Skip to content
Honorary Unsubscribe
  • Home
  • Latest
  • Name List
  • Books
    • Volume 1
    • Volume 2
    • Volume 3
    • Volume 4
    • Volume 5
  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • a This is True project

research

Misc basic researchers not under invention/medical/computing/etc.

Edward Klima Sign language linguist

Klima built on work by another Honorary Unsubscribe honoree.

From This is True for 28 September 2008

Murray Jarvik Smokeless

Jarvik figured out what drove people to smoke.

From This is True for 11 May 2008

Joseph Weizenbaum A.I. Heretic

Weizenbaum created what many thought was the first A.I., but it wasn’t.

From This is True for 9 March 2008

Leslie Orgel The constantly evolving

Orgel’s Second Rule: “Evolution is cleverer than you are.”

From This is True for 28 October 2007

Norman G. Gaylord The clear-eyed

Gaylord invented gas-permeable contact lenses.

From This is True for 16 September 2007

Ralph Alpher Big Bang father

The “forgotten father of the Big Bang.”

From This is True for 12 August 2007

George W. Comstock Tuberculosis expert

Comstock stopped the rollout of a vaccine that didn’t work, and then found something that did.

From This is True for 15 July 2007

Ralph S. Paffenbarger Jr The very fit

Paffenbarger studied exercise.

From This is True for 8 July 2007

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Physicist

No one really understood how liquid crystals worked. They did after de Gennes was done.

From This is True for 20 May 2007

Theodore Maiman Laser pioneer

Someone else invented the laser, but Maiman was the first make one work.

From This is True for 6 May 2007

Post navigation
Older posts
Newer posts
← Previous 1 … 3 4 5 … 8 Next →

Subscribe to This is True

The Honorary Unsubscribe is a side feature in most weekly issues of This is True.

Basic Subscriptions:
Free Since 1994

Your Privacy is Randy's Policy.
Never any ads-only emails.

Book Collections

Book covers

Now there are five books covering the first 15 years of Honorees. Click for More Info on Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, and Volume 5 (including the complete name lists in each volume).

Recent Honorees

  • 26-Apr-2026 Production designer Dean Tavoularis
  • 19-Apr-2026 Kite-maker Peter Lynn
  • 12-Apr-2026 Mountaineer Jim Whittaker
  • 15-Mar-2026 Child psychiatric researcher Judith Rapoport
  • 08-Mar-2026 Painter Pockets Warhol
  • 28-Feb-2026 ALS activist Leah Stavenhagen
® This is True is a registered trademark of ThisIsTrue.Inc, Ridgway, Colorado, USA
© 1998-2026 ThisIsTrue.Inc, All Rights Reserved worldwide.
* FTC Notice: If you buy products on Amazon through links on this site I may receive
an “affiliate” fee, which does not affect the price you pay. More details.