Afaik, there has never been a real-world mad scientist in the sense of someone making significant discoveries in secret without institutional support and using them for malice[1].
It's odd that mad scientists weren't all that rare in fiction--I have a theory that it was actually repressed fear of government scientists.
[1] Though I suppose that if the secrecy were deep enough and the discovery was subtle....
Re: I probably should have clarified that I meant non-nonsensical science.
It's odd that mad scientists weren't all that rare in fiction--I have a theory that it was actually repressed fear of government scientists.
[1] Though I suppose that if the secrecy were deep enough and the discovery was subtle....