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engineering
The Man Who Shrank the Globe – Frank Whittle

The Man Who Shrank the Globe – Frank Whittle

Tabea Tietz
On August 9, 1996 the British Royal Air Force engineer officer Sir Frank Whittle passed away. He was best known for inventing the turbojet engine for which he received the knighthood in 1948. “Well, that’s what it was bloody well designed to do, wasn’t it?” – Frank Whittle An Early Interest in Engineering Frank Whittle was born in Earlsdon, Coventry, UK. Thanks to Whittle’s father Moses, Frank was able to get an early…
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cinematography
Robert Siodmak – Blending German Expressionism into American Film Noir

Robert Siodmak – Blending German Expressionism into American Film Noir

Harald Sack
On August 8, 1900, German film director, writer, and producer Robert Siodmak was born. In 1929 he shot the film Menschen am Sonntag (People on Sunday), one of the most important representatives of New Objectivity. Like many filmmakers of his time, he fled from Germany before the National Socialist dictatorship. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of stylish, unpretentious Hollywood films noirs he made in the 1940s,…
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history
The Legend of Elizabeth Báthory, the Blood Countess

The Legend of Elizabeth Báthory, the Blood Countess

Harald Sack
How far would you go to maintain your youth and your beauty? While today most people have become a victim of the cosmetic industry and (fortunately) only a few really dare to undergo cosmetic surgery, eternal youth and beauty is not only a subject of today’s affluent society. No, it’s a prominent topic throughout history dating also back into mythology, such as the story of Narcissus, a young Greek hunter of extraordinary…
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art
Victorian Poetry with Alfred Lord Tennyson

Victorian Poetry with Alfred Lord Tennyson

Harald Sack
On August 6, 1809, one of the most important English poets of the Victorian era was born, Alfred Lord Tennyson. The works of Alfred Lord Tennyson are best known for their close affinity with the English mythology and English history, they influenced the movement of the 19th century’s Victorian Art as well as the Arts and Crafts Movement, which was to join art and handcraft using simple forms applied to mostly romantic…
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women in technology
On the Road with Bertha Benz

On the Road with Bertha Benz

Harald Sack
On August 5, 1888, Bertha Benz, without her husband, engineer and inventor Karl Benz, knowing about it, took her two sons on the first long distance car-trip ever performed. In doing so, she brought the Benz Patent-Motorwagen worldwide attention and got the newly founded car company its first sales. How to do Marketing for the Newly Invented Vehicle? Bertha Benz was the daughter of the master carpenter Karl Friedrich Ringer. Before Bertha…
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art
Mozart Got Married

Mozart Got Married

Harald Sack
On August 4, 1782, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the finest composers the world has ever known, finally married Constanze Weber, a 20 years old singer. “Dance is communication, and so the great challenge is to speak clearly, beautifully, and with inevitability. Dance is the only art of which we ourselves are the stuff of which it is made. Dancing is like dreaming with your feet!” – Contanze Mozart Mozart and the…
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explorer
On the Road with Alexander von Humboldt

On the Road with Alexander von Humboldt

Harald Sack
On August 3, 1804 geographer, naturalist, and explorer Alexander von Humboldt returned home from his great South America scientific discovery journey. “I am more and more convinced that our happiness or unhappiness depends more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves”. – Alexander von Humboldt Aimé Bonpland and Daniel Kehlmann Actually, Humboldt did not make this journey all alone. He had a…
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history
Veni, Vidi, Vici – according to Julius Caesar

Veni, Vidi, Vici – according to Julius Caesar

Harald Sack
On August 2, 47 BC the Roman dictator Gaius Iulius Caesar won the battle of Zela against Pharnaces II. king of Pontus. As the Roman victory was won rather quickly, Caesar wanted to emphasize that very fact by the brevity and conciseness of his report sent to the senate and people of Rome. He only wrote three little words: “Veni, Vidi, Vici.“ I came, I saw, and I won. That’s all. Nobody ever…
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literature
Herman Melville’s Iconic Nightmare and Masterpiece

Herman Melville’s Iconic Nightmare and Masterpiece

Harald Sack
Most people know American author Herman Melville only by his most famous novel, the story of Captain Ahab and his paranoid and nightmarish  hunt for the gigantic white whale Moby Dick. Of course, it is Melville‘s singular and also very best story. But, if you are trying to get to know the author Herman Melville better, you should also consider the rest of his oevre, especially some of his other short stories or…
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philosophy
Denis Diderot’s Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts

Denis Diderot’s Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts

Harald Sack
On July 31, 1784, French philosopher, art critic, and writer Denis Diderot passed away. Diderot is best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the Encyclopédie along with Jean le Rond d’Alembert.[1] He was a prominent figure during the Enlightenment. “From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.” — Denis Diderot, Essai sur le Mérite de la Vertu (1745) The Oldest Child of a Jansenist Master Cutler Denis Diderot…
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