Author: megneal

The Gift the Inventor of Mother's Day Wanted You To Give

6 Things Seniors Should Know About Travel Insurance Before Their Next Trip

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8 Paws-itively Fascinating Facts About Man’s Best Friend

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Neolithic Carvings Have Been Shown To Portray Narratives

One such creation is the collection of carvings at the ruins of an 11,000-year-old settlement in modern-day Turkey. Found on a limestone bench in a communal building, the carvings show ferocious animals surrounding a male figure who conspicuously holds his genitalia.

According to archaeologists, the carvings represent separate scenes meant to be read together, rendering this display the oldest narrative sequence on record. However, while some believe the carvings are meant to convey a show of masculinity, the exact story being communicated is a mystery.

If a single image can tell a story, then a recently discovered cave painting on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is the oldest physical example of a story. Depicting three humanlike figures with sticks alongside what appears to be a giant pig, the painting is believed to be more than 50,000 years old.

This scene may be the abstract representation of a hunt, but again, we can only guess at the narrative being depicted in this ancient painting.

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Aboriginal Dreamtime Myths May Be Even Older

Given the absence of a concrete narrative in prehistoric art, better candidates for the world's oldest story are found among the Dreamtime creation myths of the First Nations (Aboriginal) people of Australia. Shared by way of song, dance, and body painting, these stories describe the world's spiritual beginnings in the foundational period of the Dreamtime, also known as the Dreaming, the mythology of the Aboriginal culture.

Because the First Nations people lived on the continent for more than 60,000 years before Europeans arrived in the late 18th century, they were able to pass along their oral stories without outside influence for hundreds of generations. What’s more, the events depicted in creation myths have been shown to coincide with geologic and cosmic events that allow experts to deduce when the stories may have been spawned.

For example, the Palawa of Tasmania have a story about when the strip of land connecting the island to Australia was submerged in a flood. By examining the terrain and deposits around the Bass Strait, which now separates Tasmania from the rest of the continent, a research team found that the land bridge was swallowed by a rising ocean around 12,000 years ago, making that time period the likely origin point of the story.

The Palawa also tell of a "Great South Star" named Moinee, which never budged from its position in the night sky. Determining this to be the star now commonly known as Sirius, the team analyzed astronomical data to find an epoch when the celestial marker seemingly never moved, a period between 12,000 and 14,000 years in the past — likely around the same time the story was first told.

The Budj Bim Creation Story May Be More Than 30,000 Years Old

Which brings us to the creation story of Budj Bim. According to the Gunditjmara people of Southwest Australia, a god named Budj Bim emerged from the earth in the form of a volcano, his head becoming the rocky protuberance, his teeth forming the basalt deposits, and his blood spilling over the land as lava. The volcano still exists, albeit in dormant mode as a feature of the Gunditjmara ancestral lands, now known as the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape.

In the 1940s, an artifact known as the "Bushfield axe" was found beneath a layer of ash from the Tower Hill volcano complex, located about 25 miles from the Budj Bim complex. More recently, thanks to advancements in radiocarbon dating, scientists were able to determine that both Budj Bim and Tower Hill last erupted more than 30,000 years ago.

Since the axe was found beneath the ash, it stands to reason that people inhabited the region at the time the volcano erupted. As such, the local Dreamtime myth about the lava-spewing god that changed the landscape may also be more than 30,000 years old.

Constellations May Have Inspired an Even Older Story

Is there an older story still? According to a pair of astronomers, the answer can be found by again turning to the stars.

The Pleiades are a cluster of stars commonly known as the "seven sisters," although only six are visible to the naked eye since two of them are close enough to appear as one. As described in a 2021 paper by researchers Ray Norris and Barnaby Norris, stories about the missing sister can be found among European, African, Asian, Native American, and South Pacific cultures. Specifically, the Greeks of antiquity and First Nations people of Australia share similar tales about the sisters escaping the lustful yearnings of the nearby constellation Orion, despite there being no contact between the two cultures.

They did have a common ancestor, however, as humans are believed to have begun migrating out of Africa approximately 100,000 years ago. At that time, the seven sisters were more visibly distinct, providing reason to think that the original Pleiades-Orion story crystallized in Africa in this mind-bogglingly distant era.

There are reasons to be skeptical, however. One critic cautions that many cultures ascribe male and female identities to constellations, so this alone is not strong evidence that the stories came from a common source. Also, a period of 100,000 years is far longer than most oral traditions are thought to survive.

Which isn’t to say the Pleiades-Orion story is not the world’s oldest story, only that we don’t know for sure. After all, one can easily envision this tale being dreamed up by stargazers in the plains of Africa, using the same power of imagination that has spurred the creation of the greatest stories known to humanity.

When Did People Start Eating Sweets for Dessert?

Selection of French desserts — Credit: Universal History Archive/ Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Author Timothy Ott

January 16, 2025

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Most of us don’t give a whole lot of thought to the habit of finishing a satisfying meal with a dessert of something sweet — we’re too busy savoring the delectable mouthfuls of cake, custard, or ice cream.

Yet this is a clear culinary tradition that many people follow. While some may elect to eat sweets before a main course, and others simply dig into pie or brownies at any time of the day, most adhere to the standard operating procedure of dessert after the main course at lunch or dinner. But how and when did this order come about? Why do we eat sweets after a savory meal, and not the other way around?

Humans Evolved To Have a Need for Sweets

To start somewhere close to the beginning, the craving for sweets is biological. Our hominid ancestors realized they derived more energy from ripe fruit with a higher sugar content than unripe fruit, and humans evolved with a hardwiring that connected sweetness to pleasurable feelings.

This primal need perhaps explains why sweets have traditionally featured into religious ceremonies for many cultures. As described in Michael Krondl’s Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert, Mesopotamian cooks prepared cakes as an offering to the goddess Ishtar. Similarly, Hindus throughout India have presented a sugar and milk concoction known as pedha to deities such as Kali for more than two millennia.

At times, the ritual of serving sweet dishes at distinct intervals has translated to something similar to the modern idea of dessert. After a day of fasting in celebration of Krishna’s birthday, Hindus traditionally indulge in treats such as bhog kheer, a pudding, or shrikhand, a sugar-flavored yogurt. In Turkey, the end of fasting at Ramadan means an opportunity for celebrants to sink their teeth into baklava, a beloved pastry.

Of course, the preparation and consumption of sweets has long been a part of secular mealtimes as well. The Deipnosophists, a work from the third-century Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis, describes an array of honey-coated fare served over a series of lavish banquets. However, the now-commonplace notion of specifically relegating such sweeter foods to the end of a meal has its origins in France.

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Diners in Medieval France Enjoyed Meal-Ending Sweets

According to Sweet Invention, the term "dessert" appears in French cookbooks as far back as the 14th century; the French loanword is the noun form of the verb desservir, meaning "to remove what has been served." In the Late Middle Ages, dessert was distributed after the dishes of the main meal had been cleared, although these edibles weren't necessarily of the sweet variety.

The serving that followed dessert and concluded the meal, known as the issue, was more likely to consist of sweet foods such as fruit or spiced candies. Both the dessert and issue fell under the category of entremets, smaller portions that appeared between or after the main courses.

For European diners of the Late Middle Ages, it was common to see dishes of meat and cakes served together as the main course; there was little attempt to separate these foods of radically different tastes and textures. This remained the case even after sugar became more widely available on the continent, and influential Renaissance-era Italian cooks began showering all varieties of meals with healthy doses of the valuable commodity.

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Desserts Emerged as a Distinct Course in the 17th Century

By the 17th century, there was a growing distinction between sweet and savory courses among French culinary practitioners, and with it arrived the modern notion for the proper way to end a meal. Dessert even earned an entry in the 1690 edition of the Dictionnaire Universel, defined as "the last course placed on the table... Dessert is composed of fruits, pastry, confectionery, cheese, etc."

Recipe books of the era also devoted increasing quantities of print to instructions for pastries, jams, and fruit dishes. However, the preparation of these meal-ending foods fell under a different jurisdiction than that of the chefs in charge of the main courses. Desserts were handled by confectioners who worked in the kitchen’s "office," or pantry.

Although the office initially was considered a subordinate branch of the kitchen pecking order, its confectioners came to be considered artisans in their own right thanks to the sculptural desserts served at the ostentatious dinners of King Louis XIV and other royals. Dessert as an art form arguably reached its peak in the early 19th century with the creations of French chef Antonin Carême, who built massive replications of pyramids, temples, and fountains out of sugar mixtures.

The French Revolution Led to Modern Dining Customs

The guidelines for dessert were changing even as Carême was producing his classically inspired pièces montées. The fall of the ruling class with the French Revolution meant that the chefs who once toiled in palace kitchens became unemployed. While some were able to find wealthy benefactors, others spurred the transformation of the public dining house by launching new eateries around Paris.

These restaurants introduced the concept of service à la russe, in which each customer ordered individual dishes to his or her liking, delivered one course at a time. Meanwhile, the rise of cafés and tea houses throughout the city further popularized the concept of single-portioned desserts.

By the arrival of the 20th century, the habit of dessert to polish off a meal, whether at home or a restaurant, had taken root in the country. And given France's powerful influence on culinary customs, it wasn't long before this sweet finishing touch at mealtime became standard across the rest of Europe, as well as on the other side of the Atlantic.

The Rise and Fall of Sears Mail-Order Homes

Sears catalog, 1897 — Credit: Bettmann via Getty Images

Author Mark DeJoy

January 16, 2025

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In 1906, Sears was a flourishing catalog company that had just launched a highly successful initial public offering. The company went public under the name Sears, Roebuck and Co. after completing the construction of an enormous new headquarters and distribution center in Chicago, which totaled 3 million square feet of floor space over 40 acres of land. Sears advertised the new complex as “the largest mercantile plant in the world,” and included illustrations of it on the backs of its catalogs. It was a heady time for the company, but not everything was running smoothly.

Though Sears was growing, its building supplies department was proving unprofitable, and a decision to close it loomed. Manager Frank W. Kushel was appointed to oversee the liquidation of the department, but he instead developed a way to sustain it: All the supplies needed to construct a home were bundled together with blueprints, and shipped directly from the factory. This eliminated the need to warehouse the materials, thus saving costs, while simultaneously creating a bigger-ticket product line. The Book of Modern Homes and Building Plans — the first catalog of Sears mail-order houses — was sent to prospective customers in 1908.

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Sears was not the first company to sell kit houses — the Aladdin Company, Montgomery Ward, Lewis Homes, and others were also in the market around the same time — but Sears touted its status as one of the “largest commercial institutions in the world” with its massive distribution center, and promised to save customers between “$500 and $1,000 or more” in building costs, while guaranteeing the quality and reliability of materials. Balloon-style framing design, with drywall instead of lath and plaster, reduced the carpenter hours needed to build a house, in turn lowering the total cost for the buyer. In the initial 1908 catalog, 22 home designs were offered, ranging in price from $650 to $2,500 (roughly $20,000 to $80,000 today) and in sizes from unassuming to approaching grandeur.

Not surprisingly, delivery of materials was a complex operation. The average buyer didn’t have the space to store all the building pieces at once, so shipments were phased. The lumber and nails for the frame arrived first, in order to allow the roof and enclosure to be built, thus ensuring adequate shelter for the ensuing materials. When the customer was ready, they sent for the next shipment, which included millwork and inside finish. Hardware, paint, and any additional furnishings were the third and final shipment.

The majority of mail-order houses arrived by train; the buyers hauled the materials from the boxcar to their building site, unless they were well heeled enough to pay for the railroad to truck the supplies from the station. The first orders for homes were placed by customers around late 1908 or early 1909.

Sears moved aggressively to improve home offerings and stimulate sales. In 1909, it acquired a lumber mill in Mansfield, Louisiana. The following year, electric lights and gas (high-end amenities at the time) were included in home designs. The next two years saw the completion of an additional lumber mill in Cairo, Illinois, and the acquisition of a millwork plant in Norwood, Ohio.

The new facilities enabled the company to manufacture its entire line of homes using its own sources, which allowed for an expanded number of home designs. By 1912, the Modern Homes department reached an annual sales volume of $2,595,000, which equated to a profit of $176,000. This was enough to wipe out the previous losses from the department’s former building supplies incarnation. Kushel’s plan was a success.

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In 1916, Sears introduced the feature that is most often associated with its mail-order homes: ready-cut lumber. Cut in the factory to fit, the lumber did not require any trimming before it was nailed together. This allowed for cost savings for the buyer as fewer carpentry hours were needed (a savings Sears estimated at 40%), and it was advantageous for the company as well: Sears was able to purchase lumber in more economical lengths, as well as use second-grade lumber and convert it to first-grade via trimming. The trimmed pieces were often repurposed for other materials — with the timber waste removed, freight costs were substantially reduced. To further encourage sales, Sears reintroduced its own mortgage program, which had originally been active from 1911 to 1913.

In 1919, the end of World War I brought with it the end of wartime building restrictions. A housing boom ensued, spurred on by the return of soldiers. Sears introduced three tiers of Modern Homes: Simplex Sectional (small two-room structures), Standard Built (less-insulated homes best suited for warmer climates), and Honor Bilt, high-end homes that featured amenities such as cypress siding, kitchens with white tile sinks and enameled cupboards, and “Air-Sealed Wall construction.” Sales from 1912 to 1920 totaled $29,160,000, at a profit of $3,377,000. During that same time frame, around $3.8 million in mortgage loans were written.

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During the 1920s, Sears set its sights on maximizing the booming housing market. The company had opened its first sales office specifically for Modern Homes in Akron, Ohio, in 1919, and in 1920, it built a Philadelphia plant that became the base of Sears’ East Coast operations. In 1921, sales offices opened in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Dayton, followed by sales offices in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington the following year.

The offices used the Sears mortgage program as a major selling tactic, steering buyers toward mortgages, and the company’s loan policy became more and more lenient in response to sales pressure. Accordingly, sales were booming, increasing from an average of 125 units shipped per month in 1920 to 326 units in May 1926 from the Cairo plant alone. But by 1926, mortgage loans represented 97% of sales.

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The year 1929 was set to be a banner year for Sears Modern Homes. The department had sold 49,000 houses from its inception up to that point. It was averaging 250 units shipped per month just from its Cairo plant, and had a sales staff of 350 people in 48 different offices throughout the country. The $12,050,000 in sales for 1929 represented the highest total the department had ever had. But when the stock market crashed in October 1929, eventually plunging the United States into the Great Depression, Sears Modern Homes was one of the many businesses the bottom fell out of.

The decline was swift. The Sears annual stockholder report for 1932 plainly stated, “Since September 1931, [the Modern Homes department] has operated at a loss. Its sales declined over 40% in our fiscal year, with resulting losses of $81,154,984 during the year.” Two years later, the annual report relayed the dire state precipitating the end of the department: “About $11,000,000 in mortgages were liquidated during the year and the Modern Homes Department was discontinued.”

The department was reopened in 1935 under a different configuration, selling prefab houses by Chicago’s General Houses, Inc., and the Modern Homes catalog continued to be issued until 1940. Modern-day Sears house enthusiasts cite 1942 as the final year a Sears mail-order home was built, as orders from the final 1940 catalog continued to be filled in the year or so after the catalog was published. Unfortunately, Sears’ own records of home sales were destroyed, complicating a definitive date.

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Though the 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression provide a tidy explanation for the beginning of the end of the Sears Modern Home department, historians Boris Emmet and John E. Jeuck made a different assessment in their seminal 1950 book, Catalogues and Counters: A History of Sears, Roebuck & Company. The book points out the unsustainability of the business model. Increased sales thresholds for Modern Homes necessitated building (or acquiring) more manufacturing plants to handle the increased production needs. The costly production facilities required investments in shipping and transportation, too, along with an increasingly growing and complex service organization to support the business.

The push for sales meant relying on ever more lenient mortgages and approving otherwise undesirable credit risks, creating what Emmet and Jeuck called an “ever increasing and ever more unsound mortgage receivable structure.” Ultimately, the business was simply not scalable: As sales increased, profit margins declined. The peak profit margin for Modern Homes was 15% in 1919 and 1920. It dropped to an average of approximately 10% from 1921 to 1926, and fell under 5% by 1928. The narrowing margins left the business unable to weather a slowdown in sales, let alone a large economic crisis. As Emmet and Jeuck wrote, “At any time subsequent to 1926, the onset of a [sales decline] would probably have developed losses comparable to those which actually were incurred after 1929; the condition was inherent in the structure.”

5 Surprising Facts About the Secret Service

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Author Kristina Wright

January 16, 2025

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The U.S. Secret Service is a prominent part of American culture, often portrayed in action films and news footage where agents are seen sprinting alongside the president and leaping into action during high-risk situations. These representations have shaped much of our perception about the agency, creating an image of an elite force dedicated to the protection of the nation’s leader.

Yet the Secret Service is much more than the group of sharp-suited agents seen flanking the president. Since its founding in 1865, the agency’s role has included some truly fascinating — and often surprising — responsibilities. Here are five facts about the U.S. Secret Service that you may not know.

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Abraham Lincoln Established the Secret Service

On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation establishing the U.S. Secret Service. Although now synonymous with protecting the president of the United States, the agency was not originally created for this purpose. Instead, it was conceived as a division of the U.S. Treasury Department, tasked solely with addressing the rampant issue of counterfeit money. In the aftermath of the Civil War, nearly a third of U.S. currency in circulation was counterfeit, destabilizing the fragile economy. The Secret Service’s mission was to combat this crisis, investigate forgeries, and safeguard the nation’s financial security.

Establishing the Secret Service turned out to be Lincoln’s final legislative achievement, as he was assassinated later that same day by John Wilkes Booth. Ironically, the agency Lincoln established did not take on the responsibility of presidential protection until decades later, following the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901.

McKinley’s death, the third presidential assassination in 36 years, highlighted the urgent need for enhanced measures to protect the nation’s leaders. In response, the Secret Service was formally assigned the responsibility of safeguarding sitting presidents. Despite this significant expansion, the agency has retained its original mission of protecting the nation’s financial system, a task that remains integral to its operations.

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The Secret Service Has the World’s Largest Ink Library

The Secret Service maintains a forensic laboratory that houses the world’s largest ink library, with more than 15,000 samples of marker, pen, and printer inks dating back to the 1920s. This extensive collection is important for forensic analysis, allowing the agency to identify counterfeit currency and analyze forged documents by comparing inks to known samples. Such examinations can determine the authenticity of a document and trace the origin of counterfeit materials.

The Secret Service’s lab also uses cutting-edge technologies to analyze fingerprints, materials, and other forensic evidence. These capabilities support the investigations into financial crimes and protective operations, allowing agents to detect and prevent threats before they materialize.

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Women Joined the Secret Service in the 1970s

Before there were female agents in the Secret Service, the agency occasionally relied on clerical staff or other personnel when a woman's presence was needed for specific operations. That finally changed in 1971, when Phyllis Shantz, Laurie Anderson, Sue Ann Baker, Kathryn Clark, and Holly Hufschmidt became the first women appointed as Secret Service special agents, marking an important step toward gender inclusion in the agency.

Since then, women have played pivotal roles in the Secret Service’s dual missions of protection and investigation. Female agents have served in nearly every capacity, from presidential details to combating cybercrime and leading undercover operations to dismantle financial fraud rings. Women also have risen to leadership positions, with Julia Pierson becoming the first female director of the Secret Service in 2013.

Secret Service Agents Are Trained in “10-Minute Medicine”

When the president travels, the Secret Service's preparations extend far beyond standard security measures. Agents not only are trained in emergency medicine but also carry a range of medical supplies, including a supply of blood matching the president’s blood type, to ensure immediate access in case of a medical emergency or violent attack. Their training is in "10-minute medicine," which involves stabilizing the president for the crucial 10 minutes it may take to get them to the nearest trauma center. This training ensures that agents are equipped to act quickly in life-threatening situations, providing lifesaving care until more extensive medical treatment can be administered.

The Secret Service's emergency training has proved invaluable in several high-stakes situations. During the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, agent Jerry Parr’s emergency medicine training and quick thinking were crucial in saving the president’s life. After Reagan was shot, Agent Parr immediately recognized the severity of the situation and directed the motorcade to George Washington University Hospital instead of the White House, ensuring the president received prompt medical attention. His timely intervention, along with the actions of other agents, helped stabilize the president during the critical first moments after the attack.

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Protection Is Mandatory for the President and Vice President

The Secret Service is mandated to provide protection to the president and vice president of the United States, as well as their immediate families. Additionally, the agency is responsible for protecting former presidents, their spouses, and their children under the age of 16, as well as visiting foreign dignitaries and their spouses, and major presidential and vice presidential candidates and their spouses. They also secure specific events that have been designated as National Special Security Events by the Department of Homeland Security, such as the presidential inauguration and the State of the Union address.

The Former Presidents Act of 2012, signed by President Barack Obama, reinstated lifetime post-presidential protection after a 1994 statute limited that protection to 10 years. While Secret Service protection is mandatory for the sitting president and vice president, anyone else who is entitled to protection can choose to refuse it. Richard Nixon decided to drop his Secret Service detail in 1985, 11 years after he left office, and his wife, Pat Nixon, relinquished protection the previous year. Nixon is the only U.S. president to have declined Secret Service protection.

5 Retro Photos From the Swinging ’60s

Dancers at Cromwellian Club, 1966 — Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

Author Nicole Villeneuve

January 16, 2025

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The Swinging ’60s were a period of whirlwind of change in the United Kingdom — bold, colorful, and bursting with possibility. At the dawn of the decade, Britain was still shaking off the postwar doldrums, with austerity lingering and life defined by staid convention and cautious optimism. But as the country entered an era of economic growth and prosperity, a sense of freedom and opportunity also emerged. By the end of the 1960s, London had transformed into a global hot spot of youth, freedom, and creativity, where music, fashion, and art collided in a cultural revolution that reverberated around the world.

As a generation of young people — resulting from the postwar baby boom — emerged free from war and its looming shadow, they embraced individuality. Not content to follow the old rules, they set out to rewrite them entirely: Music became their driving force, with bands such as the Beatles leading the charge. Fashion transformed too, with Mary Quant’s daring designs embodying the era’s exuberance. London was alive with energy, and the city spent the better part of the decade reinventing itself. Here are five photos from the era that illustrate what it was like to live through the Swinging ’60s.

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George Harrison’s Sitar (1968)

Few things capture the cultural imprint of 1960s London quite like the Beatles. Their meteoric rise to fame coincided with the youth-driven revolution that defined the era. The Fab Four were more than just a band; they were an unstoppable force that touched everything from fashion to philosophy. The Beatles were known to experiment with new sounds, particularly Eastern influences, and guitarist George Harrison’s introduction of the sitar into their music marked a pivotal moment.

This photo, taken in June 1968 at Heathrow Airport, shows George and Pattie Harrison, Ringo Starr, Maureen Starkey, and Beatles assistant Mal Evans returning to England from California after Harrison filmed scenes for the Ravi Shankar documentary Raga. Shankar, a renowned Indian composer and musician, was a major influence on Harrison, and Harrison can be seen carrying his own sitar off the plane. Years earlier, in 1965, the Beatles became the first Western rock band to use the sitar on a commercial recording when they released the song “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown).” It inspired fellow musicians to explore new sonic landscapes, paving the way for the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and others to adopt the psychedelic sound that formed the soundtrack of the Swinging ’60s.

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Carnaby Street (1967)

Carnaby Street was the beating heart of Swinging London. By 1967, it was home to several iconic clothing stores that helped define the fashion of the era. This included popular shops by men’s fashion tailor John Stephen, often dubbed the “King of Carnaby Street,” as well as Lady Jane, one of the first women’s boutiques on the street. Lady Jane caused a commotion when it opened in 1966. Live models changed outfits in the window display, drawing crowds big enough to stop traffic — and to attract famous customers including Mia Farrow and the Motown group Martha and the Vandellas.

This photo outside the iconic Lady Jane captures not only hip Londoners’ trendy clothing — including bright shades of pink and blue and short hemlines — but also radio DJ Tony Blackburn. Blackburn was a fixture of the British music scene, starting his career on the legendary pirate radio station Radio London. These illegal, ship-based stations played a crucial role in the Swinging ’60s. They brought the latest pop music to a voracious young audience that was, at the time, largely ignored by the BBC. When pirate stations were shut down, the BBC launched its own pop station with Radio 1, and Blackburn became its first DJ.

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The Cromwellian Club (1966)

In the mid-to-late ’60s, the Cromwellian Club was the place to be. Though it was rumored to have been an illegal casino in its early days, it transformed into a quintessential London venue after being acquired by successful restaurateur Tony Mitchell in 1964. The club's reputation soared when a few wrestlers-turned-promoters also bought into the business and started booking the entertainment. The three-floor spot had it all: a bar on the ground floor, a casino upstairs, and in the cellar, a legendary dance floor and live music venue, the lifeblood of the club.

It was here that Jimi Hendrix made his London debut and a who’s who of music royalty, from Eric Clapton to Stevie Wonder to Reg Dwight (now known as Elton John), regularly took to the stage to jam. Meanwhile, the dance floor buzzed with all-night energy; it wasn’t unusual to see members of the Beatles or Herman’s Hermits floating around alongside Hollywood heavyweights such as Jayne Mansfield and Sean Connery. The club’s time as a cultural cornerstone was meaningful but short-lived; by the end of the 1960s, the owners had moved on.

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The Swinging Blue Jeans (1963)

The Swinging Blue Jeans were one of the standout Merseybeat bands (a pop genre that emerged around Liverpool) of the 1960s, known for their hits “Hippy Hippy Shake” and “You’re No Good.” In 1963, Liverpool denim brand Lybro recruited the group to advertise the company’s new line of clothing — one made for teenage girls who wanted to dress like their favorite pop stars. In this photo, the group stands on the Eros statue stairs at London’s famed Piccadilly Circus. Between them are three young women, each dressed in a pair of jeans and a sleeveless, collarless vest jacket over what Lybro called its “hitch-hike shirt.”

After the end of World War II, denim evolved from its utilitarian roots into a symbol of youthful rebellion and casual cool. The Beatles also did an advertisement for Lybro jeans in 1963; other than their own merchandise, it was the only nonmusical product endorsement the band did in their career.

The Miniskirt (1967)

If just one piece of clothing had to be chosen as the defining garment of the Swinging ’60s, it would undoubtedly be the miniskirt. The sky-high hemline was a ubiquitous wardrobe staple by the mid-1960s, representing not only a fresh fashion trend but also a cultural rebellion. British designer Mary Quant is widely credited with inventing the style, and while her playful, youthful designs indeed helped define the looks of the era, Quant attributed the miniskirt’s origins to London’s creative and visionary street style.

In this 1967 photo, model Nicky Smith walks Carnaby Street in a gingham mini shift dress looking every bit the playful-yet-polished mod. If her look alone isn’t enough to encapsulate the essence of the era, her surroundings — at the intersection of Carnaby Street and Foubert's Place — certainly help. Behind Smith is a long-standing staple of Carnaby, Shakespeare’s Head pub, which claims roots dating back to the 1700s and a (very unlikely) connection to the Bard’s descendants. The Tudor-style building seen in this picture was rebuilt in the late 19th century; it stood throughout the entirety of London’s Swinging ’60s, and remains today.

Where Did the QWERTY Keyboard Layout Come From?

1950s typewriter keys — Credit: Robert Alexander/ Archive Photos via Getty Images

Author Tony Dunnell

January 15, 2025

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The QWERTY keyboard layout is so common that most of us never stop to question its unusual arrangement of letters. But when we do look down at our keyboards, we might find ourselves struggling to understand the logic behind the layout: Why does the top row begin with the letters Q, W, E, R, T, Y?

Found on nearly every computer, laptop, and smartphone worldwide (at least in countries that use a Latin-script alphabet), this seemingly random configuration of keys has an interesting history — though perhaps not the one most people have been led to believe.

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The Rise of the Typewriter

During the 19th century, inventors came up with various kinds of machines designed to type out letters. Most of these machines, however, were large and cumbersome, often resembling pianos in size and shape. In some cases, they proved highly valuable to people with visual impairments, but for general use they were inefficient, being much slower than simple handwriting.

Enter Christopher Latham Sholes, an American inventor who, in 1866, was working alongside Carlos Glidden on developing a machine for numbering book pages. Sholes was inspired to build a machine that could print words as well as numbers, and he and Glidden soon received a patent for their somewhat ungainly prototype. The contraption had a row of alphabetized keys that, when struck, swung little hammers with corresponding letters embossed in their heads. The keys, in turn, struck an inked ribbon to apply the printed letters to a sheet of paper. It was far from the perfect solution, however, so Sholes persevered.

Five years later, in 1872, Sholes and his associates produced the first-ever practical typewriter. Rather than an alphabetized row of keys, this new typewriter featured a four-row layout with what was then a QWE.TY keyboard (with a period where the R is today). In 1873, Sholes sold the manufacturing rights to the Remington Arms Company, which further developed the machine. It was marketed as the Remington Typewriter — complete with the slightly altered QWERTY key layout. It became the first commercially successful typewriter, and in so doing made the QWERTY keyboard the industry standard.

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Why QWERTY?

Here’s where things get a little foggy. An often-repeated explanation for the QWERTY keyboard layout is that it was designed by Sholes to slow typists down in order to prevent typewriters from jamming. If you’ve ever used an old-fashioned typewriter, you might have noticed how easy it is to strike letters in quick succession, or simultaneously, which can cause the type bars to become stuck together.

But would Sholes really have sabotaged his own keyboard layout to hamper the speed of operators? In reality, there is little to no hard evidence of any deliberate slowdown. And the patent that first mentions the QWERTY layout contains no direct mention of why the keys were placed in such a manner. If it was indeed designed to cause fewer jams, this feature would likely have been a primary attribute of the patent. What’s more, at the time that Sholes patented the QWERTY layout, there were no “touch typists,” so no one was typing particularly quickly, let alone speed-typing.

So, why did QWERTY become standard? One convincing and particularly thorough answer comes from Kyoto University researchers Koichi Yasuoka and Motoko Yasuoka. In their 2010 paper “On the Prehistory of QWERTY,” the researchers conclude that the mechanics of the typewriter did not influence the keyboard design. Instead, the QWERTY system was a rather circuitous result of how the first typewriters were being used.

Among the most prominent early adopters of early typewriters were telegraph operators, whose priority was to quickly transcribe messages. These operators found an alphabetical keyboard arrangement to be confusing and inefficient for translating morse code. The Kyoto paper suggests the QWERTY keyboard evolved over several years as a direct result of the input provided by these telegraph operators. According to the researchers, “The keyboard arrangement was incidentally changed into QWERTY, first to receive telegraphs, then to thrash out a compromise between inventors and producers, and at last to evade old patents.”

In other words, QWERTY came about through a combination of factors. There was direct input from telegraph operators, as well as compromises made between inventors and producers — practical changes made by the manufacturers who actually had to mass produce the product. (The keyboard layout on Scholes’ original prototype, for example, was altered by the mechanics at Remington.) And then there were old patents to contend with. In 1886, a new company called Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict (WS&B) released the Remington Standard Type-Writer No. 2. To avoid existing keyboard layout patents, the company slightly altered the design, placing M next to N and swapping around C and X. This became the QWERTY format keyboard we use today.

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The Persistence of an Imperfect Design

While the precise intentions behind Sholes’ QWERTY design are at least partially lost to history, there is undoubtedly a strong argument against the popular belief that it was designed to slow typists down.

What we know for sure is that the QWERTY layout is remarkable for its staying power. Despite the development of potentially more efficient keyboard layouts — most prominently the Dvorak layout, designed in the 1930s, which is supposed to be faster and more comfortable — QWERTY has remained the global standard. By the time alternative layouts were proposed, millions of people had already learned to type on QWERTY keyboards, and switching would have required massive retraining efforts for typists, not to mention a lot of grumbling from the general public.

So, for now at least, QWERTY is very much here to stay — at least on laptops and PCs. Researchers at the University of St Andrews in Scotland have developed a split-screen keyboard they claim can increase typing speeds for touchscreen users who type with their thumbs. Known as KALQ (the letters at the bottom right of that keyboard), its layout is a radical departure from the QWERTY system, which has been unchanged for about a century and a half. Will KALQ gain a foothold? Only time, and more typing, will tell.

What Was George Washington’s Inauguration Like?

Inauguration of George Washington, 1789 — Credit: North Wind Picture Archives/ Alamy Stock Photo

Author Timothy Ott

January 7, 2025

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Every four years, a new United States presidential administration commences with an inauguration ceremony on the western front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Held on January 20, or January 21 if the traditional date falls on a Sunday, the inauguration begins around noon with the vice president-elect reciting the oath of office.

That’s followed by the only constitutionally mandated component of the inauguration, the president’s oath of office, typically administered by the chief justice of the United States. The president-elect repeats the words: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

The president then delivers their inaugural address, followed by a luncheon in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall, and a parade that takes the chief executive and their party to the White House. The evening’s events include varying numbers of official and unofficial balls, held in hotels and government buildings throughout the city.

While the roots of these traditions go back to the very first U.S. presidential inauguration — that of George Washington in 1789 — the events of that particular day were noticeably different from what transpires now. In fact, the ceremonies surrounding this landmark moment of American history weren’t even formalized until just a few days before it all unfolded.

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A Military Procession Escorted George Washington to New York City

Following a week’s journey from his beloved Virginia plantation Mount Vernon, which saw him feted by residents of every town he passed through, Washington arrived at his new home in what was then the federal capital, New York City, on April 23, 1789. His wife, Martha Washington, who was still tending to business at Mount Vernon, did not join him for another month.

With the president’s safety secured, a joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives met to hammer out details of where the inauguration would take place, who would administer the oath of office, and seating arrangements. On April 25, Congress adopted the committee’s recommendations for ceremonies to be held five days later.

At sunrise on the determined day of April 30, a military salute was discharged at Fort George near the southern tip of Manhattan. At 9 a.m., church bells sounded throughout the city for approximately half an hour, summoning their congregants for a morning service.

Meanwhile, Washington, who’d had barely any downtime since adjusting to his accommodations in a three-story brick building on Cherry Street, dressed in a Connecticut-made brown broadcloth suit, adorned with gilt buttons engraved with the arms of the United States, as he awaited the military procession that would escort him to Federal Hall on Wall Street.

The escorts arrived around noon and set off with the president in his coach about half an hour later. Numbering some 500 men in total, the procession included two companies of grenadiers, a company of light infantry, members of the Senate and House committees, and the Spanish and French ministers.

Within 200 yards of Federal Hall, the procession split into lines on either side of the street, its participants presenting arms and lowering flags as Washington and his party passed between them on foot and entered the federal building.

Inside the Senate Chamber, Washington was greeted by his vice president, John Adams, and members of both the Senate and House of Representatives. At about 2 p.m., Adams informed Washington that it was time to take the oath of office, and the gathered congressmen escorted the president to a canopy-covered balcony decorated with red and white curtains.

Before a crowd of spectators gathered on the streets below, and on the roofs and balconies of neighboring buildings, Washington placed his right hand on an open Bible supplied by St. John’s Masonic Lodge of New York and repeated the oath of office administered by the chancellor of New York, Robert R. Livingston. After the president finished by kissing the Bible, Chancellor Livingston turned to the crowd and ignited a celebratory roar by proclaiming, “It is done; long live George Washington, president of the United States.”

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Washington Delivered a Low-Key but “Touching” Address

With all elected representatives back in the Senate Chamber, Washington stood before them to read the nation's first presidential address. The speech was originally written with the help of his aide David Humphreys, but Washington ultimately eschewed that lengthy draft in favor of a far shorter version crafted by James Madison.

With his usual self-effacing manner, the president revealed his feelings of inadequacy over his ability to handle the role of president, and requested no payment for his services. Still, he left no doubt about his grasp of the tasks that faced the country in the days to come: "The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply and perhaps finally staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people," he said.

To the distinguished figures present, the man of the moment seemed surprisingly nervous. Massachusetts Representative Fisher Ames noted the president's manner as "grave, almost to sadness; his modesty, actually shaking; his voice deep, a little tremulous, and so low as to call for close attention." But the congressman also described it as a "very touching scene," the address producing "emotions of the most affecting kind upon the members."

Afterward, Washington, Adams, and the assembled congressmen proceeded to St. Paul's Chapel for a service overseen by Reverend Samuel Provoost, the episcopal bishop of New York and chaplain to the Senate.

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The Celebrations Concluded With Fireworks Over Manhattan

After dining alone at the Presidential Mansion, Washington again journeyed out to watch a show of fireworks from the homes of Chancellor Livingston and his old Revolutionary War comrade Henry Knox. Boston merchant John May described the fireworks over Lower Manhattan as "well executed" and "greeted with tumultuous applause," but he seemed especially impressed by the lighting displays of various buildings.

"The Spanish Ambassador's house was illuminated so as to represent Wisdom, Justice, Fortitude, Sun, Moon, Stars, Spanish Arms, etc.," May wrote in a letter the following day. "Federal Hall also presented a fine appearance. The likeness of our Hero [Washington], illuminated, was presented in the window of a house, at a little distance. The best likeness I have yet seen of him, so much like him that one could hardly distinguish it from life — excepting for the situation, over a beer-house, a place he never frequents."

At about 10 p.m., the tired president retreated to his carriage in an attempt to return to his new home. However, the crowded streets forced him to abandon his ride and complete his task on foot, a sure sign that there would be little time to rest with the world watching his every move as the first president of the United States of America.

Meet America’s Gilded Age ‘Dollar Princesses’

Jennie Churchill, 1888 — Credit: Herbert Barraud/ Archive Photos via Getty Images

Author Kristina Wright

January 7, 2025

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The turn of the 20th century marked a time of rapid industrialization and wealth accumulation in the U.S., now known as the Gilded Age. A unique social phenomenon emerged during this era as wealthy American heiresses married into aristocratic British families. The brides brought their extensive fortunes to England’s cash-strapped noble families in exchange for coveted British titles and social status. The term “dollar princesses” captures the transactional nature of these unions, which often symbolized the blending of New World wealth with Old World prestige.

The concept of dollar princesses came out of the economic realities of the period. Many British noble families had inherited land-rich but cash-poor estates and struggled to maintain their ancestral homes in the face of declining agricultural incomes and the increasing costs of managing these vast properties. Meanwhile, newly wealthy American industrialists and financiers were looking to elevate their social standing in the U.S. and abroad — and saw their unmarried daughters as the perfect conduit for forming beneficial alliances.

These marriages were not just personal but also highly strategic, often negotiated with the same acumen as a business deal — not unlike the arranged marriages between royal families. Traditional introductions were made at social events between like-minded families, and American debutants could be presented at court — for a price — making it more likely for them to find suitable husbands. A publication called Titled Americans announced heiresses who had married into the aristocracy and listed eligible British bachelors who might be amenable to marrying their own dollar princesses. The 1915 edition reported that 454 American heiresses had married into European noble families between 1870 and 1914.

The dollar princesses of the Gilded Age represent a fascinating intersection of extravagant wealth, political ambition, and cultural exchange. While their marriages were often arranged with pragmatic goals in mind, many of these women went on to leave significant legacies in philanthropy, politics, and society. Here are some of the most notable dollar princesses of the era.

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Consuelo Vanderbilt

Perhaps the most famous dollar princess, Consuelo Vanderbilt was born into the staggeringly wealthy Vanderbilt family. When Consuelo married Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough, in 1895, her father, railroad tycoon William Kissam Vanderbilt, signed an agreement providing a dowry of $1.6 million (equivalent to around $60 million today), as well as an income of $2 million in stocks. The match was arranged by Consuelo’s Southern belle mother, Alva Vanderbilt, as a way of securing the family’s place in society. Consuelo was vehemently opposed to the union and the duke was no more enamored of her, telling Consuelo after their wedding that he was in love with another woman.

Despite her unhappy marriage, Consuelo gained a prominent place in British society as the Duchess of Marlborough and became a supporter of women’s suffrage. After living apart for years, the couple divorced in 1921, and Consuelo married the love of her life, French aviator Jacques Balsan.

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Jennie Jerome

Jennie Jerome, the daughter of American financier Leonard Jerome, became Lady Randolph Churchill when she married Lord Randolph Churchill in 1874. While the Churchills were initially resistant to the match, Jerome’s $250,000 dowry, worth more than $9 million today, convinced them to reconsider.

With her striking beauty and sharp wit, Jennie played an influential role in her husband’s political career. She was also involved in the founding of the Primrose League, a sociopolitical organization for men and women involved in the Conservative Party. Though she married two more times following Randolph’s death in 1895, Jennie had two sons from her first marriage — one of whom was Winston Churchill, the future British prime minister.

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Mary Leiter

Mary Leiter’s 1895 marriage to George Curzon, who later served as the viceroy of India, underscores the influence of dollar princesses in international diplomacy. As the daughter of Chicago millionaire Levi Leiter and heiress to the Marshall Field fortune, Mary brought a substantial dowry that helped the Curzon family preserve their land holdings and social standing.

Mary’s obituary noted she was held in high esteem and her success in the role of diplomat’s wife was crucial to helping her husband advance in his political career. In 1898, Mary was given the highest official title that any American woman held in the British Empire: the vicereine of India.

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Nancy Astor

Nancy Langhorne, the daughter of a railroad businessman, defied all expectations to become the first woman to sit in the British Parliament. After a brief, turbulent marriage that ended in divorce, Nancy moved to London, where the glamorous American heiress attracted the attention of eligible British bachelors. Among her potential suitors was American expatriate Waldorf Astor, the son of American-born Viscount William Waldorf Astor, a prominent hotelier and owner of The Independent newspaper. Nancy and Waldorf connected over their shared interests and American heritage and were married six months after their whirlwind courtship began.

With her sharp political instincts and charismatic personality, Nancy became a distinctive presence among British society. When her husband was elevated to the House of Lords, Nancy successfully ran for his vacant seat in the House of Commons as a Conservative Party candidate. Her tenure as an MP was defined by her advocacy for women’s rights and social reform.

Helena Zimmerman

Helena Zimmerman, the daughter and sole heir of Pittsburgh industrialist Eugene Zimmerman, married William Angus Drogo “Kim” Montagu, 9th Duke of Manchester, in 1900. Like many unions of the era, their marriage was more of a financial arrangement than a romantic union. Helena’s substantial dowry rescued the nearly bankrupt duke from financial ruin, allowing him to maintain his estates and lifestyle. However, the duke’s extravagant spending led to mounting debts, while his marital infidelities added a personal strain to their relationship.

Eugene Zimmerman ensured his daughter’s financial security by providing her with a fixed allowance, but stipulated that her husband would inherit nothing after his death in 1915. The couple’s tumultuous marriage ultimately ended in divorce in 1931. Helena remarried in 1937, becoming the wife of Arthur George Keith-Falconer, 10th Earl of Kintore, and they remained together until his death in 1966.

How Were the Egyptian Pyramids Built?

Engraving of the Pyramids of Giza — Credit: World History Archive/ Alamy Stock Photo

Author Tony Dunnell

January 7, 2025

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Ancient Egypt was home to more than 100 pyramids, many of which still stand today. One of the oldest monumental pyramids in Egypt, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was built sometime between 2667 BCE and 2648 BCE and began a period of pyramid construction lasting more than a thousand years. The most famous monuments are found at the Giza complex, home to the Great Pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure, all built during the Fourth Dynasty around 2600 to 2500 BCE — the golden age of ancient Egypt.

The Egyptian pyramids stand as one of humanity’s most remarkable architectural achievements, and their incredible precision and massive scale have confounded researchers for centuries. Despite numerous theories and extensive archaeological research, the exact methods of their construction remain a subject of scholarly debate. How did ancient Egyptians erect pyramids using millions of massive blocks weighing as much as 2.5 tons each? And how, more specifically, did they move those blocks up the superstructure?

To this day, there is no known historical or archaeological evidence that resolves the question definitively. While popular speculation often veers into fantastical explanations — yes, including aliens — serious historians and archaeologists have given much thought as to how these monumental structures might have been erected using the technological capabilities of the time. Here are three of the most likely construction theories.

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The Herodotus Machine

The first historical account of the construction of the pyramids came from the ancient Greek historian Herodotus in the fifth century BCE. In his Histories, he wrote that the Great Pyramid took 20 years to build and demanded the labor of 100,000 people. Herodotus also wrote that after laying the stones for the base, workers “raised the remaining stones to their places by means of machines formed of short wooden planks. The first machine raised them from the ground to the top of the first step. On this there was another machine, which received the stone upon its arrival and conveyed it to the second step,” and so on.

These “Herodotus Machines,” as they later became known, are speculated to have used a system of levers or ropes (or both) to lift blocks incrementally between levels of the pyramid. Egyptian priests told Herodotus about this system — but it’s important to note that this was a long time after the construction of the Great Pyramid, so neither the priests nor Herodotus were actual eyewitnesses to its construction. It is certainly feasible, however, that the machines he described may have been used, either by themselves or, more likely, in conjunction with other methods.

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The External Ramp Theory

Archaeologists generally agree that a system of ramps must have been used, in some form or another, to drag the millions of blocks into their positions in the various pyramids. While there’s no remaining physical evidence of external ramps at the Great Pyramid, traces can be seen around some of the other Old Kingdom structures. One initial theory posited the use of a single, linear ramp built on one side of the pyramid, which would have been gradually raised as the pyramid progressed. But, considering that an 8% slope is about the maximum possible slope for moving such heavy blocks, a ramp such as this would have needed to be about a mile long to reach the top of the pyramid. That would mean constructing the ramp would have been as much of a task as building the pyramid itself, making the theory unlikely, especially for larger structures such as the Great Pyramid.

There are a few other ramp theories, however. One proposes that a series of switchback, or staircase, ramps could have been built, zigzagging up just one face of the pyramid. Traces of these have been found at the Sinki, Meidum, Giza, Abu Ghurob, and Lisht pyramids. Other archaeologists have speculated that a spiraling ramp could have been used, which would have wrapped around the entire pyramid. This is a popular theory, although it does have its problems. As with the straight or linear ramp, this ramp would potentially have been a mile long if it was used to build the Great Pyramid, making it in itself a massive construction project. It’s also not clear how workers could have maneuvered 2.5-ton blocks around the corners of the ramp. Archaeologist Mark Lehner did make a practical demonstration of how this could be done, but it was on a far, far smaller pyramid.

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The Internal Ramp Theory

In 2007, the French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin offered a new theory to solve the mystery of how Egypt’s Great Pyramid was built. Using archaeological research combined with 3D computer modeling, he argued that the Egyptians used an internal — rather than external — system of ramps to build the pyramid. Workers, he theorized, used an outer ramp to build the first 141 feet, then constructed a spiraling inner ramp to carry stones to the apex of the 482-foot-tall pyramid. Using this technique, Houdin argued, the pyramid could have been built by around 4,000 people instead of 100,000, as other theories suggest.

The internal ramp theory was met with much intrigue, with some archaeologists skeptical and others arguing that it’s as valid as any other concept. Interestingly, Houdin’s proposal would explain why no evidence of ramps has been found at the Great Pyramid: They could be still there, hidden inside the structure. He and his team continue to work on the hypothesis, in search of definitive evidence of internal ramp structures with the help of 3D scanning technology.

Whether concrete proof will ever be found to support one particular theory is yet to be seen. It’s entirely possible, of course, that the Egyptians utilized various construction techniques when building the pyramids, combining levers and both external and internal ramps — as well as other possible methods — to overcome whatever challenges came their way.

What Did People Do Before Eyeglasses?

Old spectacles on a book — Credit: dero2084/ Alamy Stock Photo

Author Timothy Ott

December 20, 2024

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Somewhere in the vicinity of Pisa, Italy, around 1286, an unknown craftsman fastened two glass lenses to a frame likely made of wood or bone to create the first eyeglasses.

With approximately two out of three adults in the United States today requiring some form of visual aid, it’s safe to say that invention has been well received. But even though 1286 is well before any of us first discovered the splendor of improved eyesight, it’s relatively recent in the larger picture of human existence. So how did people with subpar vision get by before there was a convenient LensCrafters to pop into?

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There’s not much historical evidence explaining how our prehistoric ancestors fared in the absence of visual aids, so we’re left to use some combination of deduction and common sense to determine how, say, a sight-impaired individual would keep up with the pack in a group of hunter-gatherers.

A person with imperfect vision could still be useful to a group simply because sharp eyesight to read signs, documents, and the like wasn’t necessary in prehistoric times. As civilization progressed, those with visual impairments could even find their condition produced certain advantages. A myopic (nearsighted) person, for example, could find themselves steered toward a craftsman role for their ability to focus on detail.

That said, humankind used visual aids for many centuries before the first eyeglasses appeared in the Middle Ages. Here are a few of the tools that helped those dealing with hyperopia (farsightedness) and other sight-related challenges.

Early Lenses

Archaeological digs in the eastern Mediterranean area have uncovered the existence of plano-convex lenses (flat on one side and rounded on the other) made of glass and rock crystal that date back to the Bronze Age. The most well known example is the Nimrud lens, which was found in the remains of an Assyrian palace in modern-day Iraq. While it’s unknown what these lenses were used for, some of them magnify objects between seven and nine times, rendering them useful for work on items in close quarters.

In his book Renaissance Vision From Spectacles to Telescopes, Vincent Ilardi suggests that the presence of holes or “resting points” on some of these lenses indicates they may have been propped up in a way that allowed artisans to use their hands. Additionally, he offers the discovery of a 5,300-year-old Egyptian ivory knife handle with carved microscopic figures as evidence that ancient Egyptians had a means for providing vision enhancements.

These weren’t the only civilizations to discover uses for lenses. A 2.3-gram convex crystal lens was found in the tomb of a son of Chinese Emperor Liu Xiu, who lived in the first century CE. Its creation was fostered by the optical studies published centuries earlier by Chinese scholars, including the philosopher Mozi and King Liú Ān.

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