When Nixon Met Mao: The Week That Changed the World
Beijing, People's Republic of China. Ninth of July 1971. Against the rules of state protocol, a stout, professorial-looking man with wide black-rimmed glasses stepped out of a limousine with the blinds down. Opposite him stood China's second most powerful man, the suave Premier Zhou Enlai. The two men shook hands…
The History of Insurance: From Lloyd’s to Modern Risk Management
“Why take the risk?” some ask, “let’s take the risk.” The magic word insurance spread like a flash among those who had some assets in the 19th century, and once there, insurance became a constant in the thinking and actions of a large part of the population. Closely linked to…
The History of Railways: From the Industrial Revolution to Modern High-Speed Trains
Of all the great discoveries of the Industrial Revolution, the railway was undoubtedly the most important. In a world without it, travelling even short distances has always been a feat. Until the early 19th century, people lived all their lives within the confines of their city or countryside, wherever they…
How to be more Creative: How Anyone Can Cultivate Innovation and Original Ideas
Can only exceptional individuals really be creative? Psychologists say no. Creativity is in all of us, and everyone can awaken it with practice. The sudden awakening of a world-changing idea, or the big C as they call it, with the C standing for creativity, is more myth than reality, they…
Wolfgang von Kempelen: The Man Behind the Legendary Chess Automaton
On an autumn day in 1768, an evening of magic was staged at the Vienna court. A French illusionist performed in Schönbrunn Palace, entertaining the guests with explosions, chemical reactions and self-propelled machines. The hostess of the event, Maria Theresia, invited Wolfgang von Kempelen, a renowned engineer and inventor, to…
Surviving the Cold: Lessons from Hypothermia Rescues
Nobody is cold and dead is the golden rule of emergency doctors, even though many forget it or even don't know it. But if on 20 May 1999 Dr Mats Gilbert of the University Hospital in Tromso, Norway, considered the world's most northerly populated city, had lifted his arms from…
Beate Uhse: The Woman Who Revolutionized Birth Control
"Those who have used them always have them with them," assured a New York Times advertisement 155 years ago. It was 1861 and people were reading for the first time how someone was praising condoms, even though Charles Goodyear had already figured out how to vulcanise rubber in 1839 and…
Jeep History: The Vehicle That Helped Win World War II
It was the middle of the Second World War. Soldiers came across a rusted-out jeep. It was destroyed, but there was still a shell-shocked corporal sitting in it. He was crying. They could not comfort him. They offered him another jeep, but he just cried and cried. "You don't understand!…
