HISTORY

Watch: The Brilliant Life of Ada Lovelace

On Ada Lovelace Day, celebrate the woman who wrote the first computer program.

JK Rowling's Newest Obsession? A Teenager's 350-Year-Old Math Notebook

Richard Beale's sketch of a chicken wearing trousers has gone viral.

Cottingley Fairy Photos That Fooled Arthur Conan Doyle Sold for More Than $26,000

The images were at the center of one of the most notorious hoaxes in history.

The Enduring Mystery of Pennsylvania's Twin Tunnels and the 'Suitcase Jane Doe'

A disturbing discovery in a piece of luggage only added to the legends.

Only One in Three Americans Could Pass the U.S. Citizenship Test

Are you one of the 36 percent of Americans who can pass the civics exam?

David Hockney Designed Westminster Abbey's Newest Stained Glass Window—on an iPad

The reviews have been mixed.

9 Magical Images From Disneyland History

Walt Disney's Disneyland provides an inside look at how the iconic theme park came to be.

A drawing of dancing at Enon Chapel from George Walker's "Lectures on the metropolitan grave-yards"

The Disgusting Victorian Cemetery That Helped Change Burials in London Forever

Enon Chapel was separated from its burial pit by just a thin layer of creaky floorboards.

8 of the Weirdest Items in the Smithsonian's Archives

The famous museum keeps millions of items from public view, including a 17-foot long beard and a combat vest made for pigeons.

Revisiting the Mystery of the Great New England Sea Serpent of 1817

The fishermen of Gloucester, Massachusetts thought they had seen everything. Then they were proved wrong.

19 Podcasts That Will Get You in the Mood for Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner, and there's no better way to get spooky than by listening to these podcasts, which run the gamut from spine-tingling fiction to bone-chilling true crime.

A Holy Crime: The Night Missionaries Smuggled One Million Bibles into China

In Communist-ruled China, a group of foreign faithful decided to smuggle in 232 tons of the Good Book.

The Time Congress Banned the Braille Edition of Playboy

Yes, there's a Braille edition. And yes, someone in our government found a way to be offended by it.

Ji-Elle, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0

Benjamin Franklin and History's Most Dangerous Musical Instrument

The glass armonica was Benjamin Franklin's biggest contribution to the world of music—and then it started to kill people.

Augmented Reality App Shows What Important Women in History Would Look Like on Our Currency

Meanwhile, we're still waiting on that Harriet Tubman $20 bill ...

The Computer Error That Led to a Country Declaring War on Pepsi

Instead of two people each winning a grand prize of $40,000 in the company's 1992 giveaway, more than 800,000 people held a winning bottle cap. That's when things got ugly.