Computer pioneer Alan Turing was also an elite runner

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

Grace Hopper won the Data Processing Management Association's 'Man of the Year' award

The inaugural recipient of the award—symbolic of the male-dominated nature of computer science—was honored in 1969 for her contributions to the development of COBOL and the first compiler. Hopper would also become the first woman from any country and the first American to be recognized as a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society.

Jacqueline Jenkins-Nye—Bill Nye's mother—worked as a code-breaker in World War II

While in the Navy, she was recruited to work on Enigma to help decode messages from the German military. Historians estimate that the efforts of code-breakers may have collectively shortened the war by as much as two years.

Frank Shorter was the first American to win the 26.2-mile Olympic marathon

The running legend became the first American to win the 26.2-mile Olympic marathon in 1972 at 2:21:19. The televised race contributed to a nationwide running boom and helped popularize the event.

The foundation for computer viruses was published after its creator's death

In the late 1940s, Hungarian American mathematician, scientist, and engineer John von Neumann gave a series of lectures where he explained the theoretical framework for a computer program that could replicate itself—the von Neumann Universal Constructor. His lectures were later compiled and published in 1966, nine years after his death from cancer.

Turing machines consist of an infinite tape, a read-write mechanism and instructions

Based on the information the mechanism reads on the tape, the machine follows the applicable instruction (e.g., if you read a 1, write a 0) and may proceed to the next cell of data. Given enough time and memory, Alan Turing proposed such a machine could perform any computation.

Stephen Hawking's early rowing days shaped the bold persona for which he became known

Before gaining fame as a physicist, Hawking was a coxswain at Oxford, where the sport helped him find his social footing and develop leadership skills, even as his motor neuron disease began to emerge.

Explore (digitally) the Computer History Museum

When IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer won its famous chess rematch with then world champion Garry Kasparov in May 1997, the victory was hailed far and wide as a triumph of artificial intelligence. But John McCarthy—the man who coined the term and pioneered the field of AI research—didn’t see it that way. An obituary about McCarthy—who passed in 2001—and his ideas.

'The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.'

- Roger Bannister (1929-2018)

Guglielmo Marconi overshadowed Nikola Tesla through commercialization

Despite Tesla envisioning wireless power and communication earlier, Marconi developed practical implementations of wireless communication, including transmitting the first transatlantic radio signal. The technology, which facilitated telegraphy critical for warships and navies, earned Marconi the 1909 Nobel Prize in physics.

Olympic track runner Jesse Owens recounts his win in Hitler's Germany in 1936

Jesse Owens won four gold medals at these Games, but nearly failed to qualify for the long jump event. Despite the polarizing political climate, German athlete Luz Long offered advice and encouragement to Owens—his direct competitor—resulting in a lasting friendship Owens later called his "greatest Olympic prize."

The US Navy used The 'Harvard Calculator' to solve advanced physics problems

Designed in 1937 by Harvard graduate student Howard H. Aiken, the IBM Mark I was a groundbreaking machine used to solve ballistic trajectories and other mathematical problems whose solutions were needed for the design of the atomic bomb in World War II. The device was one of the first mechanical computers.

US secrets: Project Paperclip

The US launched Project Paperclip in 1946, covertly recruiting over 1,500 German scientists to advance American military and space programs. Among them was Wernher von Braun, a key architect of the V-2 rocket who later became instrumental in NASA’s Apollo missions. While these scientists accelerated technological breakthroughs, their recruitment raised moral debates about overlooking wartime affiliations in the name of progress—questions that remain unresolved today.

Non-Nobel Prize awards recognize topics outside of chemistry, physics and medicine

Established in 2002, the Abel Prize awards $750,000 to a mathematician for pioneering scientific achievements, while the $1M Turing Award honors contributions in computer science. Additional prizes in earth science, engineering, environmental science and policy, astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience have also been established.

The origin story of the Paralympic movement and its founder, Dr. Ludwig Guttmann

Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, the founder of the Paralympic movement, revolutionized the treatment of spinal injuries. His belief in the power of sports for rehabilitation led to the creation of the Paralympic Games, now celebrated every Olympic year. This in-depth article from The History Press details the life and achievements of Dr. Guttmann, and includes historical photos and videos of the veterans-turned-athletes whose lives he changed.

The treadmill was invented as a machine for prison labor

William Cubitt invented the machine in the early 1800s, imagining prisoners, usually two at a time, would use it to grind grain or pump water.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

Meet Frederick Terman: Stanford University professor and the 'Father of Silicon Valley'

Stanford University professor Frederick Terman used to encourage his students to start their own tech companies. His advice led to the creation of Hewlett-Packard. He also established the Stanford Research Park, which helped develop many successful tech companies today. Terman is often called the "Father of Silicon Valley," because his ideology directly shaped the region's development.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen were childhood friends before founding Microsoft

The two bonded over a teletype terminal at their school, which required a $40 hourly fee for computing time. They were banned from using the device after exploiting a bug that allowed them to bypass the fee, only to be later offered free computing time for finding more bugs.

The tragic story of Jim Peters

At the 1954 Commonwealth Games, Jim Peters, then one of England's best marathoners, was just steps away from victory. He then fell to the ground and staggered about for 11 minutes until medical services took him out of the race. He'd entered the stadium 17 minutes ahead of the pack, but ultimately never finished. It was the last race of his career.

Jim Simons, mathematician turned government codebreaker turned trader, revolutionized quantitative investing

The late Jim Simons is remembered as one of the most successful (and profitable) hedge fund managers of all time. He went from physically gathering microfilm on commodities pricing decades ago to overseeing a firm that led Wall Street in daily trading volume.

A 14-year-old "human calculator" shatters six mathematical world records in one day

A teenage prodigy from Maharashtra, India named Aaryan Shukla set the record for the fastest time to mentally add 50 five-digit numbers. He did so in just 25.19 seconds–roughly equivalent to one addition every 0.5 seconds. The math whiz said he practices calculations for around five to six hours a day.

Meet Clever Hans, the 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations and read German

When Clever Hans was prompted with math questions, he responded by tapping his hoof to indicate his answers. Even a panel of experts found no indication of trickery in the horse's demonstrations. However, psychology student Oskar Pfungst found that Hans stopped tapping once a subtle cue on his owner's face told him to stop. The cues were so subtle that Wilhelm von Osten didn't even know he was giving them.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

See the list of alleged communists Orwell gave to the British government

In 1949, Orwell provided a list of communist sympathizers to a British anti-communist propaganda unit, naming figures like actor Charlie Chaplin and writer John Steinbeck. When it was made public in 2003, some called Orwell a government informant, though others blamed his tuberculosis, which would take his life a year later, while others blamed his romantic interest in the woman who asked him for the names.

The discovery of insulin led to a controversial Nobel Prize in 1923

For centuries, Type 1 diabetes was fatal. The 1920s "discovery" of insulin netted two of its creators—Frederick Banting and his boss, John Macleod—a Nobel prize. Separately, the German doctor Georg Zuelzer synthesized an effective version of the life-saving drug years earlier but was interrupted by World War I.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

The first robot in literature may have been a 'mechanical man' in 1907's 'Ozma of Oz,' a book in L Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' series.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Elk Cloner, the first computer virus to spread in public, was written as a practical joke by Richard Skrenta, a Pittsburgh high school student.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.