Are you willing to endanger your well-being to advance medical research? Apparently Jesse William Lazear answered “yes” and proved the hypothesis that the mosquito, Aedes aegypti, is the culprit in spreading the yellow fever virus. This dreadful disease killed so much more soldiers than actual military combat during the Spanish-American War in 1890′s.
photo from Cracked.com
Lazear was a researcher who was commissioned in the Yellow Fever Board by the United States government together with a team of doctors under Walter Reed who is often credited in history books for the success in stopping the disease.
Lazear’s decision was highlighted as #3 in the 6 Scientific Advances Courtesy of Reckless Self-Endangerment. The other breakthroughs courtesy of extreme sacrifices by researchers themselves are: invention of the stomach pump, proving that leukemia is not contagious, effects of living in isolation, testing morphine, and testing anesthesia.
George Bernard Shaw must be right in saying that “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.“
Indeed the world has become a little better, thanks to the likes of Jesse William Lazear.
