Asimov Press

A 19th-century physicist, Lord Rayleigh, was the first to experimentally measure the size of individual molecules. He did it using little more than oil, water, and a back-of-the-envelope calculation.

The micropipette, an instrument favored by researchers around the world to measure and move liquids from one container to another and used for everything from forensic analysis to DNA sequencing, was invented by an obscure, 32-year-old German postdoc after a particularly productive two-day tantrum. This is the story of how it came to be.

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After his death in 1884, thousands of Gregor Mendel’s letters and notes — filled with scientific data and figures — were destroyed. What did the friar discover, and what have we forgotten? Published by Asimov Press. Visit press.asimov.com to read all of our articles for free.