this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2024
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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 1 week ago (2 children)

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

Vasili Arkhipov

[–] moonlight@fedia.io 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 1 points 1 week ago

These are great examples.

I knew about Petrov. Great humans both of them!

[–] 5oap10116@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

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

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

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 1 week ago (2 children)

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 1 week 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 1 week 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 1 week 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 1 week ago (1 children)

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 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

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 1 week ago (1 children)

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 1 week ago (1 children)

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

[–] Subtracty@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week 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 1 week ago (2 children)

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 1 week ago
[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 week ago

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

[–] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 1 week ago
[–] Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

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 1 week ago (1 children)

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

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 1 week ago (2 children)

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 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Curium is named after both Pierre and Marie Curie

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago
[–] nudnyekscentryk@szmer.info 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Maria SkΕ‚odowska-Curie

jk btw

[–] Akasazh@feddit.nl 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Kurva!

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

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 3 points 1 week ago

Curium is named for Marie and Pierre Curie.

[–] skvlp@lemm.ee 6 points 1 week ago

Ad hoc weapons (Vjatsjeslav Mikhajlovitsj Molotov)?

Probably played some golf on the moon.

[–] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

There's a whole series of books about this lol

(Referring to Guinness)

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 1 points 1 week 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 1 week ago (1 children)

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

Testudo Aubreii

[–] dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

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, β€œafter the late Thag Simmons”) and had that name adopted as the official name by paleontologists.

[–] The_Che_Banana@beehaw.org 2 points 1 week ago

Absolutely fantastic people still know this and share it.

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 1 points 1 week 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 1 week ago (3 children)

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

[–] HottieAutie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The first person to be the 28th President

[–] GoldenDeLorean@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

He was number 1!

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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 1 week ago

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

[–] saigot@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

be the 28th president

CΓ©sar Gaviria or Salvador Allende?

[–] ch00f@lemmy.world -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)
[–] Iapar@feddit.org 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It says at the end that is an Aprils fool?

[–] ch00f@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Ah, I remember finding it on stumbleupon like 20 years ago. I always thought it odd that there was no video or follow up story.

Hunted for a link at 1am last night and wasn’t really paying attention. Plus the whole thing grossed me out, so I didn’t look too closely.

Sorry for wasting everyone’s time.

[–] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

.. To which i fell victim. Thanks to the commenter before you for wasting time. And thanks to the world being weird enough to make me believe this without hesitation.

[–] Iapar@feddit.org 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Me too^^

I was shouting to a friend sitting next to me "look at that shit! I can't believe it! Why! Why would someone do this shit?! Its fucking nuts I mean lo... Oh nevermind..."

[–] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

Yeah like that 😁 But I'm on the net since day1 and i stopped asking WHY a long time ago πŸ˜‚