DOCTOR Frankenstein’s identity has finally been revealed after almost 200 years. Mary Shelley’s infamous fictional figure was inspired by the eminent Scottish scientist John Lind, the first person in Britain to try to animate dead animals with electricity.
Ever since Shelley wrote her classic book, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, in 1818, scholars have argued over where the inspiration for her obsessive doctor came from. She acknowledged that her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, played a part in stimulating her creativity, and she was present in the summer of 1816 when he regaled his fellow poet Lord Byron with tales of…
