Chemistry, genius and a painting monkey

Vitamin supplements are good for making expensive pee. If you believe otherwise you must have been taken in by Linus Pauling, the dude who first touted vitamin supplements as some sort of cure all. Everyone just listened to him back in the 30's and went crazy with the idea, now pharmaceutical companies rack in billions dosing pills more expensive and less effective than a balanced diet. Linus was no snake oil salesman though, he was a science beast! The guy was one of the founders of quantum chemistry and molecular biology, he published over 1200 papers and books; and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Pauling was a big deal but he was way of the mark with vitamins, and with orthomolecular medicine (that stuff will get you killed) and don't get me started on his ideas of eugenics (eugenics is basically the idea that bad genes should be bred out of human population i.e people with low IQ, deformities, 'inferior' races) The case of Linus Pauling demonstrates how people apply universal trust to a person who's excelled in one field. The medical doctor will lecture on politics, the wealthy lawyer will give his brother the plumber advice on handling personal finances, and the Catholic priest will be consulted for marital issues. People value the authority of a person over reason and logic. They forget that a genius is really an idiot who just happens to be really good at something. A monkey who's learnt how to paint.