“One sometimes finds what one is not looking for,” said Alexander Fleming, whose chance observation of a contaminated experiment led to the the world’s first antibiotic. This Smithsonian article discusses inventions and discoveries that centered on a flash of insight in a mind prepared to see what it wasn’t looking for.
Phillis Wheatley was the first African American to publish a book of poetry in the United States, and the third woman to do so, regardless of race. Learn more about the life of this native of Senegal who was captured and enslaved at the age of eight.
Read about, and watch a video of, Felix Baumgartner’s world record-breaking skydive in October 2012, when he broke the sound barrier by jumping to Earth from a helium balloon in the stratosphere.
Check out this list to learn some interesting facts about Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and Cornelius Vanderbilt.
Read about Ida B. Wells’ fight to end the lynching of black people, a cause that stood in contrast to other suffrage leaders’ beliefs.
This article appeared in January on Holocaust Memorial Day 2015, whose theme was “keep the memory alive.” Every time someone reads Anne Frank’s diary, that is what happens. What is your favorite quote from Anne Frank’s diary?
Firefighting may not exist as we know it without Benjamin Franklin. Watch the video to learn how we have some of our most famous founding fathers to thank for our fire safety standards.
Few maps detail the early interactions of the indigenous people of Mexico and early Spanish colonists as much as the Codex Quetzalecatzin. Made using traditional Aztec methods and showing Spanish influences, this map shows the effect of two cultures colliding.
The Holocaust Memorial Museum seeks to digitize over 200 diaries from victims of the Holocaust to help fight growing Holocaust denial and to shed light on firsthand accounts.
This article explains who Crispus Attucks was, what he did, and why he is still remembered today as a champion and a martyr for freedom.
