The Japanese translation of a book, based on lectures by the British scientist Michael Faraday, has seen sales spike since it was cited as an influence by this year’s winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Yoshinori Ohsumi, The Japan News reported on 26 October.
Based on lectures given by Faraday at the Royal Institution during 1860 and 1861, The Chemical History of a Candle was given to Ohsumi when he was an elementary school student. It inspired him to pursue a career in science.
The publisher, Kodokawa Corp., is now rushing to reprint the paperback edition.