Question of the Day #148 · August 18, 2026
Which 17th-century philosopher and scientist died of pneumonia after an experiment to see if snow could preserve a chicken went wrong?
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Francis Bacon
A later account, attributed by John Aubrey to Thomas Hobbes, says Bacon stuffed a chicken with snow to test whether cold preserved flesh. Bacon’s deathbed letter confirms preservation experiments before his illness, but not the chicken detail; he died shortly afterward, probably of pneumonia.