A Brief History This article is intended to summarize some key points from an overview of the Age of Exploration. Digging Deeper Over three centuries after the Vikings failed to establish a permanent settlement in North America, the Black Death, the worst pandemic in human history brought seemingly apocalyptic horror to Asians and Europeans alike. In the 1400s, as Europeans continued their recovery from the Black Death pandemic, the Inca were among a number of civilizations existing in the Americas with varying degrees of technological advancement. In 1453, Muslim Turks captured Constantinople from Christian Byzantines, thereby placing the world’s most…
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A Brief History On April 25, 1960, the nuclear powered US Navy submarine, Triton, completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth while underwater. With about 71% of the Earth’s surface covered by water, people have been finding ways to travel above and below the water’s surface forever, and today we look at a few of the subsurface accomplishments. Digging Deeper In 1864, the Confederate submarine, H.L Hunley, became the first sub to sink a surface ship, although the Hunley was also lost in the attack. In 1958, USS Nautilus became the first submarine to sail under the North Pole. Nautilus…
A Brief History On April 19, 2021, the aptly named Ingenuity became the first man-made aircraft to fly on any planet other than Earth. Digging Deeper A helicopter powered by a solar battery, Ingenuity is able to fly in the thin atmosphere of Mars, only about .6% as dense as on Earth. Weighing in at about four pounds, Ingenuity has amassed over two hours of airtime in 71 flights by January 19, 2024. Ingenuity has travelled over 10 miles of surface distance at a max height of 79 feet with a max speed of 22.4 mph. Transported to Mars with…
A Brief History On April 18, 1518, Bona Sforza d’Aragona, Duchess of Bari and Rossano, became Queen consort of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania when she became the second wife of Sigismund the Old, the reigning King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Digging Deeper In the way of convoluted European monarchies, history is replete with international marriages that put foreigners on the throne of any given country, and sometimes lack of a suitable heir to a throne caused a search for foreign candidates to rule. Not only do we see the English throne occupied by Danes, Normans,…
A Brief History On April 14, 2023, the European Space Agency launched a spacecraft to explore the Moons of Jupiter, aptly naming the craft JUICE, an acronym for “Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer.” As space travel is about the coolest form of travel, we look at some real and fictional names of spacecraft in order to find the best name of them all. Digging Deeper Fictional: Enterprise, from TV and the movies’ Star Trek. Real: Enterprise, a US Space Shuttle. Fictional: Jupiter 2 from the TV show, Lost in Space. What happened to Jupiter 1? Real: Crew Dragon, a series of…