Cuzco

Cuzco

On 15th November 1533 Cuzco was captured. Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish conquistador, is best known for his conquest of the Inca Empire and the capture of its capital, Cuzco, in 1533. His journey was driven by ambitions of wealth, power, and spreading Christianity,...
Blood Transfusion

Blood Transfusion

I’ve posted previously about donating blood, and on 14th November 1666 Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary about a blood transfusion between dogs, performed by the British physician Richard Lower. The first recorded blood transfusion to a human was performed in 1667 by...
Hypnotism

Hypnotism

I attended an exhibition by a stage hypnotist at the Oxford Union when I was a student, and what he was able to do was astonishing. It made a great impression on me. I’ve even tried a hypnosis app to improve my golf. There’s still some way to go. James Braid...
Ben Hur

Ben Hur

I noted in a recent post that I was born on Guy Fawkes Day. The Best Picture Academy Award, along with ten other Oscars, the year I was born went to Ben Hur. The book on which the film was based, Ben-Hur: A Tale of The Christ, was published on 12th November 1880. Lew...
The Einstein Refrigerator

The Einstein Refrigerator

I have posted about the invention of the ballpoint pen and the printing press recently. The Einstein refrigerator, invented by Albert Einstein and his former student Leo Szilard in 1926, on the 11th November I’m told, was an innovative cooling device that sought to...