Showing posts with the label France

Eugène Vidocq: A Criminal Who Became The World’s First Modern Detective

Apr 18, 2023

It is paradoxical that a former delinquent with a colorful life ends up being the creator and director of the French police; even more so if...

Jacques Charles And The First Hydrogen Balloon

Jan 19, 2023

On June 4, 1783, the Montgolfier brothers gave the first public demonstration of a hot-air balloon in southern France. The balloon, made of ...

Serge Voronoff: The Doctor Who Transplanted Monkey Testicles Into Men to Rejuvenate Them

Jan 7, 2023

One of the most sensational presentations at the 1923 International Congress of Surgeons in London was made by the Russia-born French surgeo...

How The Pressure Cooker Inspired The Steam Engine

Dec 12, 2022

For nearly 200 years, the steam engine powered the world’s machineries, but its origins were very humble. It began with the pressure cooker,...

The Forgeries of Denis Vrain-Lucas

Dec 2, 2022

One Monday morning in July 1867, eminent French mathematician Michel Chasles stormed into the building of the French Academy of Sciences in ...

Marie Lafarge: The Arsenic Poisoner

Nov 26, 2022

In the early 19th century, arsenic was most widely used to kill rats and insufferable husbands alike. The chemical element was odorless and ...

Claude Ambroise Seurat: The Living Skeleton

Oct 20, 2022

Freak shows were a very popular medium of entertainment in Europe and the United States of America for the major part of the 19th century. T...

Pierre Picaud: The Real Count of Monte Cristo

Sep 30, 2022

Alexandre Dumas’s literary classic The Count of Monte Cristo is one of Dumas’s most famous and beloved novels, but this satisfying tale of ...

The Slaves of Tromelin Island

Sep 12, 2022

On the night of July 31, 1761, a frigate of the French East India Company named Utile , captained by Jean de La Fargue, and carrying a contr...

Félicette: The Cat Who Went to Space

Sep 8, 2022

During the early years of space flight, animals were frequently flown into space and their bodies examined to investigate the various physio...