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Lord Byron’s daughter Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer.

  • Ada Lovelace portrait
Ada Lovelace portrait
IanDagnall Computing/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Bennett Kleinman

December 19, 2023

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Long before laptops and smartphones, a 19th-century Englishwoman named Ada Lovelace created what many consider to be the world’s first computer program. Lovelace was born in 1815 to famed poet Lord Byron and philanthropist Annabella Milbanke Byron, though she never had a relationship with her father and was raised alone by her mother. Annabella became fearful that Ada would inherit her artistic father’s perceived “insanity,” and so she encouraged Ada to study grounded disciplines such as logic and math. Lovelace grew fond of those pursuits, and developed a keen interest in the inventions of English mathematician Charles Babbage, whom she met in 1833. Babbage told Lovelace of his plan to create a complex calculating machine known as the Analytical Engine — the precursor to the modern computer — and Lovelace was eager to contribute to the project.

In 1843, Lovelace was asked to translate a French account of one of Babbage’s lectures overseas, and Babbage encouraged her to expand the paper with her own thoughts. In August of that year, Lovelace published the 66-page translation, which included 41 pages of appendices containing additional theories and formulas. The most famous of these notations is “Note G,” which has been deemed the world’s first computer program. In this table, Lovelace determined how the machine could theoretically calculate a sequence of rational numbers known as Bernoulli numbers. Though the machine was never built, and thus was never able to successfully execute Lovelace’s calculations, the theory laid the groundwork for the future of computer programming.

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The oldest known analog computer was discovered in an ancient Greek shipwreck.

The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient device built between 205 and 60 BCE that sank to the bottom of the Mediterranean aboard a shipwreck in the first century BCE. The corroded remains were recovered in 1901, though the mechanism broke into three pieces upon its removal from the water. Given the advanced wear, it wasn’t until 1905 that the relic was first theorized to be some sort of ancient analog computer. Teams examined the series of complex dials and gears, which were operated by turning a small crank. As research progressed, it was determined that the Antikythera was used to calculate astronomical positions of the sun, moon, and planets; users could enter a past or future date and turn the crank to make astronomical predictions. This discovery sent shock waves through the scientific community, which previously believed this technology hadn’t been invented until the 14th century.

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World might not have existed.

  • Depiction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Depiction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
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Author Timothy Ott

April 17, 2025

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According to the 2,000-year-old writings of Greek historians such as Strabo and Diodorus Siculus, the ancient city of Babylon (in modern-day Iraq) boasted tiered terraces of exotic plants of all types that towered several stories above onlookers from the ground. Said to have been created in the sixth century BCE by King Nebuchadnezzar II for one of his wives, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were considered an awe-inspiring sight and a triumph of engineering, and as such have been accorded a spot among the celebrated Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

However, there are a couple of glaring problems with that story. One is that there is no conclusive evidence among the ruins of Babylon that such a garden ever existed, nor the irrigation system needed to maintain it amid the desert landscape. Also, the breathtaking accounts of the foliage were all composed well after the fall of Babylon in 539 BCE; there are no contemporary descriptions of the Hanging Gardens, even though other achievements of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign were recorded at the time. As such, one popular argument holds that the legendary Hanging Gardens were merely a product of the overactive collective imagination of ancient thinkers.

There is a plausible alternative to that theory: An extensive tiered system of vegetation did exist, but was built a century earlier by the Assyrian King Sennacherib in the city of Nineveh, some 300 miles to the north. Unlike in Babylon, there is evidence of an aqueduct system through the mountainous terrain around Nineveh that delivered water to the site, while surviving relief panels from the city’s royal palace feature displays of a lavish garden. As to how the renowned Greek academics could have gotten the locale wrong, they simply may have conflated the two older kingdoms from a similar region with overlapping cultures. It’s possible that yet-to-be uncovered evidence will provide more conclusive proof of Nebuchadnezzar’s green thumb, but in the meantime, it may be more accurate to refer to this ancient wonder as the Hanging Gardens of Nineveh.

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Historians didn't agree on the list of the ancient wonders.

Today, it’s well accepted which historic marvels are listed among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. But the ancient historians who initially inspired this who’s who of monuments were not in unanimous agreement as to which ones belonged. 

The Greek poet Antipater of Sidon was among those who celebrated the walls of Babylon, while the Roman poet Martial championed the inclusion of the Roman Colosseum. The spread of Christianity influenced later writers who waded into the debate, with the sixth-century Gallo-Roman bishop Gregory of Tours naming Noah's Ark and Solomon's Temple among his seven choices. According to the authors of The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it took another millennium before the various preferences crystallized into one cohesive group, with the great minds of the Renaissance helping to permanently establish the select seven for successive generations to marvel over.

 The loudest known sound was the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano.

  • Krakatoa erupting, 1883
Krakatoa erupting, 1883
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Author Darren Orf

January 11, 2024

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On May 20, 1883, Krakatoa, a volcano on Rakata Island in Indonesia, erupted with a force never seen — or heard — on Earth. Some 1,300 miles away, residents of islands in the Bay of Bengal reported hearing a series of blasts “resembling those of artillery.” Even farther away, reports from islands in the western Indian Ocean recorded a “distant roar of heavy guns.” As the speed of sound is around 767 miles per hour, Krakatoa’s loud awakening took four hours to reach the distant island of Rodrigues (near Mauritius) roughly 3,000 miles away — and it still delivered sounds as loud as a gun blast.

At an estimated 310 decibels, the eruption of Krakatoa is the loudest sound ever recorded in human history. In fact, Krakatoa was so loud that for those in close proximity, the sound of the eruption wasn’t a sound at all. That’s because at 194 decibels, acoustic vibration transforms into a shock wave of a sonic boom, and the Krakatoa shock wave was so massive, it circled Earth four times before finally dissipating. For a full five days, weather stations around the world experienced spikes in pressure every 34 hours — approximately how long it takes for sound to circumnavigate the globe. The Krakatoa eruption was one of the most powerful in history, due to a buildup of pressure in the magma chamber. It delivered the equivalent force of a 200-megaton bomb — four times as powerful as the largest-ever thermonuclear explosion, Tsar Bomba, which produced the loudest human-made sound in history. 

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A massive volcanic eruption in 1815 created a “year without summer.”

Krakatoa wasn’t the only globe-spanning eruption that took place in Indonesia in the 19th century. In April 1815, Mount Tambora, located on Sumbawa Island, exploded and spewed ash some 36 miles into the air, reaching the stratosphere. As this ash, made of sulfur dioxide, circled the globe, it combined with water and formed sulfuric acid, which had the unfortunate side effect of preventing some of the sun’s rays from reaching Earth. This plummeted global temperatures by up to 7 degrees Fahrenheit, and caused climate abnormalities in the West that led to what’s known as “the year without summer.” In the U.S., New England’s summer was so unseasonably cold that rivers and lakes as far south as Pennsylvania remained frozen even in July. 

Charlie Brown is named after a real person.

  • Charles Schulz with drawing of Charlie Brown
Charles Schulz with drawing of Charlie Brown
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Author Timothy Ott

April 17, 2025

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In 1950, a Minnesota art teacher granted permission for his co-worker, budding cartoonist Charles Schulz, to use his name for a character in a new comic strip. Taken aback by a sample drawing of the character, Charlie Brown asked, “Can’t you make him look a little more like Steve Canyon or Superman?”

Indeed, the soon-to-be-famous child protagonist of Peanuts looked nothing like the godlike Superman, and he also bore little resemblance to the young man who lent his name to the endeavor. Brown, a teacher at Art Instruction Schools in Minneapolis, did not sport a prominently bald head, nor did he own a wardrobe of zigzag-patterned shirts. Furthermore, unlike the sometimes sullen character who drew the ire of peers, the real Charlie Brown was outgoing and well liked. 

Yet the flesh-and-blood version insisted there were more similarities to the pencil-and-ink creation than initially seemed, as his cheerful exterior masked a deep-seated insecurity. “Like Charlie Brown, when I get distressed or depressed I go into bed and pull the covers over my head,” he told the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1979. “I’ve been known to stay there three or four days.”

Brown wasn’t the only Art Instruction Schools employee to see their name surface in Peanuts, as fellow teachers Linus Maurer and Frieda Rich had their monikers incorporated into the strip, too. There was also a petite redheaded woman in the accounting department named Donna Mae Johnson, who dated Schulz long enough to consider a marriage proposal from the cartoonist, before running off with another suitor. While a “Donna” never appeared in Peanuts, the specter of the heartbreak frequently returned in the form of shy Charlie Brown’s unrequited love interest, the mysterious Little Red-Haired Girl.

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Charles Schulz created other comic strips after "Peanuts."

From 1947 into 1950, Charles Schulz drew the weekly cartoon series Li'l Folks, essentially a Peanuts prototype with (nonrecurring) children characters and a dog that resembled Snoopy. But Schulz developed other comics, too — even after hitting it big with Peanuts. It's Only a Game, a strip syndicated from late 1957 into early 1959, revolved around the foibles of adults competing in activities such as golf, bowling, and bridge; although credited solely to Schulz, much of the artwork was delegated to his old Art Instruction Schools colleague Jim Sasseville. Additionally, Schulz churned out a single-panel strip titled Young Pillars from 1956 to 1965. Created for Youth, a religious magazine, Young Pillars featured the artist's telltale sketching and wit, albeit with jokes coming from wholesome teenagers who were devoted to the tenets of a church-centered life.

Michelin began reviewing restaurants to boost tire sales.

  • Michelin Guide, France
Michelin Guide, France
Credit: Alexandre ROUSSEL/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Nicole Villeneuve

January 10, 2024

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A Michelin star is one of the highest honors in the culinary world, signifying exceptional quality in a restaurant’s cuisine. The coveted rating is considered the authority on fine dining around the world, but the Michelin Guide started as little more than a driver’s roadside companion. In the late 19th century, brothers André and Édouard Michelin founded the Michelin tire manufacturing company in Clermont-Ferrand, France. At the time, the automobile industry was still on the rise, with only around 3,000 cars on the road. In 1900, as a way to promote more automobile travel and, in turn, boost tire sales for their company, the Michelin brothers launched the Michelin Guide. The free book included relevant information for motorists such as maps, tire repair tips, and listings of fuel retailers, accommodations, and places to eat. 

As the guide evolved, so did its approach to evaluating dining establishments. Readers showed interest in the restaurant and hotel information, and in the 1920s, Michelin began hiring critics to anonymously assess and review restaurants at length. The famed “star” system debuted in 1926; at first, rankings consisted only of a single star, but by 1931, the three-star system still used today made its debut. A single star denoted “a very good restaurant,” two stars signified “excellent cooking worth a detour,” and three stars represented “exceptional cuisine worth a special journey.” To date, Michelin has sold more than 30 million copies of its guidebooks, and chefs who have been on the receiving end of a star have said that the prestige does indeed increase business. Michelin, however, doesn’t disclose whether the guides are profitable to the company, nor just how many tires the guides have helped it sell.

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Karl Benz’s wife, Bertha Benz, took the world’s first road trip.

Karl Benz (of Mercedes-Benz fame) is well known for being an automobile pioneer. As his business partner, his wife Bertha Benz also deserves accolades, as well as a more adventurous automotive claim to fame. In August 1888, Bertha and her teenage sons secretly embarked on the first long-distance automobile journey when they took Karl's motorized vehicle, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, without his knowledge. Bertha left a note for Karl, and took the kids to visit her mother, traveling about 60 miles from Mannheim to Pforzheim, Germany. Along the way, she improvised necessary repairs — including using a hat pin to unclog a carburetor — and stopped at a pharmacy in Wiesloch to fuel up with Ligroin, a cleaning agent that worked as fuel. The trip was a success, and proved the automobile was on its way to being road-ready for the masses. Bertha’s road trip route was commemorated as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route in 2008, and in 2016, she was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

Citizen Kane was a financial flop until a rerelease 15 years later.

  • Orson Welles in “Citizen Kane”
Orson Welles in "Citizen Kane"
Credit: Allstar Picture Library Ltd/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Michael Nordine

April 17, 2025

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The 1941 film Citizen Kane is often cited as the greatest movie of all time, topping the lauded once-per-decade Sight and Sound poll in 1962, 1972, 1982, 1992, and 2002 before finally being dethroned by Vertigo in 2012. It received nine Academy Award nominations, winning Best Screenplay while famously losing Best Picture to John Ford’s How Green Was My Valley, and has influenced nearly a century’s worth of filmmakers. It also attracted no shortage of controversy, as director and star Orson Welles’ feature debut was clearly inspired by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who did everything in his power to prevent the movie from being seen. As a result of his successful (and devious) efforts, Citizen Kane was initially a financial failure, losing RKO Pictures some $150,000 (about $3 million today).

It wasn’t until the film was rereleased 15 years later, after Hearst’s death, that the movie got its due. This was partially thanks to the critical acclaim the film received upon its initial release and in the years that followed. Cahiers du Cinéma co-founder André Bazin called Citizen Kane “a revolution in film language,” and John O’Hara of Newsweek wrote that “your faithful bystander reports that he has just seen a picture which he thinks must be the best picture he ever saw.” With Hearst out of the picture and more than a decade’s worth of glowing reviews, the controversy that overshadowed the film’s initial release had more than subsided by the time Citizen Kane was rereleased.

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One of Welles’ final roles was in “Transformers: The Movie.”

Welles had an illustrious career both behind and in front of the camera, directing such classics as The Magnificent Ambersons and F for Fake after Citizen Kane, in addition to appearing in the likes of A Man for All Seasons and The Third Man. His penultimate appearance was a voice role in 1986’s Transformers: The Movie, in which he played the villainous Unicron. It wasn’t exactly a passion project for Welles: “I played the voice of a toy,” he said in an interview conducted five days before his death. “Some terrible robot toys from Japan that change from one thing to another… I play a planet. I menace somebody called Something-or-other. Then I'm destroyed. My plan to destroy Whatever-it-is is thwarted and I tear myself apart on the screen.” Welles took the job, as well as several commercials, to finance his own filmmaking projects. Transformers: The Movie was released 10 months after Welles died, initially failing both critically and financially before developing a cult following of its own.

Ancient bakers used bread stamps to prevent forgery.

  • Italian bread stamp
Italian bread stamp
Credit: Guido Paradisi/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Sarah Anne Lloyd

April 17, 2025

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In ancient Rome, most people didn’t have their own ovens. This included some bakers, which put them in a tricky spot since bread was strictly regulated. Government officials would carefully inspect the weight, size, and cost of the loaves, and nobody wanted to get punished for someone else’s substandard bread. So to distinguish their goods, bakers put their dough in the oven with a bronze brand on top, which would leave an indent on the finished product — not unlike a maker’s mark on ceramics. Some of these ancient loaves were uncovered at Pompeii, the markings perfectly preserved in the volcanic ash.

While bread stamps were in particularly wide use in ancient Rome, the Romans didn’t invent the practice. Clay bread stamps have been found in various regions of Europe dating to at least the Neolithic Period. Many stamps were decorative, particularly for religious rituals. Early pagans used stamped bread as offerings to gods or to ask for blessings. In some cases, decorative bread could stand in for a more expensive sacrifice, such as an animal.

One stamp from the Byzantine Empire was used to mark bread as kosher. Orthodox Christians also began stamping bread for the Eucharist (including Holy Communion) or for saints’ feast days. Today, bread stamps aren’t as common, but they’re still a key part of some traditional bread-baking, such as obi non in Uzbekistan. Stamped bread or wafers are also widely used for the Eucharist in Christianity, and home bakers occasionally use stamps for Instagram-worthy sourdough.

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Ancient Romans visited fast-food counters.

Ancient Romans didn’t have fine dining restaurants like we have today, but they did have businesses comparable to bars, inns, and even fast-food restaurants. Thermopolia were snack counters that served hot food to go. These establishments kept cold foods such as lentils, nuts, and meats in jars embedded in the counter, and the food was then scooped out and heated up for customers. A modern replica of a thermopolium — though without actual food service — opened to the public in Pompeii in 2021.

The Taj Mahal was disguised during World War II. 

  • Disguised Taj Mahal
Disguised Taj Mahal
Photo 12/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Nicole Villeneuve

January 10, 2024

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India’s Taj Mahal was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Construction on the emperor’s vision started in 1632 CE and continued in phases until 1653. Ever since, the mausoleum has stood as an artistic and architectural marvel, its symmetrical design topped with the famous white marbled dome. The centerpiece feature is so distinct, in fact, that during World War II, it was disguised for security reasons.

In 1942, amid fear of potential air raids, the British army used bamboo to cover the Taj Mahal’s dome, attempting to make the onion-shaped design resemble nothing more than a pile of vegetation. Bamboo is known for its lightweight, durable, and flexible properties, and it happens to grow abundantly in India. Still, the subterfuge was no small feat: An elaborate scaffolding system was built around the entirety of the dome, which is almost 200 feet tall. The dome was successfully camouflaged, the plant not only protecting the famous silhouette, but also dimming its gleaming white marble that, when bathed in bright moonlight, shines like a beacon in the dark. 

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The U.S. created a fake “Ghost Army” during WWII.

Disguising the Taj Mahal wasn’t the only smoke and mirrors strategy employed in World War II. In 1944, the U.S. Army activated a “Ghost Army,” a top-secret unit made up primarily of artists, sound engineers, and designers, brought together to create illusions of combat movement to deceive German forces. The group was known formally as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops; together, they pulled off 22 campaigns using inflatable tanks, fake radio dispatches, pretend generals, and sound effects, creating a false picture of American troop movements and diverting enemy attention away from actual missions. 

Choosing the date of Easter was a major controversy.

  • Depiction of Christ’s resurrection
Depiction of Christ's resurrection
Credit: ClassicStock/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Michael Nordine

April 10, 2025

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Easter is a movable feast, meaning it takes place on different days in different years. Nowadays, it’s celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox (try saying that five times fast), which means it can fall anytime between March 22 and April 25. That’s a bit more complicated than, say, Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday in November) — and it was even more complicated to settle on. Choosing when to observe Easter was a major ordeal known as the Paschal controversies, which began in the second century CE and took several more centuries to settle.

It’s easy to see why people have strong feelings about the holiday. Easter celebrates the rebirth of Jesus Christ, and is an exceedingly sacred day for Christians. The first debate was over whether it should always fall on a Sunday, traditionally observed as the Lord’s Day and the day that Jesus rose, or the 14th of Nisan, which in the Jewish calendar is the day the Paschal lamb was sacrificed and eaten, marking the start of Passover. Though a Jewish holiday, Passover has significance for Christians as well because it foreshadows Christ’s own symbolism as the sacrificial Lamb of God, and Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection occurred during the week of Passover. 

It was eventually decided to combine the two, with Easter falling on the first Sunday after this significant event. Then there was the matter of actually calculating the 14th of Nisan, also known as the Paschal moon (the first full moon after the spring equinox), which caused issues of its own. Because many Eastern Orthodox churches still use the ancient Julian calendar rather than the widely recognized Gregorian calendar, Easter often falls on a different date for them — though not this year, when it falls on April 20 for all Christians.

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The Easter Bunny originated in Germany.

Bunnies don’t lay eggs, which would appear to make the two an odd match for such a holy day — bunnies and eggs certainly aren’t mentioned in the Scripture. It’s believed that rabbits came to be associated with Easter thanks to German immigrants in the 1700s who were carrying on the tradition of a spring fertility festival. Rabbits are associated with birth and springtime due to their famously high reproductive rates, and an egg-laying hare known as “Osterhase” or “Oschter Haws” (meaning “Easter Hare” in German) was part of the mythology the Pennsylvania Dutch brought with them when they first settled in the United States. Not every country has an Easter Bunny, however — Switzerland has a cuckoo and Australia has a bilby.

The Pony Express only lasted a year and a half.

  • Pony Express rider, 1861
Pony Express rider, 1861
Credit: World History Archive/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Timothy Ott

April 9, 2025

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On April 3, 1860, a pair of riders took off from their respective starting points of St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, with the goal of delivering a backpack of mail to the other city within 10 days. The route stretched across the Midwestern plains and Western deserts and mountains, the riders stopping for fresh horses every 10 to 15 miles before handing off to another rider after a few stops. 

The mailbags reached their destinations on April 14, just past the 10-day goal but fast enough to demonstrate that the Central Overland California & Pikes Peak Express Company, aka the Pony Express, could deliver mail at a speed that bested existing services by weeks.

The Pony Express was founded by businessmen William Russell, William Waddell, and Alexander Majors, who hoped to secure an exclusive mail contract from the federal government with their new service. For a while they succeeded, despite expensive rates and the disruption caused by various conflicts between Indigenous peoples and settlers. 

California grew accustomed to faster communication with Eastern cities, while riders came to be treated like celebrities. The high point for the service came in November 1860, when the Pony Express relayed the news of Abraham Lincoln’s presidential election from Fort Kearny, Nebraska, to Fort Churchill, Nevada, in a whopping five days.

But for all the hoopla surrounding the enterprise, the Pony Express had a short shelf life. The telegraph already stretched from the East Coast to the Mississippi River by the time the first two riders galloped off, and by June of 1860, Congress had authorized the subsidization of a coast-to-coast telegraph system. 

Meanwhile, Russell, Waddell, and Majors faced mounting operating losses that forced them to cede control of the service’s western division by the spring of 1861. The completion of the transcontinental telegraph line that October marked the official demise of the Pony Express, ending the service that blazed in and out of existence yet left an indelible imprint as an emblem of the Old West.

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Buffalo Bill falsely claimed to be a Pony Express rider.

Already famous by way of the dime novels that glorified life on the American frontier, William "Buffalo Bill" Cody published an 1879 autobiography that boasted about his two years of service in the Pony Express, highlighted by one particularly impressive 322-mile run. A few years later, he dramatized his life experiences for the famed "Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show," which featured a reenactment of the Pony Express as part of its thrilling opening act. 

Of course, Cody was never shy about embellishing stories for the sake of entertainment, and it seems his tenure with the Pony Express was a distortion of the truth. Although he did work as a deliveryman in an earlier enterprise, a teenaged Cody was attending school in Leavenworth, Kansas, during the time the Pony Express was operating. Nevertheless, the deception worked out well for both entities: Buffalo Bill could claim a connection to the celebrated mail service, while his long-running show ensured the legend of the Pony Express, and other touchpoints of frontier life, would endure for generations to come.

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