Boiling water freezes faster than cold water.
You would think the opposite is true. And you would think that a grey-haired, white-coated American Nobel laureate would have discovered this mystery. However, we owe this discovery to a 13-year-old Tanzanian, Erasto Mpemba, after whom it is named.
He was making ice cream in a cooking class. Fearing that a classmate would take the last tray, he skipped letting his boiling milk and sugar cool. To his surprise, his mixture froze faster than the ones that were allowed to cool.
His teacher refused to believe him, dismissing the claim as impossible. Months later, his school invited Denis Osborne from the University College in Dar es Salaam to lecture on physics. When Mpemba raised his hand to ask why boiling water freezes faster than cold water, eyebrows gathered in suspicion, only to be released by a cacophony of laughter. Luckily, Osborne had the curiosity to invite young Mpemba to his lab and test his claims. Mpemba was right. To this day, scientists remain at odds, trying to explain this phenomenon.
This is a reminder that the world does not have to make sense for it to work as it does. Leaders should seek out, become advocates, and place their bets on truths—whether it makes sense or not, whether it is sexy or not, and definitely whether or not they will become laughing stocks.
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