Sylvia Plath Getty ImagesSylvia Plath seated in front of a bookshelf.
Sylvia Plath was a gifted poet and author whose battle with depression led to one of history’s most famous suicides.
Plath was born in Boston, Mass. on Oct. 27, 1932. She met Ted Hughes while studying at Cambridge University and the two later married and had two children. The couple had a toxic relationship and after only six years together, Hughes left Plath for a younger woman in 1962. Read More...
After Ignaz Semmelweis first advocated for hand-washing to fight infection in the 1840s, doctors had him committed to an asylum. He soon died there from an infection in his hand.Wikimedia CommonsIgnaz Semmelweis pioneered antiseptic procedures in the mid-19th century — and it ruined his career.
Though few may know his name today, Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis changed the world in the 1840s with one simple idea that we all now take for granted: hand-washing. Read More...
The idea of a gay bomb came from a desire to debilitate and distract their opponents but not necessarily kill them. Wikimedia Commons
The gay bomb was a theoretical cloud of gas that would turn enemy soldiers gay.
The concept of a “gay bomb” sounds like something out of a bad science fiction movie. A bomb that would drop a mixture of chemicals on the enemy and literally make them fall in love with one another to distract them from their wartime duties seems like such an impossible, far-fetched, ludicrous plan that no one could ever possibly attempt it, right? Read More...
