Robert Bunsen

Robert Bunsen's scientific achievements go well beyond his invention of the Bunsen burner.
After earning his PhD in chemistry at 19 Bunsen went on to conduct research and teach at Göttingen University and later for 40 years at Heidelberg University. In 1934 he published his first major study, detailing his discovery of the antidote to arsenic poisoning. This came in handy 9 years later when Bunsen himself suffered severe arsenic poisoning while studying an arsenic compound. It exploded and Bunsen lost the use of an eye. His earlier discovery saved his life.