6 Before 1929, most scientists, including Einstein thought the universe just “was there” from the start and was unchanging in its size. Einstein realized he was wrong when he came to know about Hubble’s findings in 1930.

Einstein’s equations told him that the universe could not stay static, it had to either expand or contract. But, he ignored what his mathematics was telling him. Astronomical knowledge of the time told Einstein that the universe was unchanging in its size. In 1930, Edwin Hubble, studied the redshift of distant galaxies and concluded that our universe is expanding by using the most powerful telescope on Earth. When Einstein came to know about Hubble’s findings, he traveled to California and met him. At the Mount Wilson Observatory, he saw the massive data set on distant galaxies that had led to “Hubble’s law” describing the expansion of the universe and realized he was wrong all the time. (source)

7 Rudolf Diesel, Inventor of the Diesel engine, committed suicide in 1913 because he thought his invention would not be successful.

In the early 1900s, many observers thought the combustion engine would not stand before steam powered cars or electric cars. Rudolf Diesel, who invented the Diesel engine during the 1890s, committed suicide in 1913 because he didn’t think his invention would be successful. But within four decades after his death his invention dominated the large marine and truck market  and much later (by the 1990s) it took a significant share of the European automotive market. (source)

8 When Einstein died in 1955, a small brown notebook referred as “Zurich notebook” containing his private calculations about his theory of relativity, was found which has been posted online for everyone to see.

Einstein’s general theory of relativity stands above all as his greatest achievement. His search for general relativity spanned eight years. In 1955 when Einstein died, a small brown notebook “Notes for Lectures on Relativity” containing his private calculations was found among his papers. He wrote equations linking space, time, matter, and gravity every bit as beautiful as Shakespeare’s sonnets, but written in the universal language of mathematics. Every time a new test is devised Einstein’s theory wins. (source)

9 Robert Augustus Chesebrough, who invented Vaseline, was such a believer in Vaseline that he used to eat a spoonful of it every day.

Robert Augustus Chesebrough was an American chemist. He discovered petroleum jelly which he marketed as Vaseline and he founded the Chesebrough Manufacturing Company. He claimed to have eaten a spoonful of it every day. Before selling petroleum jelly, he tested it on his own cuts and burns. To demonstrate this, he would burn his skin with acid or an open flame, then spread the clear jelly on his injuries and would show past injuries which got healed. (source)

10 Niels Bohr was gifted a house with direct pipeline of Free Beer by Carlsberg after he won the Nobel Prize in 1922.

Niels Bohr was one of the greatest scientists, he was also a favorite of his fellow Danes when he lived in Copenhagen. After he won the Nobel Prize in 1922, the Carlsberg brewery gave him a house as a gift located next to the brewery. This house had a direct pipeline to the brewery so that Bohr had free beer on tap whenever he wanted. Bohr founded the Institute for Theoretical Physics in 1921 with the help of the Danish government and Carlsberg’s Foundation. (source)