Harriet Boyd Hawes was cursed from birth with an overabundance of Purpose. She was ever in search of a Problem to solve, and possessed both the ability to quickly master new fields of expertise and t...

The groundbreaking researcher who helped create the field of software engineering and whose code helped land NASA win the 20th century space race, has died at 90.

In 1896, the city of Bombay recorded its first case of bubonic plague, a disease which would grow to claim 10 million lives over the following decade as the government stumbled after a consistent heal...

This day, let us speak of a new type of hero, one whose life story is not told as a sum of new products invented and foisted upon an already choked world, but rather a preserver, a planner, a person w...

In early 19th century Bengal, to find yourself pregnant was to see stretching before you nine of the most agonizing months of your existence. Considered Unclean by social practice, you were removed to...

In the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese armed forces fanned out across the Pacific, taking in quick succession Manila, Singapore, and Sumatra, and with the dropping of bombs on Da...

In the year 1933, the Long Beach Earthquake bore down on Southern California with the fury of revelation. At 6.4, it was not the largest earthquake to ever hit the state, but it left behind a shockin...

In a tent in Iraq, an Englishwoman attempts to sleep as mice crawl over her body and cockroaches look on from the walls. She is exhausted, having divided her day between meticulously cleaning and doc...

In 1912, it was against the law in the United States to publish a book that contained descriptions of birth control methods. It was against the law to even expound the theoretical benefits of birth co...

By attempting everything, Dorothy Wrinch ended up accomplishing nothing. For half a century, this was the standard final verdict on the life and work of mathematician and logician Dorothy Wrinch. Undo...