History
Discover facts about history. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
History
A fridge magnet holds paper without magnetizing the paper
The attraction works through the sheet toward the metal door. The magnet presses the paper against the surface, and friction keeps it from sliding down. A…
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Dubai turned a hotel helipad into a tennis court
The Burj Al Arab once turned its helipad into a temporary tennis court, hundreds of feet above the ground and without a safety net to catch stray balls.
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Hyundai began by building bridges
The company that later put its name on millions of cars started out building infrastructure. Founded in 1947 as an engineering and construction firm, Hyundai…
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In Lucha Libre, losing your mask means losing honor
A mask is part of a wrestler’s public identity, so losing it in a match exposes more than a face: it costs professional honor. That threat is why competitors…
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Three rival World Cup teams shared a ship with the trophy
Belgium, France, and Romania traveled toward the 1930 tournament aboard the Conte Verde, which also carried Jules Rimet and the cup. Brazil joined the voyage…
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LG made cosmetics before it made appliances
LG began as a cosmetics company, making the jump from skin care to appliances only later. The refrigerator aisle was a long way from the dressing table.
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Venezuela moved its national clock by half an hour—then moved it back
The country adopted UTC−4:30 in 2007, giving its civil time an unusual half-hour offset. In 2016 it returned to UTC−4. The sun never changed course; the…
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Australia has a 45-minute time zone
Eucla sits between regional time zones at UTC+8 and UTC+9:30. Its handful of residents use UTC+8:45, the neat midpoint between two clocks that leave the town…
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Fiji printed its rugby victory on a banknote
After Fiji won its first Olympic gold in rugby sevens in 2016, the country issued a commemorative $7 banknote. The team’s victory went straight into people’s…
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Aldar Headquarters is a massive upright circular coin
The glass Aldar Headquarters in Abu Dhabi was the region’s first perfectly circular building. Set upright, its shape looks like a giant coin driven into the…
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The skyscraper race behind the Petronas Towers
To speed construction, Malaysia split the work between two international teams and set them racing to finish first. The result was a pair of matching…
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Queen Victoria's diaries passed through her daughter's filter
Princess Beatrice produced heavily edited copies of her mother's journals. The surviving record therefore carries two voices in a less obvious sense: the…
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The Pentagon once proposed a gay bomb
Wright Laboratory requested $7.5 million for a chemical weapon meant to provoke homosexual behavior among enemy troops and undermine morale and discipline.…
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Edison didn’t invent the light bulb alone
By 1879, more than 20 inventors had worked on incandescent bulbs. Edison bought Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans’s patent, then improved the filament so it…
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The man whose name became a verb for shunning
During an agricultural crisis in 1880, land agent Charles Boycott tried to evict tenant farmers. Locals stopped working his farm, serving him, and delivering…
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The grim dinner rumor about Vlad the Impaler
A lurid account claimed Vlad III ate among the impaled bodies of his enemies and dipped bread in their blood. The image made the punishment part of the story:…
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Thomas Jefferson and John Adams took a break from negotiating international treaties in England in 1786 to visit the former home of William Shakespeare and actively vandalize his furniture.
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams took a break from negotiating international treaties in England in 1786 to visit the former home of William Shakespeare and…
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Adolf Hitler had a British-born nephew named William Patrick Hitler who completely despised his fascist uncle and actually enlisted in the United States Navy to fight against him during the Second World War.
Adolf Hitler had a British-born nephew named William Patrick Hitler who completely despised his fascist uncle and actually enlisted in the United States Navy…
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In a Viking saga, a severed head gets the last victory.
In a Viking saga, a severed head gets the last victory. The Orkneyinga Saga tells how Sigurd the Mighty tied a defeated enemy's head to his saddle. A…
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Edgar Allan Poe practically invented the modern detective genre but died under bizarre circumstances that not even his most cynical fictional characters could solve.
Edgar Allan Poe practically invented the modern detective genre but died under bizarre circumstances that not even his most cynical fictional characters could…
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An Egyptian pregnancy test waited for seeds to sprout.
An Egyptian pregnancy test waited for seeds to sprout. An ancient papyrus prescribed watering wheat and barley with urine and watching for growth. A 1963…
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Harrison gave the longest inaugural address—and served the shortest term.
Harrison gave the longest inaugural address—and served the shortest term. His 1841 speech ran to more than 8,000 words, but his presidency lasted only 32…
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Victorian era eccentric William Buckland served as the Dean of Westminster but spent the majority of his free time trying to systematically eat his way through the entire animal…
Victorian era eccentric William Buckland served as the Dean of Westminster but spent the majority of his free time trying to systematically eat his way…
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The legend of a doctor who revealed her disguise in court.
The legend of a doctor who revealed her disguise in court. In Hyginus's story, Agnodice dresses as a man to learn medicine and treats Athenian women. Accused…
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