Hi, Dr. Bill.
Salvador Luria won a Nobel Prize for work on the genetics of mutatiuon that was stimulated by a trip to Las Vegas and consideration of what has become known as "Monte Carlo theory."
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Well, 'breakthrough' may be stretching it a bit ... but chocolate did contribute:
Yahoo! News - Chocolate Obsession Leads to Physics Discovery
Chaikin and his colleague, chemist Salvatore Torquato, used the candies to investigate the physical and mathematical principles involved when particles are poured randomly into a vessel.
Writing in Friday's issue of the journal Science, they said they found that oblate spheroids -- such as plain M&Ms -- pack surprisingly more densely than regular spheres when poured randomly and shaken.
When poured in, they said, spheres occupy about 64 percent of the space in a container. M&Ms manage to pack in at a density of about 68 percent.

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