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European History

The Eighteenth-Century Founder of Homeopathy Said His Treatments Were Better Than Bloodletting

Samuel Hahnemann was trying to fix the unscientific field of medicine

Baby in Pip & Grow's Smitten box

The Finnish Baby Box Is Becoming Popular Around the World

But does a cardboard bassinet actually reduce infant mortality?

A vintage ad for Coca Cola from around the late 19th or early 20th century.

Coca-Cola’s Creator Said the Drink Would Make You Smarter

Like the wine and cocaine drink that preceded it, Coca-Cola was first marketed as a brain tonic

This dioarama, which used actual human remains, is another example of the ways Ruysch used bodies to make art.

This 17th-Century Anatomist Made Art Out of Bodies

Using human bodies in this way still happens–and it’s controversial

In the eyes of Joseph Guillotin, the guillotine was an invention in the best ideals of the Revolution: humane, equalizing and scientific.

The Guillotine’s Namesake Was Against Capital Punishment

And contrary to popular myth, he died of natural causes, not by beheading

George Francis Train, somewhere around 1855-1865.

This Eccentric 19th-Century Transportation Magnate May Have Inspired Jules Verne

George Francis Train traveled around the world three times in his increasingly weird life

Emmy Noether, mathematical genius

Mathematician Emmy Noether Should Be Your Hero

She revolutionized mathematics, and then was forgotten because she was a woman

Marcel Marceau in 1955

The Mime Who Saved Kids From the Holocaust

Marcel Marceau is history’s most famous mime, but before that, he was a member of the French Resistance

Adolphe Sax made this alto saxophone in 1857, long after he had switched to brass. The sax is still a woodwind instrument, though.

The First Saxophone Was Made of Wood

The instrument was invented by–you guessed it–Adolphe Sax

"The Siege of Acre," Dominique Papety, c. 1840

Cool Finds

Crusader Shipwreck, Likely From the Siege of Acre, Discovered

The boat in the Bay of Haifa included ceramics and a stash of gold coins

Daylight saving time, which has a history dating back to Benjamin Franklin, starts this Sunday.

During (and After) WWII, Some States Had Year-Round Daylight Saving Time

A 1963 ‘Time Magazine’ article called it “a chaos of time”

A Messerschmitt Bf 109. This is a Spanish-built version of the plane, licensed from Messerschmitt AG.

14-Year-Old Boy Discovers Remains of German Fighter Plane and Its Pilot

Daniel Rom Kristiansen was learning about WWII in school when he decided to look for a lost warplane

Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space. This photo was taken in 1969.

Happy Birthday to the First Woman in Space

She spent almost three days in space on her first flight

Cool Finds

Five-Year Photo Project Captures the Sistine Chapel in High-Res Detail

Released in a new set of books, the 1:1 photos will be used by restorers to restore and assess damage to Michaelangelo’s masterpieces

Sigmund Freud, G. Stanley Hall, C.G. Jung, A.A. Brill, Ernest Jones, and Sándor Ferenczi posed at Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts in September, 1909.

When Freud Met Jung

The meeting of the minds happened 110 years ago

Playing the flute isn't easy even for some humans, but in the 18th century, inventor Jacques de Vaucanson figured out how to make a machine play it.

This Eighteenth-Century Robot Actually Used Breathing to Play the Flute

It was one of a trio of automata that had functions like living creatures

This animal hair toothbrush (horse hair, to be exact) is said to have belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte.

You Can Still Buy Pig-Hair Toothbrushes

There’s an argument for it, given all the environmental destruction causes by plastic ones

Cool Finds

Albania Wants to Show Off Its Shipwrecks

From 6th century B.C. Greek cargo ships to WWII wrecks, the Balkan nation is hoping to boost tourism by highlighting its underwater archaeology

The back of an ancient sundial reveals a cheat sheet of locations and latitude coordinates.

Early Tech Adopters in Ancient Rome Had Portable Sundials

A little gadget could make you look smart, rich, and tech-savvy—all without necessarily fulfilling its real function

An 1817 illustration of a draisine.

This Wooden Running Machine Was Your Fixie’s Great-Great Grandpa

The draisine was invented as a potential replacement for the horse during a shortage

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