UPDATE:  SOLVED by Rob at 12:27 CDT

Bonjour, hola, hallo, ciao, powitanie, ahoj, hello.  I hope everybody has had a good week since we last riddled.

In keeping with my never-ending efforts to amaze, amuse, and fuzzle you, I’m introducing astronomy people into the riddle.  The rules remain the same in that it will be someone with whom you are familiar.  It will be an iconic figure; you won’t have to hold a PhD in astrophysics to know of this person.

Okay then!  Grab your favorite caffeine beverage, and let’s get to riddling:

A lovely night shot, found on PhotoBucket, released to public domain

This person’s life was marked by periods of depression and self-destructive tendencies.

Is it a surprise to anyone that this person completed the 3rd and 4th grades in one school year, and skipped half the 8th grade?

A chemistry major in college, your riddle answer graduated summa cum laude in three years.

The person you’re looking for studied in England, also.

It was there your answer got the reputation of being dangerously clumsy in the laboratory.

Because of this infamous clumsiness, your riddle answer had to be tutored in basic lab procedures.

Your answer despised this lab tutor, and tried to poison him by dipping an apple in noxious chemicals.

This led to Our Hero being sent for regular sessions with a psychiatrist.

Image lifted from the website

After such an auspicious beginning, would you be shocked to learn that this icon’s classmates signed a petition threatening to boycott their classes unless Our Hero was made to sit down and shut up?

Despite these (and other) little squabbles, your person earned their PhD at the age of 23, just two short years after completing their Bachelor’s.

Fresh out of school, Our Hero became quite successful in the field of quantum mechanics;  publishing several highly respected papers.

Heard enough?  Try this last group:

After those notorious troubles while in school, this icon became a professor at two universities… simultaneously.

Although nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize more than once, your answer never received the award.

And finally, Our Hero is most associated with one specific thing which, in an instant, changed all of history.

18th-19th Century woven carpet, Smithsonian

There you go.  Remember, the answer is an individual, so if you mean “Dan Brown” don’t say “The Da Vinci Code” (that’s just for example; of COURSE the answer isn’t “Dan Brown”).  I’m in my usual Saturday spot, waiting for your comments, so come on and keep me company.  You know I shouldn’t be left unsupervised…

I've had this cartoon up before, I think it's hilarious