Deadly Intelligent: Viktor Meyer

In the search bar, I typed "smart people who killed themselves" and wondered what my subconscious hoped to obtain from the results of this query. Perhaps, I sought to know the reasons in which even a highly intelligent person would experience emotional overwhelm. This would suggest the assumption I have is that highly intelligent people kill themselves as a result of strong emotions even if the causes accumulated over time, or the approach to suicide was a premeditated one, or even if the emotions differ from their neurotypical counterparts. The alternative arguments could be that suicide is not a result of an emotional experience but a thought process or random occurrence due to a brain injury. However, many thought processes due to trigger emotions and a brain injury does not always necessitate the need to commit suicide but might make one experience life differently and thus, again lead to uncontrollable emotions or thoughts. However, upon skimming the reasons behind the deaths of some highly gifted individuals it seems that most fell into the premeditated approach. My initial query yielded a summarized response of a few names and I will summarize the context surrounding the suicide of these select intelligent individuals.

Case 1: Viktor Meyer

The Context

Viktor invented an apparatus that could measure the "vapor density" of a "volatile organic compound". I did not know what either of these two things were or why they are important but essentially, this tool can be used to determine if a gas will rise or sink in the atmosphere and if a gas has a vapor density that is greater than 1, they could potentially become dangerous because they are likely to build up and cause a person to choke to death. It could also lead to a heat sources igniting if the build up occurs around a furnace or water heater. Our current knowledge of vapor densities can also help us find ways to prevent this from happening and opt for chemicals that have lighter vapor densities.

Actually, I do know what a VOC is but was unaware that it stood for "volatile organic compound" and I know that I bought a special filter for my family to not be exposed to the build up of chemicals in our house due to my suspicion that someone living below us is making crystal meth and these fumes make us feel like we are choking. Apparently, VOCs include formaldehyde which is obviously dangerous and are also released from things like acetone found in nail polish remover which may not be a big deal in small amounts but could be harmful in larger amounts.

I started to think while reading these cases that I probably shouldn't have looked this up.

Returning to Viktor Meyer, a small paragraph dedicated to the context surrounding his suicide:

Overworked and overtaxed, Meyer's mental status suffered, leading to several minor and major nervous breakdowns during the last years of his life. He always failed to recover completely, yet continued working. He took pills to fall asleep, but these had a damaging effect on his nervous system. In one of his depressions, Meyer decided to take his own life, and committed suicide by taking cyanide. He died at the age of 48 during the night of 7–8 August 1897 in Heidelberg, just one month away from 49.

Essentially, he died as a result of his job and most likely his own expectations of himself and the pressure of others around him. Apparently, his parents pushed him to attend college for chemistry at 17 years old and got to work for the famous Robert Bunsen (for those of you familiar with the term "bunsen burner") and due to being under his tutelage he was not required to do research to obtain his doctorate by 19 years old. His best friend apparently was also a skilled chemist named Adolf Baeyer (and I learned through my wikipedia hunting that he was also awarded a Nobel prize in chemistry).

On Wikipedia, he has a long list of scientific contributions including his own discoveries.

Reflection

I just finished the light skimming of Viktor Meyer's life and accomplishments and so, it's not like I or anyone can ever know how this person felt like but what I can do is consider what might have led to his sleeplessness and choice of taking cyanide specifically. In doing so, I hope to learn what not to do and why his choice of death is not one we should replicate. So, apparently he was not raised up in the Jewish faith but was more from an outwardly Jewish family who seemed to have allowed him to marry a Christian woman and raise Christian children. What's interesting is that he was two years younger than his brother and learned about chemistry while his brother was in college. So that means he was about 15 years old before he went to the college and it's noted that before he was exposed to the field of chemistry, he had a love for poetry and wanted to become an actor. What? That's a crazy shift.

Now, some may say that if he would have not come across chemistry we wouldn't have had all his amazing accomplishments and he wouldn't have know what he was "truly capable of" but I would like to make clear that such a statement is absolutely horrendous. I believe that when working with gifted individuals, we should encourage their hobbies and interests outside of their own field that they may be inclined to specialize in (or within the field) because it reminds them not to let others dictate for them where their time should be spent or where their focus should be. Ultimately, gifted individuals are the ones who have the potential and ideas that others basically need or want and so, we should remind them of the value they have to offer the world but that it should not be at a cost of themselves. Now of course, some assume their child has much potential and encourage them to be whoever they want to be and I believe this can actually cause more harm than good, too.

His parents weren't necessarily wrong for wanting him to consider a more stable future for himself and it's true, he really did have a mind for chemistry. Perhaps again, had he maintained a life outside of the chemistry field where he could be celebrated for his other skills and parts of his personality aside from his brain - he may have been better off.

Interestingly, his best friend, Adolf Baeyer, is a prime example of what I am trying to say as he apparently was passionate about chemistry from a young age and began experimentations with plants to learn more about plant nutrition even by the age of 9. At the age of 13, he bought indigo to do more dye experiments. His parents were Lutheran Christians (his mother a convert before marriage), his mother passed away but he also had godparents and one was a poet and the other an astronomer. It seems he had more support around him and a more comfortable identity for himself; whereas, Viktor often wrote his name "Victor" when publishing his work.

Even more interesting... he tried to work for Robert Bunsen but got into an argument with him which led to him changing his mentor to August Kekulé. During his studies, he also had to serve in the Prussian army. He was 18 when he finished secondary school and he was 23 when he finished his doctorate with Kekulé. He had more life experience, family support, and a more gradual rise to fame in his field.

Perhaps Viktor Meyer and Adolf Baeyer can teach us that there is absolutely nothing wrong with investing time and energy into one's career but it can be significantly healthier for us if we have a genuine inclination towards something and go about it gradually with supportive mentors who are not looking to push us to limits but rather, those who do not limit our potential but help us grow in a steady and healthy manner.

While my intellect is relatively average, I have found that the little bit of potential I had was often exploited and burned out by mentors who cared more about using my ideas for their own work and did not necessarily look out for my wellbeing unless it directly benefitted them to do so. Even those who seemed to be caring would only provide me with the warmth I sought in an older person after I had been useful to them. Secondly, I should be cautious not to dampen my interests in things that others might consider foolish or impractical just because it does not directly help my career. Baeyer was willing to learn to say "no" to someone who most people would never dare to challenge and chose to walk his own path. Ultimately, this path led him to not meet the same fate as Viktor and become a famous chemist himself.

Fun Fact: Adam Baeyer's Nobel Prize in chemistry was specifically for his work on organic dyes specifically in the synthesis of plant dye indigo which he worked on since he was 13 years old...