He was born on Dec. 18, 1878. His name was Joseb Besarionis dze Jugashvili. He changed this to Josef Stalin which means “man of the steel hand”. His father was an alcoholic cobbler and his mother was a washerwoman. At age 7, he contracted smallpox which left him with pockmarks Read more
Nellie Bly was the first investigative reporter. She had famously masqueraded as a mentally ill woman to go undercover in an insane asylum for ten days, among other sensational stunts for the New York World newspaper. By 1889, she was the most famous female reporter in the U.S., but Read more
Pre-sliced bread was invented in 1928. With WWII underway, Secretary of Agriculture and head of the War Foods Administration Claude Wickard ordered a ban on the production of sliced bread. It is unclear what the motivation was. Some think Wickard was trying to conserve the wax paper that was Read more
Alexander Hamilton, Jr was studying law when his father was shot in the most famous duel in American History. The duel took place at the same place where his older brother Phillip had been killed by a Burr supporter. He was at his father’s side when he died. He Read more
On this day in 1863, an infamous massacre occurred in Kansas during the Civil War. Kansas had been known as “Bleeding Kansas” before the war as pro- and anti-slavery forces battled for control of the state. This degenerated into a vicious guerrilla war between the Jayhawkers (antis) and Bushwhackers (pros). Read more
At age 12, Philo Farnsworth fixed a generator on the family farm. At age 14, he had an electrical lab in the attic. He would wake up at 4 A.M. to read scientific journals before doing his chores. He began dreaming of transmitting moving images through the air. His big Read more
Today in 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified. In honor of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, I am providing some interesting facts about my favorite suffragist – Alice Paul. I have loved this woman since seeing the movie “Iron Jawed Angels.” I also highly recommend the YouTube video that Read more
He was born in Corsica, not France. He supported Corsican independence and hated France, until he attended the famed Ecole Militaire. Later, when he returned home, he saw that Corsica was backwards. He met Josephine at a party. She was a widow with three kids. Her husband was a nobleman Read more
Columbus was probably born in Genoa, Italy. His birth name was Cristoforo Colombo. In his teens, he went to sea. At age 25, his merchant ship was sunk by pirates. He floated to shore on a piece of wood and made his way to Lisbon where he studied math, astronomy, Read more
On Nov. 4, 1922, the greatest archeological find in history was made by British archeologist Howard Carter. On that day, he uncovered a stairway that led to a seal indicated it was the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun, the “Boy King” who ruled from 1333-1324 B.C. He had taken Read more