The tragic tale of Fritz Haber — During peace time a scientist belongs to the World, but during war time he belongs to his country- Fritz Haber, Nobel laureate. Few awards are as controversial as the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The recipient’s discovery of producing ammonia from the air saved humans from extinction. But the man…

The Battle of Megiddo was the first documented conflict — War has always been a part of our evolution. As soon as people learned to write in the Early Bronze Age, they started keeping track of conflicts. The rulers of Egypt and Mesopotamia wrote about their military campaigns and triumphs. But it wasn’t until 1457 BC that we come across…

#1. There were fewer bank robberies in the Wild West than in present-day America — Few eras in history have inspired more movies, literature, fashion, television shows, toys, video games, and art across the world than the Wild West. Rugged cowboys, hostile Native Americans, fast gunslingers, bounty hunters, outlaws, and law-abiding sheriffs; America’s Western frontier provided the perfect script for the creative mind.

A lesser-known religion wiped out from historical records is the world’s first monotheistic faith — What comes to mind when you think about monotheistic faiths? Judaism? Christianity? Islam? But can these religions claim to be the first monotheistic religion in our history? Not quite. The world’s earliest known monotheistic religion lasted for only seventeen years. It began with tremendous pomp and splendor, but it was…

Tsutomu Yamaguchi’s story is an incredible tale of survival against the odds — On 9th August 1945, a 29-year-old engineer at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries reported to his supervisor at Nagasaki, Japan. His appearance was unusual. He was heavily bandaged and couldn’t hear well. The concerned supervisor asked him what happened. The engineer was in Hiroshima for an assignment. On the fateful morning of…

The USA could have been called the United States of Columbia — The people of Italy are called Italians. Japan is home to the Japanese. Australians come from Australia. So why do we use the term “Americans” instead of “United Statesians” to refer to those who live in the United States? Surely this is something out of the ordinary, isn’t it? The…

Europe’s most dangerous man worked for the Israeli secret service — On August 7, 1975, a funeral ceremony took place at a Roman Catholic church in Madrid. It was the internment of a former Nazi officer who served as Hitler’s bodyguard. The audience sang the Führer’s favorite songs. Nazi salutes followed the mass. Among those who came to pay respects to…

9000 years ago Neolithic farmers in South Asia knew how to fix teeth — In 2006, the journal Nature reported on an interesting discovery. Nine humans who died between 7500 to 9000 years ago had dental crowns drilled while they were alive. This was the earliest evidence of dentistry in the world. When people first started farming and settling down, a few farmers figured…

The last stand of 21 Sikh soldiers at Saragarhi is comparable with the Spartan defense at Thermopylae — The Battle of Thermopylae fought between Greeks led by 300 Spartans and the Persian Achaemenid Empire, has become a symbol of heroic last stands in history. …