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Albert Einstein’s trip to the California Institute of Technology in December 1931, for the first of three annual visiting professorships, marked a crucial juncture in his life. The rise of the Nazi party in Germany, with its vehement anti-Semitism, was forcing the physicist to reconsider his future in his homeland, and his decision to connect…
Today’s Diary Entry –
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A greater public calamity could not have occurred
On 6th November 1817, the British public was plunged into deep mourning following the unexpected death of Princess Charlotte of Wales. The only child of the Prince Regent (later King George IV) and Caroline of Brunswick, Princess Charlotte was admired for her spirited personality and the hope she embodied for a new era in British…
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I’ve given my pee to science
On 23rd November 2014, former Italian Air Force pilot Samantha Cristoforetti embarked on a monumental journey. Strapped into the confines of a Soyuz spacecraft in Kazakhstan, she was launched towards the International Space Station where she was to live for 199 days—the longest single spaceflight by a woman at the time and a record that…
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I distinctly saw the rising sun insignia on his wings
On December 7, 1941, a tranquil Sunday morning transformed into a historic tragedy when hundreds of Japanese aircraft unexpectedly attacked Pearl Harbor—a cataclysmic event that would lead to the United States entering World War II. Fifteen miles away, Major Leonard D. Heaton, a physician and surgeon at Schofield Barracks’ North Sector General Hospital, was suddenly…
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You have to see it
On 6th December 1912, at the ancient site of Tell el-Amarna in Egypt, a team led by German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt made a remarkable discovery: they uncovered a workshop once belonging to Thutmose—more formally known as ‘The King’s Favorite and Master of Works, the Sculptor Thutmose’—in which was found the Nefertiti Bust, an extraordinary artefact…
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BOREDOM, HOMESICK, LOVESICK
In April 1918, Spike Milligan was born. A titan in the world of comedy and literature, he is arguably most fondly remembered for ‘The Goon Show’, a radio comedy programme that not only brought laughter to millions but also reshaped the landscape of British humour. But Milligan’s story extends far beyond the reach of his…
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What a pack of lies intimate journals are
Charles Ritchie was a renowned Canadian diplomat whose career spanned some of the most significant events of the 20th century and, at the time of writing this brief entry, saw him stationed in London during the tumult of World War II. Amidst the chaos, Ritchie meticulously chronicled his experiences in a series of diaries that…
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