As audiences in the East were used to science finding fantastic new things, it hardly seemed impossible to a person in the 19th century that the country had once been inhabited by giants, or that ancient, incredible civilizations could still lie undiscovered in the vast west. Some newspaper writers were more than happy to simply make great discoveries up, and readers just as happy to take them at their word.
In 1906, a famed explorer saw something on the horizon that would lead an expedition of men to search for a magnificent land they hoped would be full of new and undiscovered treasures for science.
One famous dolphin lived near the shores of New Zealand in the late 1800s, and swam alongside hundreds of ships, becoming a beloved figure to locals and foreigners alike, and described as ”the best known fish in the world.”
It was relatively common in the middle ages for Kings, royals, and various other titled men to die in combat, and they were at least usually expected to fight personally. Despite the dangers of medieval combat and the expectations of nobility, however, many at the highest levels of aristocracy died in less than noble mundane accidents, and even in embarrassing circumstances.
Patent S-5292X, “Improvements in method and means for utilizing nuclear energy” by Klaus Fuchs and John Von Neumann is part of the story of two brilliant scientists, of one of the greatest scientific programs ever undertaken, and of Cold War espionage and intrigue.
On May 26, 1981, during night operations off Pensacola, Florida, a Marine Corps EA-6B "Prowler" crashed on the deck of the Nuclear powered Aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, igniting a fire and causing a string of explosions that resulted in the death of 14 members of her crew.