Alexander the Great's body was preserved in honey.
Fact of the Day
Quote of the Day
"I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
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~ Thomas Edison
On This Day
1217 William Marshal and forces loyal to Henry III beat the French prince Louis at the Battle of Lincoln, possibly one of the most important battles in England's history.
1506 Christopher Columbus died, aged about 54, from a type of reactive arthritis caused by food poisoning or STDs.
1631 The mainly-Protestant city of Magdeburg was sacked by forces of the Catholic League and Imperial Army. About 25,000 inhabitants were slaughtered, making it the worst massacre of the Thirty Years' War.
1882 The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, was secretly formed.
1899 Jacob German became the first driver to receive a speeding ticket in America. He was doing a heady 12mph.
1902 Cuba gained formal independence after three years of American military rule.
1927 Charles Lindbergh took off from New York, bound for Paris, on the world's first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic.
1932 Amelia Earhart began her first solo flight across the Atlantic. Flying from Newfoundland, she intended to reach Paris, but landed 14 hours later in Ireland. She was the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic.
1940 The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz, Poland, under the SS commander Rudolf Hoess.
1983 Luc Montagnier published his research paper on the discovery of the HIV virus in the journal Science.