The Dark Legacy of Dr Hans Asperger: Autism, Nazism, and Medical Complicity
Austrian paediatrician Dr Hans Asperger, a pioneer in the field of child psychiatry and a researcher into childhood autism, was for many years portrayed as an opponent of the Nazi regime under which he worked. When the aberrant behaviour of 'maladjusted' children became controversial in the Third Reich, the Asperger…
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg: Eccentric Innovator Behind Cornflakes and Health Reform
In the 19th century, the idea of the 'good life' still involved over-consumption and excess, which inevitably led to ill health, so this period of decadence gave birth to the need for a healthier way of life. Several visionaries were at the forefront of this movement, but few became as…
The Pigeons That Saved Armies: Unsung Heroes of Two World Wars
Nineteenth September 1944. Some 40,000 Allied troops descend behind enemy lines in the largest airborne assault in history. Their mission was to break through the defences and penetrate into Germany. It was the start of a fierce decisive battle, part of the Allies' plan to push the enemy back into…
Ada Lovelace: The World’s First Computer Programmer Born Ahead of Her Time
Ada Lovelace, the illegitimate daughter of poet Lord Byron, grew up in Victorian times when women were not expected to be interested in science or technology and were even routinely denied an education. But with her mother's encouragement, Ada was determined not only to learn all she could at the…
Antwerp in the 16th Century: The Babylon of Europe
The medieval city where the streets were bustling with activity from morning till night, seven days a week, every day of the year, where most of the international trade with the most varied goods from all over the world flowed, where many languages resounded, and where everyone could satisfy his…
Trapped in Ice: The Epic Ordeal of the Belgica Antarctic Expedition
"We are all in a madhouse." These were the unambiguous words that one of the crew members of the Belgica summed up the atmosphere on board in the spring of 1898. The ship had then been immobile for several weeks, wedged in metres-thick polar ice, in Antarctic waters somewhere on…
Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson: Royal Love, Abdication, and the Nazi Shadows
"After a long time, I can finally and sincerely speak for myself. I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to carry out the tasks that are my duty as a king without the help and support of the woman…
Yuri Gagarin and the First Human Space Flight: 60 Years of a Historic Launch
Far away from the eyes of the world, in the middle of the vast and unpopulated Kazakh steppe, on 12 April 1961, the atmosphere in the large Tyuratam research complex was so tense that it could have been cut. The time was a few minutes past nine in the morning.…
Jimmy Carter: The Outsider Who Redefined the Presidency
"President of what?" Lillian Carter asked when her son Jimmy announced he was running for the presidency. And no one really thought that the then Governor of Georgia, the astute Democrat Jimmy Carter, was flirting with the presidency of the United States. But like everything the ambitious Jimmy ever undertook,…
