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Siegfried Marcus: The Forgotten Inventor of The Automobile

A name that often gets sidelined when we talk about the history of automobiles is Siegfried Marcus, a pioneering Austrian inventor who built and operated a road vehicle powered by a four-stroke gasoline engine about 10 to 15 years before Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach, and Carl Benz brought the first practical automobiles to life. While the trio is commonly credited as the progenitors of the automobile, Marcus's contributions beg the question: does he not merit equal recognition?

The second car of Siegfried Marcus at the Technisches Museum Vienna. Photo credit: Herbert Ortner/Wikimedia Commons

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photofun4ucom Pada May 02, 2024 Komentar

Francesca Rojas: The First Murderer to be Apprehended by Fingerprint Evidence

Travel

On June 29, 1892, in the town of Necochea, located in the southeast of Argentina in the province of Buenos Aires, two young children were discovered brutally murdered in their home. The victims were six-year-old Ponciano Carballo Rojas and his four-year-old sister, Feliza. Their throats had been slit. Their mother, Francesca Rojas, also sustained a knife injury to her neck, although her wounds were superficial, and Francesca apparently survived the attack.

Francesca initially claimed that their neighbor, Ramón Velázquez, was responsible for the attack, alleging that he killed her children because she had rejected his advances. Later, she changed her testimony, asserting that Velázquez had been attempting to take her children away from her on her husband’s instructions, as he was planning to leave her. Whatever the truth may be, Ramón Velázquez was arrested on suspicion of murder.

Francesca Rojas in police custody.

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photofun4ucom Pada April 30, 2024 Komentar

Penistone: The Worst Accident Black-spot on The British Railway Network

Travel

Approximately 40 kilometers southwest of Leeds and 50 kilometers east of Manchester, nestled in the foothills of the Pennine Hills, you'll find the unfortunately named town of Penistone. The town was originally called Peningston, which likely meant "the farmstead at the hill called Penning," in recognition of the prominent ridge to the town's south. However, over time, the innocuous name morphed into its current variation. The town’s awkward name aside, Penistone holds a far more embarrassing reputation as the site of the most frequent railway accidents in Britain.

A platform sign at Penistone railway station, England. Photo credit: Ian Kirk/Wikimedia Commons

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photofun4ucom Pada April 24, 2024 Komentar

The Ingush Towers of North Caucasia

Travel

The rugged terrains of North Caucasia, nestled within the Russian Federation, is dotted with ancient towers that stand as silent sentinels to an architectural tradition started centuries ago by the Ingush, Chechen, and Vainakh peoples. Spanning over 4,000 years, these imposing structures served both defensive and residential purposes, with the surviving towers predominantly dating from the 13th to the 17th centuries, marking a period of resurgence in tower construction.

Photo credit: Depositphotos

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photofun4ucom Pada April 17, 2024 Komentar

The Nuclear Test That Vaporized an Island

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On November 1, 1952, the U.S. detonated the world’s first hydrogen bomb, codenamed “Mike”, as part of Operation Ivy. It was the first full test of a breakthrough design created by Hungarian-American physicist Edward Teller and Polish mathematician Stanislaw Ulam. Mike represented a remarkable feat of engineering, towering at 20 feet tall and weighing an impressive 74 metric tons. While not deployable as a conventional weapon, its significance lay in being the first nuclear device to derive a substantial portion of its explosive power from fusion, the process of atomic fusion, rather than solely relying on fission, the division of atoms. Its functionality relied on a fission reaction to ignite fusion within liquid deuterium, a heavy isotope of hydrogen.

Mushroom cloud of the Ivy Mike test. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

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photofun4ucom Pada April 16, 2024 Komentar

The Swinging Cabin of SS Bessemer

Travel

English inventor Sir Henry Bessemer, renowned for his groundbreaking steel manufacturing process that still bears his name, once lamented, “Few persons have suffered more severely than I have from sea sickness.” Despite being one of the foremost inventors of the Second Industrial Revolution, Bessemer's brilliance was not immune to personal trials. With over a hundred inventions in iron, steel, and glass to his name, most of which saw success, his endeavor to create a ship to alleviate his chronic seasickness, however, ended in failure.

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photofun4ucom Pada April 09, 2024 Komentar

The Rajah Quilt

Travel

Nestled within the textiles collection at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra lies a gem of historical significance and artistic prowess—the Rajah Quilt. Revered as one of the nation's most cherished textiles, the Rajah Quilt was produced in 1841 by female convicts as they were being transported to Australia on the British convict ship, the Rajah. What makes the Rajah Quilt truly extraordinary is not only its documentary importance and sheer artistic brilliance, but the story woven into its very fabric. It tells the story of a small group of women who, despite facing dire circumstances, united to create something enduringly beautiful.

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photofun4ucom Pada April 05, 2024 Komentar

5 Times Weather Played Foul For An Invading Army

Travel

Throughout history, weather has played a significant role in military campaigns, sometimes altering its course and reshaping the destiny of nations. From the icy depths of Russian winters thwarting the ambitions of emperors to the ferocious storms of the open sea swallowing armadas whole, weather has often posed a formidable adversary alongside armies and navies during military conflicts. In this article, we explore some of these pivotal moments where nature's fury have halted conquests and unforeseen meteorological forces have crippled invasions.

A dejected Napoleon retreats from Moscow after failing to capture it during the French invasion of Russia in 1812. Oil on canvas by Adolph Northen, 1851.

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photofun4ucom Pada April 01, 2024 Komentar