Wilhelm Busch's comics - the success of failure

This post is a sequel to the previous musings in "Too much education?"

Examples from the past are not always the best approach to discussing issues of the present or the future. We frequently do not know the whole story, or we sanitize and deify. For instance, the idea that the Western world's most favorite empire - the Romans - had conscientious objectors, or that there was a substantial anti-war movement in Southern states of the U.S. in the Civil War.

When it comes to the education of some of the most famous scientists, artists, or leaders in the past two to three hundred years, we are on firmer ground.

And we are happy to say that some of the most outstanding were educational failures or people who would never get a substantial education today. We do not know if we should include Leonardo da Vinci because of his "informal education". You can look up the bios of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and the rest of the bunch.

We'll like these three: 

Michael Faraday*

Joseph Fraunhofer*

Wilhelm Busch
Wilhelm Busch dropped out of his mechanical engineering classes at the university of Hanover, Germany, subsequently did a stint at art school in Duesseldorf, only to drop out again. Another attempt in Antwerp, Belgium, ended when he caught typhus.

Rhyming and drawing, Mr. Busch created Germany's most famous mischievous boys Max and Moritz (the link is to the English version of the story) and is widely credited as being the grandfather of the comic strip. How about the ancestor of the poetry slam, or rap, too, minus the music?

The Katzenjammer Kids are said to be inspired by Busch's characters.

Even in today's social media, Busch characters continue to play the modern versions of their old selves, from the stern headteacher correcting German spelling to Max & Moritz shenanigans.

Do not confuse the pyromaniac Max & Moritz characters by Busch with the Max Moritz lab of the University of California, Berkeley, which studies fire regimes.

One more thing:
The boy duo as a theme in German comics lived on in the famous series Fix & Foxi, much less malevolent or gruesome, nonetheless likely inspired  by Max & Moritz.

* The entry barriers in modern science are somewhat higher than in the old days. A few feet of copper wire and a magnet won't make you a new Faraday. A handful of sand and a few vials of other elements won't make you another Joseph Fraunhofer.