10 Most Depressed Scientists

2. Wallace Carothers


Wallace Hume Carothers was an American chemist who worked at DuPont and found ways to synthesize nylon. He taught at several colleges before DuPont hired him in the R&D department. He was appointed as the director of a lab where most researchers on polymers were carried out. However, his vacillation, moroseness and nervousness get really worse during later years of his life. He frequently resorted to drinking, which made his situation worse. In 1937, committed suicide by drinking lemon juice mixed with cyanide, knowing that an acidic solution could significantly improve the effect and the speed of cyanide.