You might think that Outerbridge Crossing is called that because it is the most remote bridge in New York City, or maybe because it is the southernmost crossing in New York state. But it was named after Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge, the first chairman of the New York Port Authority. They might have named it Outerbridge Bridge, but then thought better of it. You might think that Baker’s chocolate is called that because it is the preferred chocolate used by bakers. Wrong- it’s made by a company founded by Walter Baker. And you might assume that Main Street is used as a name because it’s the main street, but in San Francisco, the street was named for Charles Main. It was only appropriate.
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In science, Southern blot is a process used in sequencing DNA. There is also Northern blot, Eastern blot, and Western blot. However, they were not named for Dr. Blot. Southern blot was named after biologist Edwin Southern, who developed it. When the other methods came along, they were named in sequence after Southern blot. There are other surprising things that were actually eponyms, meaning they were named after people, although you will be forgiven for thinking they were just named for what they are. Roland Crosby compiled a list of them with links to the story behind each name. Even when the inclusion in a list seems like a stretch, the stories are all rather interesting. -via Metafilter, which gives us even more of them.
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Source: neatorama