By Julia McCloy

Julia McCloy's work has appeared on Yankee Pot Roast, McSweeneys.net, Monkeybicycle, The Rumpus, and Faultline. She prefers laughing to just about anything

SCIENCE’S BEST JOKESTERS

“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not ‘Eureka! but ‘That’s funny!’” -Isaac Asimov – – – Science’s best prank call In 1875 after years laboring to create the first working telephone, Alexander Graham Bell successfully called Thomas Watson. Watson picked up the receiver and heard Bell ask, “Watson, is your icebox running?” Watson looked at the phone perplexed and then muttered, “Let me check.” Bell hung up and fell onto his bunkbed in a giggle fit. The pre-teen girls at his slumber party were impressed with Bell’s ability to disguise…