The Tragic Death of Sophie Blanchard, The First Woman Balloon Pilot
Kaushik Patowary
May 30, 2023
Ever since Sophie Blanchard stepped into the basket with her husband, the famous balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard, she knew she belonged to ...
Showing posts with the label France
The World’s Oldest Optical Illusion
Kaushik Patowary
May 10, 2023
In the October 1892 issue of Fliegende Blätter , a German humor magazine, there appeared an image depicting an optical illusion. The image w...
How The Beast Of Gévaudan Terrorized 18th-Century France
Kaushik Patowary
May 1, 2023
For three years in the mid-1760s, inhabitants of Gévaudan in Southern France were terrorized by a mysterious beast. The creature preyed most...
Marching Soldiers And Collapsing Bridges
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 19, 2023
All suspension bridges are prone to vibration and swaying caused by moving traffic and wind. These vibration are not a problem as long as th...
Eugène Vidocq: A Criminal Who Became The World’s First Modern Detective
Kaushik Patowary
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
Kaushik Patowary
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
Kaushik Patowary
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
Kaushik Patowary
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
Kaushik Patowary
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
Kaushik Patowary
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
Kaushik Patowary
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
Kaushik Patowary
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
Kaushik Patowary
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
Kaushik Patowary
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...
Who Was The Man in The Iron Mask?
Anonymous
Jun 17, 2022
The man in the iron mask has been a historical enigma since the 18th century. Born circa 1658, he became a prisoner that hopped across the t...
The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower—Twice!
Anonymous
Jun 6, 2022
Even if you think you know who Victor Lustig is, you don’t. Beyond the charming salutations, the livid scar on his left cheekbone and the ma...
Pont Ambroix
Kaushik Patowary
May 25, 2022
Pont Ambroix, also called the Ambrussum Bridge, was a major Roman bridge across the Vidourle River connecting the end of Villetelle to Galla...
History’s Strangest Duel Was Fought in Blimps
Anonymous
May 21, 2022
They say that every action arises from either love or hate. Imagine then, what a creative catastrophe would unfold if a man was inspired by ...
The Sculpted Rocks of Rothéneuf
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 10, 2022
In 1879 in a small town in the south-east of France called Châteauneuf-de-Galaure, a postman began the construction of a fantastic palace, w...
The Field of Cloth of Gold
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 4, 2022
Situated just ten miles south of Calais, Balinghem is an unremarkable little village, but five hundred years ago this quiet countryside play...
