WEIRD HISTORY
By Amanda Sedlak-Hevener – Updated 2017 Sep 12 – The history of the number zero stretches from early civilizations in the fertile crescent (now known as the Middle East) all the way into modern times. This means the question of who invented the number zero …
The purpose of such an elaborate structure remains a big open question. The remains of the newly discovered structure. (A. E. Dudin) – By Brian Handwerk – SmithsonianMag.Com – A jaw-dropping example of Ice Age architecture has been unearthed on Russia’s forest steppe: …
At 5,000 years old, the weapon predates the era when humans first started using tin to make bronze. Serafino Jamourlian of the monastery of San Lazzaro degli Armeni and Vittoria Dall’Armellina with a newly rediscovered 5,000-year-old sword. (Andrea Avezzù). – By Katherine J. …
Maria Kirch was the first woman to discover a comet, but her husband took the credit. Even 300 years later, Maria Margaretha Winkelmann Kirch is denied credit for her work. By JoEllen McBride, Astrophysics – Author’s Note I had never heard of Maria Winkelmann-Kirch …
By Katie Fustich – It’s a man’s world, or so the old saying goes. Though women in history haven’t always been able to fight in wars, publish books, or live adventurous lives, that has never stopped women disguised as men from stepping …
By Katherine Ripley – Updated October 24, 2019 – If you’re a woman, especially in a male-dominated field, you probably know what it feels like to be overshadowed by male colleagues, even when you’re doing better work than them. All of the women …
By Genevieve Carlton – Updated November 21, 2019 – What was it like to live at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project? As thousands worked to build a top-secret atomic device, the US military tried to keep the entire city secret. All …
By Quinn Armstrong – Updated August 20, 2019 – Within a complex of chapels, cathedrals, and palaces in Turino, Italia, there’s an airtight case made of bulletproof glass. The temperature and chemical composition of the air inside this case is carefully …
Maggie Lena Walker was one of the most important Black businesswomen in the nation, and today too few people have heard of her. Maggie Lena Walker, from the Scurlock Studio Collection in our Archives Center. By Crystal Marie Moten – Maggie Lena Walker …
By Setareh Janda – Who was Mata Hari? Exotic dancer, courtesan, seductress, spy, and femme fatale: Mata Hari was many things to many different people. But she is perhaps best remembered for the fact that she was executed during World War I …