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HomeHistory20th century history

Category: 20th century history

By The Generalist Posted on May 19, 2022May 18, 2022

The band prophecy

In the mid-20th century, Austin Wiggin’s mother predicted that her son would have daughters, and those daughters would form a famous band. He did, and they did, in the most surprising way possible.

Categories: 20th century history, Music, North & Central America
By The Generalist Posted on May 17, 2022May 16, 2022

Return of the space dogs

Laika, the first space dog, died in orbit. But the next two – Belka and Strelka – survived. One of Strelka’s puppies was gifted to John F. Kennedy… but not before it was fully scanned for secret listening devices.

Categories: 20th century history, Animals, Astronomy, Europe, North & Central America, North & Central Asia
By The Generalist Posted on May 15, 2022May 14, 2022

The demo

On December 9, 1968, a team led by computer scientist Douglas Engelbart ran a 90 minute tech demo at a San Francisco conference. This “mother of all demos” introduced the world to the computer mouse, windows, hypertext, and collaborative document editors.

Categories: 20th century history, Computer science, North & Central America
By The Generalist Posted on May 9, 2022May 8, 2022

Man-lifting war kites

A large enough kite can lift someone off the ground. So, of course, several inventors and aeronauts tried to find a military application for such man-lifting kites.

Categories: 19th century history, 20th century history, Europe, Military, North & Central America, Technology
By The Generalist Posted on May 1, 2022April 30, 2022

Indian flag monopoly

Every Indian flag in India is made in one small south Indian village.

Categories: 20th century history, Fashion & design, Politics & law, South Asia
By The Generalist Posted on April 29, 2022April 27, 2022

Peaceful nukes

In the 1960s and 1970s, both the United States and the Soviet Union explored “peaceful” applications of nuclear weapons: excavating earth for lakes and canals, geological research, and extinguishing gas well fires.

Categories: 20th century history, Military, North & Central America, North & Central Asia, Technology
By The Generalist Posted on April 25, 2022April 24, 2022

First free-falling skydiver

Tiny Broadwick was the first person to intentionally jump out of a flying airplane without being tethered to something.

Categories: 20th century history, North & Central America, Technology
By The Generalist Posted on April 19, 2022April 18, 2022

Admirals of Nebraska

The US state of Nebraska is landlocked; all the states around it are also landlocked; and all the states around them are also landlocked. And yet, the Governor of Nebraska can grant residents the honorary title of Nebraska Admiral.

Categories: 20th century history, Military, North & Central America, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on April 15, 2022April 14, 2022

The Man of the Hole

The Man of the Hole is an indigenous man living alone in the Amazon rainforest. Authorities believe that he is the last survivor of a tribe otherwise wiped out by illegal loggers.

Categories: 20th century history, 21st century history, South America
By The Generalist Posted on April 3, 2022April 2, 2022

Oldest government in exile

The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic has operated as a government in exile for more than a hundred years.

Categories: 20th century history, Europe, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on March 17, 2022March 16, 2022

Continent of stability (Part 2)

Beyond the boundaries of the natural elements may lie a whole new form of matter without protons or neutrons: quark matter. [2 of 2]

Categories: 19th century history, 20th century history, 21st century history, Physics & chemistry
By The Generalist Posted on March 14, 2022March 13, 2022

Continent of stability (Part 1)

Nuclear physicists predict an “island of stability” beyond the current end of the periodic table. But there’s another possibility even further out: an exotic “continent of stability.” [1 of 2]

Categories: 20th century history, 21st century history, Physics & chemistry
By The Generalist Posted on March 8, 2022March 7, 2022

School bus kidnapping

In 1976, twenty-six children riding in a California school bus were kidnapped at gunpoint and hidden inside a truck that was buried in a quarry. Twenty-seven hours later, after sixteen hours underground, they escaped.

Categories: 20th century history, North & Central America, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on February 24, 2022February 22, 2022

The scientists of Mars

When asked why we have no proof of extraterrestrial life, the Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard joked that Martians were already among us… they just called themselves Hungarians.

Categories: 20th century history, Computer science, Europe, Mathematics & statistics, North & Central America, Physics & chemistry, Technology
By The Generalist Posted on February 22, 2022February 22, 2022

The Phony King of England

Disney’s Robin Hood features a song about the “Phony King of England.” That song is based on an old (and very bawdy) English folk ballad about “The Bastard King of England.”

Categories: 20th century history, Europe, Film & television, Music, North & Central America, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on February 21, 2022February 20, 2022

Buried film history

In 1978 a cache of five hundred film reels was discovered under an ice rink in Dawson City, Yukon. These buried reels included the only copy of films that had been lost for decades.

Categories: 20th century history, Film & television, North & Central America

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