The following story is said to be true:

More than two centuries ago a famous astronomer Charles Messier lived in France. He was a keen comet hunter, he discovered many of them. (The astronomers know Messiers catalogue of nebulous objects which is still used.) He had a competitor (also French) who also discovered a lot of comets.

One night Messier could not go to his observatory as his wife was dying. Two things happened during the night: Messiers competitor managed to discover a new comet and Messiers wife died.

When Messiers friends got to know of the death of Mrs Messier they came to express their sympathy to the astronomer who replied: It is a great loss for me. And imagine that on the top of it my wife is dead.