Historical Events, Birthdays And Quotations

This Day in History

Sun, 9 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

Sun, 9 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

The Doctors' Trial was the first of 12 post-World War II trials collectively called the "Subsequent Nuremberg Trials," which the US held in its occupation zone in Nuremberg, Germany. Of the 23 defendants, 20 were medical doctors, and they faced charges for war crimes that included experimenting on human subjects without their consent. The Nuremberg Code was thus established to protect the rights of humans participating in medical research. How many of the defendants received death sentences? Discuss

Sat, 8 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

Not long after American heavy metal band Pantera disbanded and two of its founding members, brothers "Dimebag" Darrell and Vinnie Paul Abbott, formed the band Damageplan, the group released its debut album. Sadly, it would also be its last. During a concert in Columbus, Ohio, later that year, former US Marine Nathan Gale went on a shooting rampage, killing Darrell along with a fan, a roadie, and a security guard before being fatally shot by a police officer. Why did Gale do it?

Fri, 7 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

Toft, an English servant, had a bizarre 15 minutes of fame in 1726 when she convinced doctors that she had given birth to a litter of rabbits. At age 25, Toft suffered a miscarriage. About a month later, she appeared to go into labor and proceeded over the next few weeks to "birth" several animal parts along with nine baby bunnies. The episode was attributed to a fascination with rabbits that Toft had developed during her pregnancy—until it was revealed to be a hoax. How had she pulled it off?

In the News

Sun, 9 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

Sun, 9 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

The quest to create affordable, durable and mass-produced 'smart textiles' has been given fresh impetus through the use of the wonder material Graphene. An international team of scientists, led by Professor Monica Craciun from the University of Exeter ... Discuss

Sat, 8 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

Gravitational waves have been picked up from the biggest black hole merger yet detected. Scientists say their laser labs sensed the ripples in space-time emanating from this gargantuan collision on 29 July 2017. The event saw two holes, weighing more ...

Fri, 7 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

On a summer night in 2017, Chen Zhanqi made a curious find in his lab in China's Yunnan province. In an artificial nest, he spotted a juvenile jumping spider attached to its mother in a way that reminded him of a baby mammal sucking its mother's teats. On ...

Today's Birthdays

Sun, 9 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

Sun, 9 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

A math professor, Hopper joined the US Navy during World War II. She was assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance Computation Project at Harvard, where she worked on the first fully automatic calculator, the Mark 1. Made of 765,000 parts and using typewriters for output, it sounded, she said, like a thousand knitting needles. She later helped develop UNIVAC I—the first US commercial electronic computer—and high-level programming languages. What computer term did she popularize and possibly coin? Discuss

Sat, 8 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

A skilled French sculptor in her own right, Claudel is best remembered for being a student, collaborator, model, and mistress of famed sculptor Auguste Rodin. The two had a tumultuous affair that began to crumble in the 1890s, and Claudel, who suffered from mental illness, became increasingly unstable and reclusive. She was committed in 1913 and remained institutionalized until her death 30 years later. Her work is highly valued by collectors, but little of it survives today. Why is this?

Fri, 7 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

The "father of modern planetary science," Dutch-American astronomer Gerard Kuiper made many discoveries about the solar system, among them the presence of a methane atmosphere around Saturn's satellite Titan and a carbon dioxide-rich one on Mars and the existence of Uranus's satellite Miranda and Neptune's satellite Nereid. He also proposed the existence of a disk-shaped region of minor planets and comets—now called the Kuiper belt—outside Neptune's orbit. What did he help identify on the Moon?

Article of the Day

Sun, 9 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

Sun, 9 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

In 1996, 15 people died trying to reach the summit of Mount Everest, making it the deadliest year in the mountain's history. Eight of the deaths occurred on a single day in May, when climbers were caught by a fierce storm. The disaster gained wide publicity and raised questions about the commercialization of Everest. Journalist Jon Krakauer, who witnessed the tragedy firsthand while on assignment for a magazine article, later recounted his experience in what bestseller? Discuss

Sat, 8 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

Named after Mary Magdalene, who, according to Christian tradition, repented her sins and became one of Jesus' closest followers, Magdalene asylums were institutions largely run by various orders of the Catholic Church to rehabilitate so-called fallen women—prostitutes, unwed mothers, even girls considered too promiscuous or flirtatious—through hard labor and penance. Many were admitted against their will, and some allege that they were subject to abuse. When was the last of these asylums closed?

Fri, 7 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

After the Chicago White Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds in the 1919 World Series, eight White Sox players—including Shoeless Joe Jackson—were accused of having taken bribes to throw the series. Five of the accused confessed their guilt to a grand jury, but their signed confessions later disappeared. Though all eight players were acquitted in 1921, they were banned from Major League Baseball for life anyway. In whose possession were the missing confessions eventually found?

Quotations of the Day

Sun, 9 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

Sun, 9 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

There is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends. Discuss

Sat, 8 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

Books, not which afford us a cowering enjoyment, but in which each thought is of unusual daring; such as an idle man cannot read, and a timid one would not be entertained by, which even make us dangerous to existing institution--such call I good books.

Fri, 7 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman; and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince.

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