

For length there is a Smoot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot

Edit: it's 1.702 metres/ 5'7"

[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 3 points 2 months ago

I love the Smoot; but for weird units of measure.... gestures vaguely in the direction of North America

[-] Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago

Off the top of my head though I can't think of any that are based on a persons name. Rod, Chain, Peck, Hogshead etc.

[-] nudnyekscentryk@szmer.info 8 points 2 months ago

atomic elements, there are 19 named after 20 people.

What do you mean? There's one named after two persons?

[-] Akasazh@feddit.nl 20 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Curium is named after both Pierre and Marie Curie

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago
[-] nudnyekscentryk@szmer.info 3 points 2 months ago

Maria Skłodowska-Curie

jk btw

[-] Akasazh@feddit.nl 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Kurva!

*Toasts with pivo in the general direction of Poland/*

[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 3 points 2 months ago

Curium is named for Marie and Pierre Curie.

[-] skvlp@lemm.ee 6 points 2 months ago

Ad hoc weapons (Vjatsjeslav Mikhajlovitsj Molotov)?

[-] then_three_more@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

Probably played some golf on the moon.

[-] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 months ago

There's a whole series of books about this lol

(Referring to Guinness)

[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 1 points 2 months ago

True.

I haven't looked at one since I was a kid.

I know they do, tallest/fastest/biggest etc... But they are all things that always exist.

E.g. the biggest pizza in the world, well before that there was also a biggest pizza it was just smaller than the current one, and before that etc....

I guess anything with a single record, not just the latest in a long string should count.

[-] The_Che_Banana@beehaw.org 4 points 2 months ago

Having a species named after you, even if you're a fictional character

Testudo Aubreii

[-] dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 months ago

Gary Larson has several species of animals named after him. He also named the spiked part of a stegosaurus tail in a comic (the thagomizer, “after the late Thag Simmons”) and had that name adopted as the official name by paleontologists.

[-] The_Che_Banana@beehaw.org 2 points 2 months ago

Absolutely fantastic people still know this and share it.

[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 1 points 2 months ago

I loved that story; in my imagination paleontologist 1 (P1) sees the cartoon and wonders what the official name is. Gets to work and asks old and wise paleontologist 2 (P2) what the official name is.

P2: I don't know. I'll have to ask my venerable colleague (P3) about it next time we are together.
P1: ok cool, I'll just use "Thagomizer" until we find out the official name.
P2: seems reasonable.
a few months pass...
P2: hey P3 what is the official name of the Thagomizer?
P3: um, I have no idea. I should know, I'm a steggy expert, how about we just keep it as Thagomizer!

[-] nooneescapesthelaw@mander.xyz 3 points 2 months ago

Being the first to do x, first man on the moon for example. Or be the 28th president

[-] HottieAutie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 months ago

The first person to be the 28th President

[-] GoldenDeLorean@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

He was number 1!

[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 3 points 2 months ago

While true, I don't think it counts.

There are a huge number of firsts, that have subsequently had a lot of people do that thing.

However only 12 people have walked on the moon. So more unique than the elements.

[-] variants@possumpat.io 1 points 2 months ago

We're about to see the three people who have gone the furthest from earth ever

[-] saigot@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago

be the 28th president

César Gaviria or Salvador Allende?

this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2024
37 points (87.8% liked)

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