Show Notes
When Charles Dickens published Bleak House in 1852, he included a scene where one character spontaneously combusts. 🔥 🔥 🔥 Readers loved it, but one of Dickens’s good friends—a former scientist—blasted Dickens for his scientific ignorance. It ignited one of the strangest controversies in literary history.
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More from The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean
An audio excerpt from my new book, The Museum of Long Things. Available now!
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