“Do not fly a kite in a thunderstorm. Several imitators, under the impression that Franklin had safely carried out the test as described in his paper, have been electrocuted trying to replicate his experiment.” — David S. Kidder Copy Share Image
“Zhang’s seismometer—Houfeng Didong Yi, or the “instrument for inquiring into the wind and the shaking of the earth”—was reconstructed by a Chinese museum in… — David S. Kidder Copy Share Image
“As you can see, it is very hard to say what causation is. This has led some philosophers to deny that there are causes… — David S. Kidder Copy Share Image
“One by one, Napoleon's armies toppled the ancient monarchies of Europe. The French believed the great ideals of their Republic-liberty, equality, and fraternity-were universal… — David S. Kidder Copy Share Image
“But it would take the English more than fifty years to subdue Scotland. According to legend, Wallace’s animosity toward the English was sparked by… — David S. Kidder Copy Share Image
“Do not fly a kite in a thunderstorm. Several imitators, under the impression that Franklin had safely carried out the test as described in… — David S. Kidder Copy Share Image
“Why didn’t the chicken cross the road? According to the ancient philosopher and logician Zeno of Elea (c. 495–c. 430 BC), the bird simply… — David S. Kidder Copy Share Image
“Robespierre was unmoved by the mayhem he unleashed. “Terror is nothing other than prompt, severe, inflexible justice” he once declared.” — David S. Kidder Copy Share Image
“Combining the French passions for snails and beheadings, Lavoisier conducted a series of experiments in 1768 that proved that certain species of snails would… — David S. Kidder Copy Share Image
“It is physically impossible to walk under a rainbow. They literally exist only in the eyes of the observer.” — David S. Kidder Copy Share Image
“Babylonian scientists used a counting system based on the number sixty, which is why minutes have sixty seconds.” — David S. Kidder Copy Share Image
“At the time, most Europeans believed that religious conformity was necessary to safeguard civil order, and they questioned how such a diverse colony could… — David S. Kidder Copy Share Image
“Belief in reincarnation was the central tenet of the Pythagorean religion. Pythagoras taught that the soul was indestructible, but that people needed to follow… — David S. Kidder Copy Share Image
