Who Discovered Calculus: Newton or Leibniz?
For the last 300 years, a debate has raged between mathematicians about who should be credited with the invention of calculus: Sir Isaac Newton or Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz. The sides of the debate h...
10 Sep 20209min
Common Fallacies and Fallacious Reasoning
We are often told that schools are where you learn how to think, not what to think. Sadly, almost no school curriculum deals directly with logic and the closely related subject of logical fallacies. F...
9 Sep 202011min
How The Fosbury Flop Revolutionized the High Jump
At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Dick Fosbury won the Gold Medal in the men’s high jump. He did it by jumping an Olympic record 2.24 meters or 7 feet, four inches. What was remarkable about his ac...
8 Sep 20208min
The History of the Light Bulb: An Incredibly Bright Idea
Thomas Edison is often credited with the invention of the light bulb. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. If there is any modern invention that really can’t be attributed to a single person,...
7 Sep 202010min
Breaking The Two-Hour Marathon Barrier
Eliud Kipchoge is unquestionably the greatest marathon runner in history. He’s won an Olympic Gold Medal, holds the world’s record, and has won 12 of the 13 marathons he has ever entered. However, the...
6 Sep 20209min
The First Transatlantic Cable
Today the world can communicate with text, images, audio, and video at the speed of light. Most of this is done via undersea fiber optic cables which connect the various continents to each other. All ...
5 Sep 202010min
The Presidential Election of 1824
Many people think that politics and elections in the United States are the most controversial they have ever been. History, however, begs to differ. Perhaps the oddest and most controversial president...
4 Sep 202011min
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
People didn’t travel much in the ancient world. But, for those who did they developed the ancient equivalent of guidebooks. These were often lists of manmade sites and attractions which any traveler s...
3 Sep 202010min
