HERE’S what we’ve learnt from reading Darryl Cunningham’s new book Graphic Science. Alfred Wegener, the meteorologist who first theorised the idea of continental drift, once had to shoot a polar bear in Greenland.

As a baby impoverished fossil hunter Mary Anning survived being struck by lightning (the woman holding her and two teenage girls with her did not).

Antoine Lavoisier, author of the first modern chemistry textbook (Elementary Treatise on Chemistry, 1789) was sent to the guillotine during the French Revolution in 1794.

Nikola Tesla was so phobic about germs he would obsessively wash his hands sometimes two or three times during a meal.

Through the lives of seven scientists, from Lavoisier in the 18th century to Fred Hoyle in the second half of the 20th century, Cunningham’s latest book examines how biographical experience can impact on scientific thought. It also looks at the challenges so many scientists faced in coming up with new ideas; challenges caused by the society they lived in or sometimes their fellow scientists who didn’t want to take on board new ideas.

“As humans,” Cunningham writes in his introduction, “we’re bad at accepting truths that run counter to our thinking. Facts rarely change our minds.”  Even now in the 21st century that appears to be the case.

Here we talk to the cartoonist about science, the current attack on experts and the importance of Jack Kirby.

The Herald:

Darryl, what are the origins of Graphic Science? Why did you decide to use biography as a way to explore scientific thinking?

A few years back I was asked if I was interested in doing a regular science-based comic strip in a national Sunday newspaper. It didn't work out, but I was left with a load of sample strips, some of which I felt could be expanded into a book. I was particularly interested in the biographical ones I'd done. The mix of science, history, and social commentary seemed like a good one. There was much I could get my teeth into.

How and why did you choose your seven subjects? What makes a story work for you visually and conceptually?

I avoided the big guns such as Newton, Darwin, Einstein and such like. I wanted to focus on people not that well known by the general public. So the criteria was that they should have done interesting science and have had interesting lives. Many are the scientists who may have achieved much in their chosen field, but otherwise didn't do much other than sit in a lab all day. So the people I did pick were often caught up in various controversies or struggled in the turmoil of times.

Almost by default, themes of war, poverty, gender, racism, mental illness, and much else began cropping up. It was a rich stew and enjoyable to research. My favourite scientist/inventor featured in the book is Nikola Tesla - a brilliant but tragic figure. I felt his pain.

Do graphic strips particularly lend themselves to exploring science?

I don't know whether it's a better medium than film or regular prose books, but it works for me. They all have their particular strengths and weaknesses. The advantage of comics, for me, is the combination of words and images.

You have two ways of getting the information across and often you can contrast one with the other. Comics are the cinema of the printed page.

You travel from the micro to the macro here. At times it gets properly cosmic. Do I detect a hint of Kirby being channelled?

I've been a big Jack Kirby fan since I was a child, so when it came to drawing the big cosmic stuff in the astronomy chapters, there was only one way to draw it. Kirby did cosmic like no other artist. This was my little tribute to him. 

In this anti-expert age is there a sense of mission about what you are doing?

Absolutely. We live in a time where science is under attack. Where experts in the fields they study in are openly derided by politicians who know nothing about the subject. Facts are seen as a matter of opinion.

Evidence can be ignored because gut instinct counts for more. We should all be scientists in our own lives and ask for evidence, look at the facts, and not simply believe a thing just because it confirms a comforting point of view we like. 

Do you have a favourite scientific experiment?

Not featured in the book is Joseph Priestley (although he does have a walk-on part in the Lavoisier chapter). He was a 19th-century chemist who pumped carbon dioxide through water to see what would happen and invented fizzy water.

He didn't patent it, but much later on a guy called Schweppes did, and it became the basis for a multi-billion pound industry. Think of Coke, Sprite, Tango, you name it. It all started when Priestley was messing around with what was a byproduct from a nearby factory. 

The Herald:

You are great at city scenes. When are we going to get Graphic Architecture? Graphic Urban Planning?

I like drawing cityscapes, but I don't think I'll be doing a book on architecture anytime soon. I'm much more interested in people than things.  

Graphic Science by Darryl Cunningham is published by Myriad Editions, priced £16.99