Today is the 50th birthday of the only man without a post-bachelor degree to win a Nobel Prize in the sciences, Koichi Tanaka, born in Toyama, Japan (1959).
To learn about the "monumental blunder" that led to his discovery of Soft Laser Desorption, visit http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/ and scroll about half way down the page.
The improved method of analysis has led to huge advances in chemistry, medical and veterinary science, pharmaceuticals, and food science in the past two decades.
Source: American Public Media
