The Curse of the Nobel Prize: A Fate That Haunts Many Laureates.

Nobel Prize laureate in Physics Albert Einstein once admitted that he felt like a "fraud due to the exaggerated respect for his work." He may have suffered from impostor syndrome; however, not all laureates reacted this way to recognition, as noted by IFLScience.

There is even a specific term for the peculiar behavior exhibited by some Nobel laureates – "Nobel disease" or "Nobelitis." This term describes the bizarre and unscientific beliefs that some Nobel Prize winners developed after receiving their accolades.

The fact is, there is a surprisingly long list of Nobel laureates who, after their victory, began to endorse pseudoscientific theories, significantly deviating from their areas of expertise. Many of them chose to explore extrasensory abilities, and one even claimed to have been visited by a talking, motorcycle-riding, glowing green raccoon.

For instance, Pierre Curie received the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of radium and polonium before he became involved in séances and believed that studying paranormal phenomena could help answer questions about magnetism. Joseph Thomson, who received the same prize for discovering the electron, showed a similar interest in psychic phenomena and was a member of the Society for Psychical Research for 34 years.

Charles Richet, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1913, was the first to introduce the term "ectoplasm." He believed that so-called ectoplasm could be produced by mediums during séances. For example, medium Helen Duncan would swallow a strip of gauze and then regurgitate it at the appropriate moment. At the end of the gauze, she would attach gloves or magazine cutouts to make everything look more eerie. Such a simple trick should not have impressed someone who received a Nobel Prize in Medicine.

However, sometimes "Nobel disease" took on a truly sinister tone. Richard Smalley, who won the Chemistry Prize for discovering the third form of carbon in 1996, continued to speak out against evolution, while others advocated for eugenics, lobotomy, and harmful practices and ideas surrounding autism.

Why do so many Nobel Prize laureates turn to pseudoscientific beliefs? According to one laureate, Paul Nurse, it may be partly due to external pressure from the media and other groups that urged laureates to venture beyond their areas of expertise.

"In the eyes of many people, I suddenly became a leading world expert on practically everything. It was quite shocking. It’s not that I’m too modest and know a bit about biology and science in general, but I certainly am not an expert in everything," Nurse explained.

An independent team of researchers believes that a range of cognitive errors, including biased blind spots and a sense of omniscience, omnipotence, and invulnerability, along with personality traits such as narcissism and excessive openness or a "guru complex," may predispose highly intelligent individuals to catastrophic mistakes in critical thinking.

As a reminder, scientists have revealed the origins of the legend of the pharaohs' curse guarding the tombs of Ancient Egypt. Historians say that curses did indeed protect tombs, but there are some nuances.