I Am Science
Barney Brown and Nick Osbourne
At 21, Dr Jersey Jellgood was the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Prize, receiving the accolade for a chemistry paper he had written as a six year-old. He remains the only man to win the Nobel Grand Slam, picking up prizes for Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Peace and Literature, all before his 25th birthday. His discoveries in the field of chemistry alone earned him billions. And yet, prior to his 27th birthday, Dr Jellgood abandoned the world of conventional science, pursuing flamboyant and baffling ventures, most notably sending over sixty sumo wrestlers to the moon merely to collect specimens for his own Japanese rock garden. His departure from scientific research was, they said, the most horrifying waste of talent in history. “Quite simply, he could’ve solved everything”. Why Dr Jellgood abandoned conventional science and what he went on to achieve were detailed in a remarkable series of interviews stretching over five decades on the British radio programme I Am Science. I Am