Famous Eponyms [1]

An eponym is a person after whom a discovery, invention, place, etc., is named or thought to be named.

Did you know?
The list of eponyms is endless and afghan, America, Amish, ampere, bobby, Bolivia, boycott, caesarean, Celsius, cereal, casanova, chauvinism, derby, diesel, fauna, flora, Friday, guillotine, huligan and hoover, are all eponyms.

Sandwich

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At 5 a.m. on August 6, 1762, John Montagu, fourth earl of Sandwich, looked up from the gaming table and decided that he was hungry. 

The earl, a compulsive gambler in the midst of one of his famous round- the- clock sessions, didn't dare leave his cards for a meal and ordered his man to bring him some cold, thick-sliced roast beef between two pieces of toasted bread. 

Thus the first sandwich was born. 

Pompadour

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Pompadour refers to a hairstyle which is named for Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764), mistress of King Louis XV. 

Although there are numerous variations of the style for both women and men, the basic concept is hair swept upwards from the face and worn high over the forehead, and sometimes upswept around the sides and back as well.

Salmonella

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Salmonella is a rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacteria. There are only two species of Salmonella, Salmonella bongori and Salmonella enterica. It's a pathogenic bacteria causing food poisoning, typhoid, and other infectious diseases in humans and domestic animals. 

Daniel Elmer Salmon (1850-1914), was an American veterinary surgeon who took credit for the discovery of salmonella, which was actually discovered by his colleague Theobald Smith. 

How did it happen?

Well, at the time Theobald was working as a research laboratory assistant and Salmon was, as you might guess, the head of the department.

[source: Wikipedia & The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins]