Science & Industry
5 of the Oldest Companies Still in Business
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Article
Businesses come and go, and even industry titans are subject to the whims of the market. Just look at Woolworth’s, Circuit City, Blockbuster, Pan Am, Compaq, and Tower Records — all gone. But some companies have impressive staying power, surviving wars, economic collapses, and centuries of shifting technology, quietly continuing to operate long after their founders are forgotten. Here are five such businesses, which count among the oldest extant companies in the world. Credit: © Boltor Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan Recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest hotel on Earth, this hot spring inn in ...Read More
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Science & IndustryArticle47The Year That Changed American Shopping
In 1962, while Americans anxiously followed escalating Cold War tensions, witnessed the violent racial integration of the University of Mississippi, and mourned the tragic death of Marilyn Monroe, a quiet…
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Science & IndustryFact83After World War I, people used X-rays to try on shoes.
There’s a reason we typically receive X-rays only in a medical setting: Without the proper precautions, radiation is extremely dangerous. But for several decades following the discovery of X-rays in…
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Science & IndustryFact25Abraham Lincoln could plausibly have sent a fax to a samurai.
The 1860s weren’t eventful just in the United States. As the American Civil War raged in the first half of the decade and Abraham Lincoln became the first president to…
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Science & IndustryFact96The stethoscope was invented because a doctor felt awkward pressing his ear to a woman’s chest.
In 1816, a French physician named René Laennec found himself in a delicate situation. He needed to listen to the heart of a young female patient but didn’t have an…
