Amazing Accomplishments of Famous Celebrities

It may come as a surprise, but some famous celebrities are much more than pretty faces. The desire and passion for tinkering led to some remarkable inventions in the history. A lot of people believe that artists have nothing to do with science but that’s not true. The following list of scientific accomplishments of famous celebrities might change your opinion.

Uri Geller (Radiation Shield)

Uri Geller is an Israeli-British magician, illusionist, and a self-proclaimed psychic. Time and time again, he claims his powers to be real. Geller is well known for his conjuring tricks that simulate the effects of telepathy and Psychokinesis. His TV performances of spoon bending, and other illusions are quite popular. Geller’s career spans across a little over four decades and he has performed in many different countries. In addition to his magical performances, he also has the privilege of patenting a cell phone radiation shield. It protects users from the harmful effects of long-term exposure to short wave radiation.

Tony Bennett-Mahler (Painting)

Anthony Benedetto, commonly known as Tony Bennett, is an American singer. He started singing at an early age. A lot of people might not know but Tony is also a prolific painter. The singer and artist signs his work “Benedetto”, his birth surname, and works primarily in oil and watercolor. Among his numerous accomplishments as a painter, Bennett has no less than three works in the Smithsonian collection. He also created a commissioned artwork commemorating the United Nations’ 50th anniversary in 2001. His artwork can be found on permanent public display in several institutions.

Barbara Cartland (Gliders)

Lady Barbara Cartland is a famous English Romantic novelist and step-grandmother of Diana, the Princess of Wales. During her career, she has authored more than 700 novels as  one of the best-selling authors of the 20^th century. Cartland sold over 750 million books in 38 languages. While her novels took the world by storm, Cartland’s contributions to early aviation helped Britain to fight the Nazis during the Normandy campaign of World War II.

She watched German stunts, in which gliders were towed on short distances with aircraft. Inspired by these stunts, she managed to design a long-distance glider that could travel 320 kilometers. Her gliders were also capable of carrying troops at the same time. Cartland was assisted by two air force pilots in her quest to this amazing feat.

Gary Burghoff (Fishing Tackle and Toilet Seat Lifter)

Gary Rich Burghoff is famous for his role of Charlie Brown in the 1967 Off-Broadway Musical “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”. Apart from his TV hits, this American actor holds patents for a fishing tackle and a toilet seat lifter. “Chum Magic” is a fishing tackle invention that attracts fish toward the user’s boat. This achievement of Burghoff allows even the least skilled fishers to enjoy some successful outings.

“Chumming,” or throwing fish bits in the water to lure unsuspecting fish, is a well-known technique. Burghoff’s apparatus is an automatic chum disperser, which simultaneously attracts sea creatures to a fishing hook using a combination of lights, sound and seaweed.

Brian May (Astrophysicist)

This list of famous celebrities couldn’t be complete without discussing Brian May. He is the Lead Guitarist and Songwriter of Queen, the English rock band. He has produced and performed recordings that have sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide. In 1971, Brian studied astrophysics and worked on zodiacal dust.

Zodiacal dust is the dust found in our solar system, primarily between the Sun and Jupiter. Sometimes, it can be seen with the naked eye as a triangular glow above the horizon just before sunrise or after sunset. This glow is called Zodiacal Light and is caused by sunlight being scattered off of the various dust particles.

Each time a comet passes near the Sun, some of its material turns into the dust between the planets. Similarly, asteroid collisions also send additional dust into the solar system. After a pause of 30 years, he resumed his studies and graduated in 2008. Since then, May has continued both musical and scientific activities. He merged both the worlds, recently, with the release of his single, “New Horizons”. He dedicated his single to the eponymous NASA spacecraft who passed a coupe belt object at the Ultima Thule.