10 Times Well-Loved Scientists Were Total Jerks

Isaac Newton, as in the guy with the apple, was probably one of the most unpleasant men of his day.

There are actually a fair few examples of Newton being a total dick to other people - many of which he himself outlined in a bizarre list of 57 of his sins that he used to shame himself in private with (including highlights such as "Threatening my father and mother Smith to burn them and the house over them [sic]" and "Punching my sister" - yeah, nice guy).

Chief of old Isaac's unpleasant habits, however, was his ability to bear a grudge until judgement day itself as well as a nasty habit for taking credit that wasn't his. Newton has gone down in history as the man that discovered gravity, but that's not actually what happened. 

A contemporary of Newton's by the name of Robert Hooke (himself pretty high up on the "jerk scientist" scale) actually theorised the existence of gravity way before Newton got there. Unfortunately, Hooke sucked at calculus, which is what Newton used to great effect in his theory of gravity.

Newton, as the more famous scientist, then spent the rest of his career suppressing Hooke's work and it is even rumoured that Newton destroyed the only known portrait of Hooke after his death (an unsubstantiated claim, but it certainly sounds like something he'd do).

In another instance of Newton's bullying occurred when he "disagreed with astronomer John Flamsteed‘s zealous approach to research". According to the legend "Newton stole his work and published it under Edmund Halley, Flamsteed’s mortal enemy" - an inspired bit of trolling if ever there was one.