These 5 men were scientific geniuses. They also thought magic was real.

Galileo Galilei is quoted as saying that "where the senses fail us, reason must step in." Then again, he also made astrological charts for rich people. Throughout history, scientific geniuses from Galileo to Newton have often believed in completely fantastical things — from astrology to alchemy to straight-up magic. Yet some of their bizarre ideas seemed completely valid to them at the time, and often for very good reasons. We have the benefit of hindsight today, which gives us an unfair advantage over these geniuses. But that doesn't make their beliefs seem any less weird.