Karl Krøyer must have thought he was really onto something when he had his eureka moment in 1965. The Danish inventor came up with a novel way of raising a sunken freighter from the ocean floor by filling the boat with inflatable polystyrene balls, which caused it to float up to the surface unharmed. No need for costly diving missions, or cranes, or however they usually retrieve sunken ships. This was huge! Having had success with one recovery, Krøyer ran to the patent office to secure his invention, only to be told somebody had already come up with it. And that someone was Donald Duck. Krøyer's method is remarkably similar to a story from Carl Barks' classic run of Donald Duck comics, a 1949 yarn which saw the feathered fowl retrieving a lost yacht by filling it with millions of ping pong balls. It wasn't the first time the Disney character made a scientific breakthrough. Barks was well known for his scientific prowess, having already penned a story where Donald is struck on the head and comes up with a chemical formula that experts didn't come across until decades later. Then there's the story that Inception ripped off...
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
