Who Me

{{Short description|Top-secret malodorant}} {{About}} thumb|"Who, Me?" was deployed in a small squeezable container. '''Who, Me?''' was a top secret, sulfurous, non-lethal chemical weapon developed by MIT-graduate Ernest Crocker while working in the Research and Development Branch (R&D) of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II, to be used by the French Resistance against German officers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Couch |first=Christina |date=June 27, 2018 |title=The stench of war |url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/06/27/141948/the-stench-of-war/ |access-date=2025-10-12 |website=MIT Technology Review |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Redazione |date=2022-12-27 |title=II Guerra Mondiale: l'ingegnere chimico Ernest Crocker l'uomo che studiava chimicamente gli odori più sgradevoli del mondo. Inventò il progetto "Who, me?" |url=https://www.reportdifesa.it/ii-guerra-mondiale-lingegnere-chimico-ernest-crocker-luomo-che-studiava-chimicamente-gli-odori-piu-sgradevoli-del-mondo-invento-il-progetto-who-me/ |access-date=2025-10-12 |website=Report Difesa |language=it-IT}}</ref> Who, Me? smelled strongly of fecal matter, and was issued in pocket atomizers intended to be unobtrusively sprayed on a German officer, humiliating him and, by extension, demoralizing the occupying German forces.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Aroma-Therapy-In-The-Military-It-s-Known-As-2919298.php|title=Aroma Therapy / In The Military, It's Known As 'Nonlethal Weapons Development'|work=SFGate|access-date=2017-04-08}}</ref>

The experiment was very short-lived, however. Who, Me? had a high concentration of extremely volatile sulfur compounds that were very difficult to control: more often than not, the person who did the spraying also ended up smelling as bad as the one targeted.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/num2/science-that-stinks/1|title=Science that Stinks » American Scientist|website=www.americanscientist.org|language=en-US|date=May–June 2002|access-date=2017-04-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170409200339/http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/num2/science-that-stinks/1|archive-date=2017-04-09}}</ref> After only two weeks, it was concluded that Who, Me? was a failure.

== References == <references />

==External links== * Pain, Stephanie (July 7, 2001). [https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17122984.600-stench-warfare.html "Stench Warfare"]. ''New Scientist''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Who Me?}} Category:Non-lethal weapons Category:Military equipment of World War II Category:Odor