Beethoven, was told by a music teacher that he had no talent for music. In fact, this teacher once remarked, “As a composer he is hopeless.”
184
A monk had once written over a book that contained information about calculus that was written by Archimedes in ancient Greece that could have made us 100 or even 1000 years more mathematically and technologically advanced.
13
Early American humans hunted car-size armadillos and used their shells for houses.
12
Genghis Khan exempted the poor and clergy from taxes, encouraged literacy, and established free religion, leading many peoples to join his empire before they were even conquered.
28
The oldest glowing lightbulb was first switched on in 1901 and lives in fire stations in Livermore, CA. It is known as the Centennial Light.
118
The life expectancy in 1900 was just 47 years.
49
The University of Oxford (teaching since 1096) predates the Aztec empire (1428 - 1521).
14
The range of a medieval long-bow is 220 yards.
78