One man inspired an author to create his most famous character, gave his name to a notion that forms the basis of an applied science and also developed a dozen that were helpful within that science. Who was the man, the author and the character, and what were the notion, the science and the dozen involved?

queproblema

Well, now, if you had said "HER most famous character," I would suppose the man to be Luigi Galvani, the author Mary Shelley, the character Frankenstein's creature, the notion galvanism, the science electricity, and the dozen the Galvani cells that form a voltaic pile. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Galvani http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaic_pile So, "his" is a neuter pronoun functioning as a red herring, or you have other things in mind. Aug 15 09, 9:41 PM

Arpeggionist

Well, Arnold Schönberg was the inspiration for Thomas Mann's most famous character "Dr. Faustus", in which the title character invents the "science" of dodecaphonic music (the dozen being the notes of the chromatic scale). http://www.gradesaver.com/doctor-faustus-thomas-mann/wikipedia/ Aug 16 09, 4:33 AM

gmackematix

Nice tries but I think you've both spotted weaknesses in your proposed answers. The author is male as suggested in the question, calling dodecaphonic music a science is pushing it and besides, Schönberg didn't give his name to a notion that formed the basis of it. Do you need more clues...? Aug 16 09, 2:27 PM

queproblema

Well, well, well, (a subject for appropriately deep thought)... I'll toss out what came to mind with the first clue. It doesn't all fit and may be totally wrong. Dr. Joseph Bell partly inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to create Sherlock Holmes. Dr. Bell, following in the footsteps of his great-grandfather, helped develop the science of forensic pathology. He developed a "Method" that may or may not have a dozen points. ??? Can't find his name attached to anything; Bell's palsy is named for a different Bell. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Bell Other sleuths may find a trace to track from this.... Aug 16 09, 6:21 PM

gmackematix

You do have one sixth of the answer as this does relate to forensic science. I will also reveal that the character referred to is indeed a well known literary detective, but not Holmes. I'm sure the folks in CSI would be familiar with the rest... Aug 17 09, 7:50 PM

queproblema

This was hard to track down! This will be the only place on the internet with all the facts on one page. Whew! Man: Dr. Edmond Locard Author: Georges Simenon "While Simenon's own beat only covered unimportant human interest stories, it afforded him an opportunity to explore the seamier side of the city, including politics, bars, cheap hotels, but also crime, police investigations, and lectures on police technique by the criminologist Edmond Locard." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Simenon Character: Jules Maigret http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Maigret Notion: Locard Exchange Principle "'...with contact between two items, there will be an exchange." "Every contact leaves a trace." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locard%27s_exchange_principle Science: Fingerprinting (ridgeology, edgeoscopy, por[e]oscopy) Dozen: "If more than 12 concurring points are present and the fingerprint is sharp, the certainty of identity is beyond debate." http://www.latent-prints.com/Locard.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmond_Locard Aug 20 09, 5:12 PM

gmackematix

You seem to have all the loose ends of this case neatly tied up Qp. Nice bit of legwork. My starting point was Locard's Exchange Principle, that basic tenet of forensic science that says that if two things touch, there will be an exchange of matter, e.g. particles of soil on a criminal's shoe and traces of shoe rubber in the footprint. Aug 22 09, 7:43 PM