They can be called the most controversial people in history, "evil geniuses." Gifted and even brilliant, they have not always developed their potential for the benefit of society.
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla is a brilliant scientist, a man of mystery. He created an emitter of a beam of charged particles, "Death Ray", which became interested in the USSR, and the Soviet company "Amtorg" even concluded an agreement with Tesla. The war confused the cards and Tesla's installation was destroyed by the Americans.
Tesla is also suspected of being associated with the Tunguska meteorite. According to one version, the scientist conducted an experiment on the transfer of energy through the air. In the journal of the US Library of Congress, records are kept that shortly before the incident, he requested maps of "the least populated parts of Siberia."
Werner von Braun
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"Doctor Evil" of the Third Reich, Wernher von Braun, until the end of the war, worked on the development of the "weapon of retaliation", the ballistic missile "V-2". She became the first object in history to make a suborbital flight. During the war, the rocket never fully revealed its devilish potential, but became a prototype for the missiles of the USSR and the USA. Evacuated to the United States under the Paperclip program, Wernher von Braun became the "father of NASA" there.
Alfred Nobel
Alfred Nobel remained for centuries as the founder of the award of his own name, but at the end of the 19th century, his fame was far from good. He was called "millionaire on blood", "king of dynamite", "explosive death merchant." Of course, due to the fact that it was Alfred Nobel who was the inventor of dynamite. He was also a failed playwright. His only play, Nemesis, was declared heretical, and its entire print run was destroyed.
Charles Ponzi
When Ponzi came to the United States in 1903, he had $ 2.5, and in 1919, with $ 200 in hand, he founded a company he called the Securities Exchange Company. This was the first pyramid scheme. The very next year, Ponzi became a millionaire and lived in an expensive mansion. However, his well-being ended there. One of the depositors filed a lawsuit against Ponzi; the tax authorities became interested in the pyramid, which discovered multimillion-dollar debts. Ponzi declared himself bankrupt, and then went to jail for 5 years. In 1934 he was deported to his homeland. At one time he worked under the patronage of Mussolini as an airline representative in Rio de Janeiro. He died in 1949 in a charity hospital, leaving behind $ 75.
Theodore Kaczynski
Theodore Kaczynski went down in history as an Unabomber (University and airline bomber), although he was a child prodigy, at the age of 16, in 1958, he entered Harvard, at 20 - in graduate school at the University of Michigan. Only 10-12 people in the United States could evaluate his dissertation in mathematics. Kaczynski was the youngest professor at the University of California.
And then he read Henry Thoreau and moved to live in a forest hut. However, civilization did not give rest to the professor, it oppressed him more and more. Then he decided to fight her. And so he became "Unabomber". Since 1996, Kachinsky has been serving 8 life sentences.
Adam Worth
Adam Worth was called the "Napoleon of the underworld" and the "Napoleon of crime". It was he who was the prototype of Dr. Moriarty in the novels of Conan Doyle.
Worth was on the list of those killed during the American Civil War and then decided to start a new life. At first he was a "jumper" - he joined the regiment under a false name, lived at his expense, and then deserted. In civilian life, Worth gathered a whole gang of pickpockets and was their boss. By the way, the pickpockets, oddly enough, are considered “kings of the underworld”. Everything came down to bank robberies and pawnshops, theft of valuable antiques in the USA, France and England. After imprisonment, in order to get money for subsistence, Worth immediately robbed a jewelry store. True, then he began to cooperate with Pinkerton.
Saint Germain
The most mysterious man in France in the 17th century, alchemist, adventurer, diplomat, polyglot, traveler. Saint Germain was known in different places under the following names: General Saltykov, Prince of Rakosi, Count of Tsarogi, Marquis de Montferat, Comte de Bellamy, Comte de Veldon, but no one knew his real biography.
He amazed everyone with his unbridled energy and the mass of the most fantastic projects that he proposed to carry out: he sold ointments for rejuvenation to women, offered to build recoilless guns and a ship without sails. Even after Saint-Germain's death, people claimed to have met him in many different places.
Count Cagliostro
Cagliostro was a contemporary of Saint Germain. He liked to call himself a great "magician", astrologer and healer. Rumors of his miraculous abilities quickly spread throughout Europe. They said that Cagliostro easily summons the souls of the dead, turns lead into gold, reads thoughts. In Russia, Cagliostro traded as a doctor, was friends with Catherine II and showed tricks until he was convicted of fraud. Cagliostro ended his days in an Italian prison. All his belongings and alchemical equipment were burnt.
Aleister Crowley
In terms of his level of fame and the resonance that he produced on culture, Crowley can be compared to rock stars. In his teachings, Crowley combined the experience of different cultures, and even the Russian Khlystovism had a serious impact on his worldview and system. Crowley has been to Russia more than once and admitted that Russian culture has expanded his consciousness. Alistair was accused of having connections with Hitler, but he himself repeatedly denied involvement in him, calling him a magician who did not understand the true meaning of the sacrament. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, was fond of Crowley's books.
Grigory Rasputin
This "Siberian elder" succeeded in the incredible: Nicholas II and the Empress called him "our friend", or "Gregory", and he called them "father and mother." Rasputin performed quite an applied function at the court - he helped the ailing Tsarevich Alexei. All the time that Rasputin was at court, they were "digging" under him. He was a very uncomfortable figure, protesting against Russia's participation in the First World War.
Many of the accusations against Rasputin - of sectarianism, debauchery, behind-the-scenes influence on politics - were never brought to an end due to the fact that they did not receive proper confirmation. In the summer of 1914, the first attempt was made on Rasputin's life, on December 30, 1916, the second and last.
Napoleon
The image of Napoleon underwent many changes. At one time he was recognized as a brilliant emperor (and he was), at other times he was the personification of evil. The fate of Napoleon was closely linked with Russia. In his youth, he wanted to join the Russian army, but it so happened that it was the military campaign in Russia that led him to collapse.
Kevin Mitnick
Kevin Mitnick is a cult figure in the field of information security. His audacious hacks of the most secure systems in the world have more than once led the hacker to prison terms, but Mitnick "settled down" not so long ago - in 2003, when he was released from prison again. Books, participation in television projects and work as a consultant on serials about hackers made Mitnick a real icon of the hacker movement.
