TOP 10

10. Robert Bunsen Born in 1811, Robert Bunsen is mostly notable now for the invention which carries his name, the famous Bunsen Burner (actually developed by his assistant, but that’s another story).  This feat, however, was not all Bunsen was remarkable for, thanks to a lesser known yet significantly more awesome aspect of his history: Robert Bunsen was sort of like science’s answer to  Die Hard . During 1840, Bunsen decided to begin working with compounds known as cacodyls, despite the knowledge that these cacodyls had a number of well-researched risks associated with them.  Namely, they’re highly explosive, extremely toxic (containing the poison arsenic), liable to combustion in dry air, and perhaps worst of all, the name “cacodyl” is derived from the Greek word for “evil-smelling”.  Unfazed and ready to swing some punches for science, Bunsen stepped bravely into the metaphoric ring…and promptly lost an eye to a (ridiculously predictable) cacodyl explosio...

10. Mick Hucknall The lead singer of  Simply Red  is the poster boy for curly red hair. He used to wear it longer and sometimes tied it back. It’s shorter now but the striking color is still there. It never did him any harm and the band enjoyed numerous hit records, such as ‘Money’s Too Tight to Mention’, ‘Holding Back the Years’, ‘If You Don’t Know Me By Now’, and ‘Fairground’. Hucknall has said that he considers name-calling people with ginger hair to be racism. 9. Brian May The lead guitarist was largely responsible for  Queen ‘s distinctive sound. He also wrote some of the well known Queen songs. May’s unusual resume also includes his contribution to the study of astrophysics. He has said that comments on his hair ‘irritate’ him. Hair fashions will come and go but May is comfortable with his long perm, which hasn’t changed since Queen’s early days. 8. Diana Ross The singing diva has had a remarkable and long career, as lead vocalist with the Tamla...

10. Elsa Schiaparelli This Italian designer was known for her love of surrealistic art and she used this influence to great effect in her offbeat, irreverent designs. She is also known as the inventor of a bright pink shade known as “shocking pink”. Born in Rome in 1890 to an aristocratic mother and an intellectual father, Schiaparelli soon rebelled against the conventional life of the upper classes. Her desire for exploration and experimentation landed her in hot water as a teen, when she published a book of poems with decidedly sensual overtones. Her work deeply offended her parents, who punished her by placing her in a convent. Schiaparelli was so determined to escape from the nunnery that she initiated a hunger strike which resulted in her release. By her early twenties she had fled to London, where she could live under less scrutiny. Later, during a foray in New York, she joined with artist friends and they all made their way to Paris… In the City of Light, during the y...

10. California and the Midwest “Airship” Sightings, 1896-97 Not many people know that seeing unidentified lights in the sky goes back over a century, when the first UFO “flap” (a grouping of UFO sightings made over a specific area within a few months) occurred over a hundred years ago in the waning years of the nineteenth century. It all began when a mysterious unidentified light was observed by hundreds of people moving slowly over Sacramento, California in November, 1896, apparently moving  against  the wind at a leisurely thirty miles an hour. It was seen again a week later, this time over San Francisco; by the end of the year hundreds of reports of the thing were coming in from all over the Pacific coast, creating a media frenzy. After a two-month absence during the winter of 1896-97, the mysterious object—described by some witnesses as being suspended beneath a dark,  cigar-shaped craft —reappeared over the Midwest, where it was reportedly seen from Nebraska t...

10.  Her Secret Is Patience  (2009), by Janet Echelman First up is the most recent sculpture on the list. Echelman’s works are made from galvanized steel and polyester twine netting. This one, the title of which derives from a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson,  is suspended above Civic Space Park at Arizona State University and moves with the wind, a process Echelman deems “wind choreography,” which simulates a cumulus cloud. At night, it is lit with colored lights, giving it the air of a giant  jellyfish  or a terrestrial version of the aurora borealis. For more on Echelman’s vision, view her  TED Talk . 9.  Metalmorphosis  (2007), by David Cerny Cerny is a Czech sculptor who specializes in big heads and controversy. His  TowerBabies  is a work installed on the 709-feet tall Zizkov Television Tower in Prague. As the name implies, it’s a series of cast bronze infants climbing the main tower. Another sculpture in Prague feat...