Heaviside was also famous (and more noteable in Engineering circles) for the Heaviside step function. This is used in modelling current flow in circuits.
I remember a similar story of a girl who can produce glass tears. At the time it was believed her tear ducts produced a chemical that solidifies upon contact with air. It wasn't really glass, but it was clear and hard. I'm not sure if there were follow-up stories afterwards on that incident.
I believe the cat was his and, until it died, has been with him since he started recording years ago. So he put the cat with the halo as a tribute. I recall reading something about that in his website.
"Not today, Sir, no"