Kat Eschner

 

Kat Eschner is a freelance science and culture journalist based in Toronto.

Women dynamite workers at one of Alfred Nobel's factories in the 1880s.

The True Story of Mrs. Alford's Nitroglycerin Factory

Mary Alford remains the only woman known to own a dynamite and nitroglycerin factory

Before the 1840s, women had no choice but to deliver children without anesthetic.

It Didn’t Take Very Long For Anesthesia to Change Childbirth

The unprecedented idea of a painless delivery changed women's lives

Carry A. Nation with her bible and her hatchet not long before she died in 1911.

Three Things to Know About Radical Prohibitionist Carry A. Nation

Nation was convinced she was on a mission from God

Frederick II was the first "modern" ornithologist, studying birds in detail in the 13th century to fuel his passion for falconry.

The Modern History of Ornithology Starts With This Inquisitive Medieval Emperor

Frederick II got up to a lot in his lifetime

Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer stands with the taxidermied remains of her groundbreaking discovery.

In the 1930s, This Natural History Curator Discovered a Living Fossil–Well, Sort of

Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer was convinced she'd found something special in a pile of fish, but it took some time for her discovery to be recognized

President Lincoln depicted on a Christmas card from the 1920s. Christmas wasn't as important of a holiday in Lincoln's time, but his personal Christmas story is worth telling.

President Lincoln’s Last Christmas

The character of American Christmas changed as a result of the Civil War

The frontispiece of Wheatley's poetry collection describes her as a "Negro servant" rather than a slave, though she wasn't freed until after the book's publication.

The Most Notorious Poet in 18th Century America Was An Enslaved Teenager You've Never Heard Of

Phyllis Wheatley was a prodigy, but her ultimate fate reflects the gross racial disparities of 1700s America

Stay cozy!

Marshmallow-Topped Hot Chocolate Will Keep You Warm This Long Solstice Night

Marshmallows and hot chocolate each have a long history, but their union only dates back about a century

An image from the Slater Mill Historic Site in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

How Industrial Espionage Started America's Cotton Revolution

To the British, Samuel Slater was ‘Slater the traitor,’ but to the Americans, he was the father of the American industrial revolution

'It's a Wonderful Life' protagonist George Bailey with his family, Mary Hatch Bailey and Little Mary Hatch, at the end of the film.

The Weird Story of the FBI and ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’

The film supposedly had Communistic tendencies

Two early Rose Marie Reid designs.

How Swimsuits Became Fashion Items

Rose Marie Reid's vision for beachwear helped shape the modern swimsuit

Ephraim McDowell is memorialized in the U.S. Capitol Statuary Hall Collection

This American Doctor Pioneered Abdominal Surgery by Operating on Enslaved Women

Glorified with a statue in the U.S. Capitol, Ephraim McDowell is a hero in Kentucky, but the full story needs to be told

A much older Samuel Clemens, perhaps pondering his next invention.

How Mark Twain’s Hatred of Suspenders Drove Him to Invent

Under his given name, Samuel Clemens, Twain held several patents

'The Nutcracker' is performed across North America each Christmas season.

How 1950s America Shaped ‘The Nutcracker’

It took the marketing insight of a Russian choreographer to make it all happen

Partridges, turtledoves, geese... you know the drill.

12 Facts About ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’

Amaze and astound your loved ones with these pieces of carol trivia

A federal tea taster at work.

The FDA Used to Have People Whose Job Was to Taste Tea

Literally, that was it

The Southern Pole of Inaccessibility. The thing sticking up in the middle is the bust of Lenin.

These Places Are Actually The Middle of Nowhere

These "poles of inaccessibility" are among the world's most remote places

Pearls have been a symbol of extreme wealth for thousands of years.

Here's Why Pearls No Longer Cost a Fortune

Coming up with ways to lower the price of pearls—either through culturing or by out-right fakery—took centuries

An illustration of Washington's imagined deathbed scene, painted about 50 years after his death.

George Washington’s Hard Death Shows the Limits of Medicine in His Time

He’s one of the United States’s most revered figures, but his last hours were plagued by excruciating illness

French wine became imperilled in the mid-1800s as twin pests from America swept through European agricultural regions.

How One Mycologist Saved France’s Wine (Among Other Things)

Bordeaux mixture saved many crops besides grapes from fungus

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