How The Polio Vaccine Was Developed (And All The Hiccups Along The Way)
1900s | April 30, 2021
Child vaccinated with Dr. Salk’s vaccine against polio in 1956. (Jean-Pierre Grisel/RDB/ullstein bild via Getty Images) Polio has plagued humans ...
Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi FRSA: Inventor Of Long-Distance Radio
1800s | April 28, 2021
Marconi demonstrating apparatus he used in his first long-distance radio transmissions in the 1890s. The transmitter is at r...
The Easter Rising: Insurrection Within Ireland During World War I
1910s | April 26, 2021
Irish Citizen Army group lined up outside ITGWU HQ under a banner proclaiming "We serve neither King nor Kaiser, but Ireland!" (National Library of Irela...
A History of Shoe-Tossing: Why Do People Throw Shoes Over Power Lines?
Weird History | April 24, 2021
Three pairs of shoes hang from power lines near 19th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. in Long Beach. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via G...
Ivan The Terrible (And Why He Wasn't That Terrible)
People | April 22, 2021
The Czar Ivan the Terrible, 1590, (1903). Artist Hans Wengel. (Print Collector/Getty Images) As one of Russia's most notorious rulers, Ivan the Terrible has long bee...
Indian People Brought Marijuana to Jamaica And Named It Ganja
Ancient History | April 21, 2021
Bhang eaters before two huts, c. 1790. (San Diego Museum of Art/Wikimedia Commons) "Where does marijuana come from?" sounds like the kind of question one w...
Female Pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read And How They Escaped Death Sentences
British History | April 20, 2021
Anne Bonny and Mary Read. (Stefano Bianchetti/Corbis via Getty Images) Hollywood depicts female pirates as lusty, tight-bodiced hotties who ...
How Tire Companies Supposedly Sabotaged LA's Early Transit System
1940s | April 19, 2021
"Red Car" of the Pacific Electric. (Oleknutlee/Wikimedia Commons) To efficiently get around Los Angeles, you have to drive a car, but it wasn't always ...
Superman Action Comics 1938 Premieres The World's First Iconic Superhero
1930s | April 18, 2021
The last son of Krypton made his first comic book appearance in Action Comics #1 in June 1938, but he was gestating long before he appeared on ...
Bay Of Pigs: An Attempt To Overthrow A Government Financed By The U.S.
1960s | April 17, 2021
Counterattack by Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces supported by T-34 tanks near Playa Giron during the Bay of Pigs invasion, April 19, 1961. (Rumlin/...
The Slave Trade Act: British Parliament Finally Abolishes Slavery In 1807
1800s | April 16, 2021
Sugar plantation in the British colony of Antigua, 1823. (British Library/Wikimedia Commons) The long battle to stop the transatlantic slave tr...
The Breast Tax: Imposed On Women Who Chose To Cover Their Breasts
1800s | April 15, 2021
Lithograph from L'Inde Français, 1828. From the collection of Jean Claude Carriere. (Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images) The breast tax, or the mul...
How The New York City Subway Came To Be
1900s | April 14, 2021
The City Hall station of the I.R.T. Lexington Avenue Line, sometime between 1900 and 1904, part of the first underground line of the subway that opened on October 27, 1904. (Libra...
Who Assassinated Martin Luther King Jr.?
1960s | April 13, 2021
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking before crowd of 25,000 Selma To Montgomery, Alabama civil rights marchers, in front of Montgomery, Alabama state capital building. On March 2...
Kamikazes: What Were They? Who Were They And How Did They Sign Up For This?
World War II | April 12, 2021
Japanese kamikaze putting on his forehead bandeau with rising sun, Pacific war, 1944–1945 colorized document. (Apic/Getty Images) By fall 194...
1797: First Ever Parachute Jump Is Made Over Paris
Military History | April 11, 2021
Schematic depiction of Garnerin's first parachute used in the Parc Monceau descent of October 22, 1797. Illustration dates from the early nineteenth century. (Library o...
The History Of The Getaway Car And Where It Started
1900s | April 10, 2021
1912 Stanley steam car. (Stephen Foskett/Wikimedia Commons) Before the advent of the automobile, bank robbers, rustlers, and no-goodniks of all stripes fled the scen...
The First Barrel Ride Down Niagara Falls Happens In 1901
1900s | April 9, 2021
Annie Edson Taylor, first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survive (cat in photo is likely the same cat that went over the falls in a test run). (L...
Dizzy Gillespie: Trumpet Player, Jazz Legend, And Jimmy Carter's Friend
People | April 8, 2021
American jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie performing at the Meridien Hotel in Paris, France. (Thierry Orban/Sygma via Getty Images) For more than ha...
P.T. Barnum: Circus Magnate And Entertainer Extraordinaire, Truth & Myths
People | April 7, 2021
Phineas Taylor "P. T." Barnum (July 5, 1810–April 7, 1891). (Harvard Library/Wikimedia Commons) Called "The Greatest Showman on Earth," P.T. Ba...
A History Of Post-It Notes: When Were They Invented And Why?
1980s | April 6, 2021
Post-it Notes manufactured by 3M. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) Want to remind yourself to pick up your dry cleaning? A visual brainstorming tool for your next...
When Winston Churchill Retired: And The Queen Broke Protocol At His Funeral
1960s | April 5, 2021
Winston Churchill beams down upon Princess Anne as she waited with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles at Waterloo Station to welcome home th...
The Rock Springs Massacre Of 1885: When 28 Chinese Miners Were Slaughtered, Homes Burned
1800s | April 4, 2021
Barely past the crack of dawn on September 2, 1885, an argument broke out between the Chinese and European immigrant workers of...
Jane Goodall: The Famous Anthropologist/Primatologist’s Journey
1960s | April 3, 2021
British primatologist Jane Goodall visits a chimpanzee rescue center in Entebbe, Uganda. (SUMY SADURNI/AFP via Getty Images) Renowned primatologist Jan...
The Three Fates: 3 Goddesses Of Greek Mythology Who Control All Mortal Life
Ancient History | April 2, 2021
The Three Fates: Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, 1558–59. After Giulio Romano. Artist Giorgio Ghisi. (Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Ima...
1970: Cigarette Advertising Is Banned By Congress
1970s | April 1, 2021
Lillian Eggers, television queen of 1940, advertising for cigarettes in Philadelphia. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images) It's no joke. Until 1971, tobac...
John Keats: Poet, Father Of Romanticism Who Peaked When He Was Young
Literature | March 31, 2021
Posthumous portrait of John Keats by William Hilton. (National Portrait Gallery/Wikimedia Commons) During his life, John Keats was far from the most...
Pinkertons: The Old West's Secret Police That Still Exist Today
1800s | March 30, 2021
Pinkerton on horseback on the Antietam Battlefield in 1862. (Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons) The Pinkerton National Detective Agency is one of the...
China Ends Their One-Child Policy In 2015 After 35 Years
1970s | March 29, 2021
A child hugs a red lantern in China. (Zhang Yin/China News Service via Getty Images) In the late 1970s, China was a mess. The population was growing out of cont...
Jonas Salk: Inventor Of The Polio Vaccine (Life, Bio, & Stories)
People | March 28, 2021
Poliomyelitis, A.K.A. polio, is a viral infection which damages neurons, specifically motor neurons, weakening the infected's muscles and sometimes res...
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