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Working for Peanuts · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Mankey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
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  Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
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  Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
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  Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
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  Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
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  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. The job of a research scientist can be
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  Speaker 1: pretty thankless. For every major breakthrough and miracle cure, there
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  Speaker 1: are countless studies conducted that go nowhere, yield middling results,
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  Speaker 1: or fly under the radar. But those studies and the
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  Speaker 1: documentation of them are necessary if we ever hope to
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  Speaker 1: move science forward. Yet, in one scientist and his assistant
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  Speaker 1: authored a paper that didn't just influence the field of physics,
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  Speaker 1: it made one of them famous for years to come.
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  Speaker 1: Jack H. Heatherington taught physics at Michigan State University back
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  Speaker 1: in the nineteen seventies. He'd been studying how helium behaved
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  Speaker 1: when subjected to different temperatures and wrote a paper on
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  Speaker 1: his findings. He'd done all the work himself, but when
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  Speaker 1: he gave the paper to a colleague for their opinion,
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  Speaker 1: they noted something odd about how it was written, Heatherington
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  Speaker 1: kept referring to we instead of I throughout the paper.
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  Speaker 1: He had his reasons, of course, For one, egos were
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  Speaker 1: high in the scientific community. If a paper shared multiple authors,
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  Speaker 1: one author couldn't stand above the others and gain attention
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  Speaker 1: in their field. To The pay structure for a paper
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  Speaker 1: was different when multiple authors were involved. Unfortunately, Heatherington couldn't
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  Speaker 1: write it on a computer. He'd done it on a typewriter,
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  Speaker 1: and fixing the mistake would have required him to manually
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  Speaker 1: retype the entire thing. But he also didn't want to
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  Speaker 1: share credit with anyone else, so he held out on
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  Speaker 1: ad in another name to the title page. But after
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  Speaker 1: thinking it over one night, Heatherington's gutt told him that
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  Speaker 1: he had to get it published sooner or rather than later.
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  Speaker 1: He was left without any other option and gave in,
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  Speaker 1: writing down the first name he could think of, his
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  Speaker 1: assistant Professor Willard. The scientific paper, titled two three and
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  Speaker 1: four ADAM Exchange Effects in B C C three h E,
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  Speaker 1: was submitted to Physical Review Letters, a major physics journal.
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  Speaker 1: He was listed as having men co authored by J. H.
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  Speaker 1: Heatherington's and F. D. C. Willard, and it was finally
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  Speaker 1: published in November of nine. At first, no one batted
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  Speaker 1: an eye at the additional name. The assistant didn't mind either.
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  Speaker 1: Then someone came knocking. A visitor asked to speak with
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  Speaker 1: Heatherington about his paper, but the author couldn't do it
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  Speaker 1: at the time, so the visitor asked to speak to
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  Speaker 1: Willard instead, That too, was impossible. Even more suspicious was
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  Speaker 1: the time when Heatherington and Willard had to sign copies
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  Speaker 1: of their paper. One such copy made its way to France,
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  Speaker 1: where a physics conference was being held in ninety eight.
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  Speaker 1: Conference organizers had wanted to invite Willard to speak at
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  Speaker 1: the event, but after taking one look at his signature,
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  Speaker 1: they rescinded the invitation. They also barred Heatherington's from speaking
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  Speaker 1: as well, and, as if things couldn't get any worse,
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  Speaker 1: rumors started to spread about Professor Willard. According to the gossip,
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  Speaker 1: Heatherington's wife was allowing Willard to sleep in their bed
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  Speaker 1: at night, starting a scandal within the scientific community. In reality, though,
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  Speaker 1: there was nothing to worry about. Heatherington's had no problem
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  Speaker 1: sharing the bed with both his wife and his assistant,
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  Speaker 1: not when that assistant was so soft and cuddly. F DC.
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  Speaker 1: Willard's name was actually Feliss Domesticus Chester Willard, the term
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  Speaker 1: felis domesticus meaning common house cats. The cats whose real
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  Speaker 1: name was Chester had been sired by his father, Willard,
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  Speaker 1: and so the nomina plume was born. Heatherington's never regretted
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  Speaker 1: his decision, In fact, it made him kind of a
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  Speaker 1: celebrity around the university and among his fellow physicists and
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  Speaker 1: Professor Willard went on to author another paper in nineteen eighty,
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  Speaker 1: this one written in French. The real authors, Heatherington being
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  Speaker 1: one of them, couldn't agree on the veracity of the
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  Speaker 1: content within, so Heatherington's offered F. DC Willard as a
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  Speaker 1: stand in for all of them. This way, if anything
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  Speaker 1: was found to be incorrect, it wouldn't come back to
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  Speaker 1: haunt them or their reputations, and his poor cat could
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  Speaker 1: take all the blame. Willard lived to the rifled age
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  Speaker 1: of fourteen, passing away in nineteen eighty two. He left
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  Speaker 1: a lasting impact on the field of physics, and his
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  Speaker 1: papers are still quoted today. And if you want to
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  Speaker 1: know if the paper you're reading was actually co written
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  Speaker 1: by one Professor F. D. C. Willard, all you have
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  Speaker 1: to do is look for his unique signature, an inky
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  Speaker 1: pop print in the middle of the page. They say,
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  Speaker 1: never go grocery shopping while you're hungry. You're liable to
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  Speaker 1: buy more than you need to satisfy your cravings. It
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  Speaker 1: might be better to channel that hunger into something more productive.
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  Speaker 1: And that's what one resourceful man did in nineteen sixty four.
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  Speaker 1: But our story actually begins before then, back in the
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  Speaker 1: nineteenth century. You see. You might not realize it, but
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  Speaker 1: a lot of the candy that we enjoy today got
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  Speaker 1: its start over a hundred years ago. For example, Good
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  Speaker 1: and Plenty licorice was created in Philadelphia way back in
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  Speaker 1: eight and annual visitors to the Jersey Shore might buy
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  Speaker 1: a bag of saltwater taffy for their return trip home,
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  Speaker 1: unaware that the chewy treats was first made in Atlantic
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  Speaker 1: City in the eighteen eighties. Much of the candy sold
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  Speaker 1: during this time was also known as penny candy, sold
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  Speaker 1: for a penny apiece in drug stores and five and dimes.
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  Speaker 1: Clerks would scoop out various treats from glass containers and
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  Speaker 1: then dumped them into bags, meaning the candy was often
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  Speaker 1: sold in bulk rather than individually. For one cent per units,
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  Speaker 1: and at least one of those candies is still produced
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  Speaker 1: to this day. It's a squishy, orange colored combination of sugar, corn, syrup,
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  Speaker 1: pectin and other ingredients that have been formed into the
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  Speaker 1: shape of a common peanut. Bite into one, and your
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  Speaker 1: taste buds are immediately flooded with a flavor that has
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  Speaker 1: been described by some as dishonorable banana. Now. Over the years,
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  Speaker 1: Circus peanuts took on different flavors like orange and we're
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  Speaker 1: only sold during certain times of the year since keeping
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  Speaker 1: them fresh was difficult, But as cellophane packaging took off
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  Speaker 1: in the nineteen forties, they became more widely available and
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  Speaker 1: in different colors too, such as yellow and white. Though
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  Speaker 1: Circus peanuts are still sold today, their popularity has dwindled
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  Speaker 1: when compared to such modern confections like Skittles, Eminem's Nerds,
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  Speaker 1: and even the True and Tried candy bar. But John
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  Speaker 1: Hallohan saw the value in Circus peanuts over fifty years
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  Speaker 1: ago while he was serving as the vice president of
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  Speaker 1: General Mills. The company was looking to bolster its roster
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  Speaker 1: of breakfast cereals. A new cereal, especially something unlike anything else.
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  Speaker 1: They were making at the time would have been expensive
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  Speaker 1: to produce. It would have required research and testing and
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  Speaker 1: new machines, all things that General Mills didn't want to
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  Speaker 1: spend money on, so instead, they framed their new initiative
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  Speaker 1: as a challenge, using the company's existing manufacturing capabilities for
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  Speaker 1: things like cheerios and wheaties. Employees were encouraged to create
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  Speaker 1: something brand new, and they were given six months. Hallahan
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  Speaker 1: started researching, beginning with a box of cheerios. Along the way,
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  Speaker 1: he came across a pack of circus peanuts, and that's
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  Speaker 1: when he saw the whole picture. He took the cheerios
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  Speaker 1: and the banana candy and got to work. Little by little,
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  Speaker 1: Hallohan cut up the circus peanuts into tiny pieces, which
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  Speaker 1: he sprinkled over a bowl full of cereal. His idea
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  Speaker 1: was a hit, and General Mills put the concept into production.
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  Speaker 1: The marshmallow pieces were referred to as marbits, while the
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  Speaker 1: oat pieces came in shapes like bells and arrowheads. General
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  Speaker 1: Mills even brought on an advertising company to help sell
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  Speaker 1: the new cereal to the masses, and they decided to
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  Speaker 1: market it around a popular fashion trend at the time,
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  Speaker 1: charm bracelets over time, the cereal changed to adapt to
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  Speaker 1: the changing tastes of the people who ate it, namely children.
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  Speaker 1: The plain oat cereal was eventually coated in sugar, and
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  Speaker 1: the marshmallow shapes were changed as well. But walk through
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  Speaker 1: any grocery store today and you're certain to spot a
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  Speaker 1: familiar red box. Those hearts, stars, horseshoes, Clover's blue moons,
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  Speaker 1: golden rainbows, and red balloons that all got their start
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  Speaker 1: as circus peanuts in nineteen sixty four have stuck around
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  Speaker 1: as one of the most famous breakfast cereals around and
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  Speaker 1: possibly the most famous leprechaun as well, Lucky Charms. I
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  Speaker 1: hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
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  Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
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  Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how
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  Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
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  Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
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  Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World
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  Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,