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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.

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