History Dispatches

On May 8, 1842, the locomotive of a train traveling to Paris from Versailles, broke an axle. The carriages behind the locomotive piled into it, and caught fire - leading to a catastrophic inferno. Upw...

25 Jul 202516min

In Victorian London rats were one of the nastiest pests, responsible for numerous diseases, and untold economic damages. To combat these rodents, the profession of rat catcher evolved. And the greates...

24 Jul 202513min

Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska was a Polish scientist and the first woman to lead a dinosaur excavation expedition. On her explorations of the Gobi Desert, she discovered many famous animals, including Deino...

23 Jul 202530min

One of the most popular and enduring science fiction television shows is Doctor Who. First premiering in 1967, it has aired over 600 episodes. And yet, despite its cult status, almost 100 of the early...

22 Jul 202515min

The 1400s ushered in the classic Age of Discovery. In the span of just a few decades, Europeans rounded Africa, crossed the Atlantic to find a New World, and circumnavigated the globe. And a major rea...

21 Jul 202516min

In 1900, a woman named Carry Nation was inspired by a vision - she claimed - from God. She had seen how alcohol destroyed families. It had killed her first husband. And so a few days later she entered...

18 Jul 202518min

For over a hundred years the Periodic Table of Elements has shaped and organized every naturally occurring element in a surprisingly simple and elegant manner. But this was not always the case, and it...

17 Jul 202513min

On December 4, 1872, the merchant ship Mary Celeste was discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean off the Azores. Her lifeboat was missing. The last entry in her log was dated ten days earl...

16 Jul 202518min