Historical objects and their description. Category: History of things

If you think about it, you will notice that there are many things in our lives that we take for granted, without thinking about where they came from and how they became part of our everyday life. Every day we come across things that contain amazing and fascinating moments in their history.

1. Metric system

There are only three countries in the entire world that do not use the metric system: Myanmar, Liberia and the United States. Liberia, however, has already partially accepted it, Myanmar is currently also in the process of transition, only the United States continues to remain in its position.

For all other countries, the metric system is a necessary part of everyday life. It was introduced in France in 1795 and soon gained popularity throughout Europe, eventually spreading to Asia, Africa and the rest of the world. Creating the concept of the “meter,” the French Academy of Sciences sent astronomers Pierre Mechain and Charles Messier on a special expedition to accurately measure one millionth of the distance between the equator and the North Pole. Having made the necessary measurements and sent them to his French colleagues, Mechain had an accident and was unable to return. While he was recovering, war broke out between France and Spain, also making his return impossible. At this time, the scientist discovered to his horror that an error had crept into the calculations. However, when he finally returned to France, he realized that it was too late to change anything.

2. Spices, seasonings and other flavorings

Salt in the past was extremely important for preserving raw meat and other foodstuffs for a long time, so its price was impossibly high. Caravans loaded with salt crossed the harsh Sahara Desert, guided only by the stars and the direction of the wind. West Africa, one of the poorest regions in the modern world, was incredibly rich in 800-1500 AD. thanks to the abundance of salt deposits.

Over time, salt began to be given even more importance as its importance to the human diet became known. The need for it became so urgent that the word “salt” itself served as the basis for the modern English word “salary” (salary), since the word “salarium” was used by Roman soldiers to refer to the money with which they bought portions of salt.

Sugar most likely originated in New Guinea 10,000 years ago, where people loved to chew cane. Around 500 AD. Indians began to produce powder from it. The ancient Greeks referred to “a kind of honey like salt,” considering sugar to be a medicine. When the Crusaders returned to their villages and castles in Europe, they spoke of the wonderful "sweet salt."

Black pepper, which only the rich could afford, was also used in the mummification ritual of the pharaohs. Pliny complained that Rome was spending too much on pepper. Pepper was such a valuable commodity that it was called "black gold", functioning as a convertible currency.

3. Selfie

In the 19th century, a craze for mirrors led to the popularity of self-portraits. The first "selfie" is believed to have been taken in 1839 by Robert Corniglia, an amateur chemist and photography enthusiast from Philadelphia. Using the daguerreotype, a new technology at the time, Cornelius stood in front of the camera, looking straight into the lens, and took a photo.

Decades later, group selfies became fashionable, as evidenced by photos of Joseph Byron and his friends taken in 1909. This hobby in 1914 did not bypass the interest of even Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova.

4. Cutlery

Initially, forks were used only for cooking, and people preferred to eat with their hands. However, by 1004 AD. in the Middle East and the Byzantine Empire, nobles had already begun to use forks for dinner.

After the wedding of a Byzantine princess and the son of a Venetian doge, all subjects were shocked by the bride’s habit of using cutlery. They considered such a practice an insult to God, who gave man fingers for these purposes. However, centuries later, the practice of using devices in Europe still took root, but in some places its opponents remained until the last. Even in 1897, British sailors still preferred not to eat with forks, considering it “unmanly.”

Chopsticks have been used in China for 5,000 years. Around 400 BC The Chinese began cutting food into smaller pieces so that there was no need to use large knives at the table. The use of chopsticks quickly spread throughout East Asia.

5. Playing cards

The 52-card deck is believed to have Arabic origins. The ancient system of playing cards was very similar to the modern one: four suits and images of the royal family. However, the cards did not include queens. The original suits represented cups, swords, coins and polo bats. The latter eventually turned into clubs, as Europeans had difficulty understanding the term. The suits later evolved into the familiar spades, clubs, hearts and diamonds. The practice of using suits may also have come from China, where their form of playing cards was played centuries earlier.

6. Toilet paper

The use of toilet paper dates back to at least 6th century AD China. When Muslims visited China in the 9th century, they were stunned to witness such practices, noting with disgust that the Chinese were "careless about cleanliness, not washing with water, wiping themselves with paper!"

In 1391, the Chinese emperor ordered the mass production of toilet paper. The Imperial Supply Bureau was tasked with producing 720 thousand sheets each year, each sheet measuring 0.6 m by 0.9 m and intended for the personal use of the emperor.

About 300 years later, Joseph Gatey began producing the product “Medical Paper” in the United States. The sheets were coated with aloe juice to soothe damaged skin. Each 500-sheet package sold for 50 cents.

7. Feminine hygiene products

In ancient Egypt, menstruation was associated with the Nile River, a symbol of renewal and fertility. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans used a wide variety of materials to make tampons, such as papyrus, wool, hides and even grass.

In 1896, Joseph Lister, the man who inspired millions to rinse their mouths and wash their hands, teamed up with the Johnson brothers to create the sanitary pads known as Lister Napkins. Unfortunately for Johnson & Johnson, this product did not gain the traction it deserved because women were simply not willing to buy such items in public at the time.

In 1998, Arunachalam Muruganantham, sympathizing with his wife, who was forced to use inconvenient or extremely expensive hygiene products, decided to come up with a more affordable product, but he had one problem: he had no idea how the menstrual cycle works. In an effort to understand the mechanism, he created a "womb" from the chamber of a soccer ball filled with goat's blood and hid it under his clothes to test his invention's absorbency. Every time he went to wash his clothes, his neighbors thought he had become a pervert, gone crazy or even possessed by demons, but the sanitary pads he created eventually earned him an innovation award from the President of India himself.

8. Bra

The modern bra began its history in 1910. It was then that 19-year-old Mary Phelps Jacob, planning an outfit for an upcoming party, chose a dress that emphasized her figure well. However, the girl considered the corsets of that time too restrictive of freedom. Instead, she asked the maid to bring her two handkerchiefs and a ribbon, creating the forerunner of the modern bra.

Ladies from high society marveled at young Mary’s ability to move and dance freely, interestedly asking her secret. Four years later, the inventor received a patent for a “backless bra.” In the following decades, the bra configuration went through a number of transformations. By the way, recent archaeological finds have shown that women have been wearing something like bras since the 1400s.

9. Divorce

In Ancient Egypt, the institution of marriage had no meaning, a family was considered a man and a woman simply living under the same roof, so cases of divorce and remarriage were quite common. In Greece, the issue of divorce was brought before the court for objective consideration. In Japan, if the husband refused to grant a divorce, the wife could live in the temple for three years, after which the marriage was automatically annulled. In Viking culture, women were free to leave their husbands if they were unable to provide for their families.

In medieval England, divorce was a strictly ecclesiastical matter. Changes in the official attitude towards the divorce process were only possible thanks to the efforts of Caroline Sheridan, the wife of MP George Norton. Sheridan suffered abuse from her husband, finding solace only in her children and writing. Once in 1836, Norton forced his wife to behave “more friendly” with Lord Melbourne with the goal of subsequently suing her and accusing Sheridan of adultery, but lost the case. However, he continued to abuse his wife and children, which led Sheridan to advocate for the rights of married women in Britain. She lobbied for legislation, published pamphlets and even wrote to Queen Victoria herself. Sheridan's insightful words were influential in the passage of the Children's Bill of Rights of 1839 and the Marriage and Divorce Act of 1857.

I have always been interested to know why familiar or new things that surround us are called this way and not otherwise? and their transformation is quite a broad and interesting topic. Throughout history, words have been dragged from one language to another, composed of several words, or changed so much that one can only guess at the original meaning.

Of course, this fully applies to those things with which we try to decorate ourselves. Clothing is an international concept, so many items in our wardrobe have their analogues in the culture of different countries and nationalities. But everything that is so familiar to us now was once invented by someone and, most importantly, brought into reality. And since people are fickle and inventive creatures, prone to novelty, we have a huge selection of everything that was worn before us and what creative thought gives birth to in our days. When you find out when and by whom, under what circumstances this or that item of our wardrobe was invented, you even begin to treat it a little differently.

In society, there are several versions of the origin of clothing as such:

climatic - as a need to protect oneself from adverse weather conditions. This characteristic, in principle, remains to this day. People are forced to protect themselves with the help of things from natural manifestations.

moral - hiding sexual characteristics from prying eyes. It all started with loincloths, and ended with an almost complete outfit of a person from head to toe. Nevertheless, even today, for many individual nations, the moral side of the issue does not have the same importance that exists in developed countries regarding clothing.

social - suggests that wardrobe items appeared to determine a person’s status in society. Things became his hallmarks.

But these are just versions, and no one knows the real reasons. Perhaps people, with their inherent desire for change, wanted to decorate themselves and thereby diversify their lives. Birds have beautiful plumage, animals have unusual colors, and a person is born naked and this is a good enough reason to improve his appearance.

Fashion historians believe that it originated around the 12th and 13th centuries, when elements that defied rational explanation began to appear in costumes. They were not a necessity or a consequence of the aesthetic development of society. An example of such unusual phenomena are hats that reach a meter in height; trains, fathoms long; super tight men's trousers, in which it was simply impossible to sit down; long socks for shoes, which were tied to the shin with laces so that you could walk without touching them.

One of the interesting moments in the history of the emergence of things is the appearance of clothes, which always went against generally accepted morality and tried to express themselves in clothes. At times she looked very ridiculous and funny, but the surprising thing is that over time she took root in society and became part of the costume.

The appearance of new things is connected not only with the fantasies of those people who were involved in the development of clothing at different times, but also with the development of new technologies and materials. And the strengthening of international relations only intensified trade exchanges, thanks to which people exchanged experiences and borrowed each other’s style of dressing. Thus, things were pumped from one people to another.

But in the process of history, every thing, once invented, went through a lot of different transformations and transformations. Some have remained virtually unchanged, for example, while many have been transformed and given a new sound. This is due to the constant changing needs in society and its overall development.

“Fashion is... renewal! The principle that nature has always followed! A tree sheds old leaves, a man sheds his tired clothes. When things become too familiar, people get tired of them faster. Fashion saves us from tedious uniformity. People want to like each other: to be nicely dressed, to look good is a natural need.” Pierre Cardin.

Fashion is, first of all, the relationship between people and things. The more open a society is to new things, the more often various changes occur in it. This also applies to clothing. In earlier times, when there was a clear division between the upper and lower classes of society, the outfits of the inhabitants of each country were very different from each other, and the clothes of the lower class could not change for centuries. Gradually, these boundaries blurred and today they practically do not exist. There is one that both workers and presidents wear.

Over the past 100 years, a huge number of new things have appeared. This became possible thanks to developed technologies and materials. These things have firmly entered our lives and have become true classics. And these clothes were not always invented within the walls of high fashion houses.

“Fashion comes from the street and, ennobled, returns to it again... I don’t think it’s possible to derive some kind of fashion equation. Be careful not to rely on us, because tomorrow we may reject the style proposed today. Our work is a game: as soon as a new fashion has been established, we destroy it.” Jacques Esterel.

Each new thing has its own cycle of development and assertion of itself in society. One English art critic compiled an interesting table showing what stages a particular new item of clothing goes through. Here are the characteristics he endowed with each stage:

• immoral - ten years before its time,
• defiant - three years before its time,
• bold - one year before its time,
• beautiful - when she is in fashion,
• tasteless - a year after its time,
• ugly - ten years after its time,
• funny - after twenty years,
• funny - after thirty years,
• peculiar - after fifty,
• pleasant - after seventy,
• romantic - after a hundred years,
• beautiful - one hundred and fifty years after its time.

These are such interesting observations about, which has always been filled with a thirst for the destruction of the familiar, traditional and the search for the new, unknown.

“We are made of the same substance as our dreams” (“The Storm”). William Shakespeare.

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We live in a world of inventions - old and new, simple and complex. Each of them has its own fascinating story. It’s hard to even imagine how many useful and necessary things our distant and close ancestors came up with. Let's talk about the things that surround us. About how they were invented. We look in the mirror, eat with a spoon and fork, use a needle, scissors. We are accustomed to these simple things. And we don’t think about how people could get by without them. But really, how? How did much of what has long become familiar, but once seemed outlandish, come into being?

Hole awl

What came first - the needle or the clothes? This question will probably surprise many: is it possible to sew clothes without a needle? It turns out that it is possible.

Primitive man sewed animal skins by piercing them with fish bones or sharpened animal bones. This is what ancient awls looked like. When the ears were drilled into the awls with fragments of flint (a very hard stone), needles were obtained.

After many millennia, bone needles were replaced by bronze, then iron. In Rus', it happened that silver needles were also forged. About six hundred years ago, Arab merchants brought the first steel needles to Europe. The threads were threaded into their ends bent into rings.

By the way, where is the eye of the needle? It depends on which one. The regular one has the blunt end, the machine one has the sharp end. However, some new sewing machines can do just fine without needles or threads - they glue and weld fabric.

Treasure of Roman soldiers

Ancient Roman warriors - legionnaires - received orders to quickly leave the fortress. Before leaving, they dug a deep hole and placed heavy boxes in it.

The secret treasure was found by accident today. What was in the boxes? Seven tons of nails! The warriors could not take them with them and buried them so that not a single one would fall to the enemy.

Why was it necessary to hide ordinary nails? These nails seem ordinary to us. And for people who lived thousands of years ago, they were a treasure. Metal nails were very expensive. It is not surprising that, even having learned to process metal, our distant ancestors for a long time used the most ancient, albeit not so durable, but cheap “nails” - plant thorns, sharpened splinters, bones of fish and animals.

How they thrashed

Roman slaves mixed and laid out food in the kitchen with huge metal spoons, which we would now probably call ladles. And when eating in ancient times, they took food with their hands! This went on for many centuries. And only about two hundred years ago they realized that they couldn’t do without a spoon.

The first tablespoons were decorated with carvings and precious stones. They were made, of course, for the nobility and the rich. And those who were poorer ate soup and porridge with cheap wooden spoons.

Wooden spoons were used in different countries, including Russia. They made them like this. First, they split the log into pieces of suitable size—baklushi. “Beating the pot” was considered a simple task: after all, carving and painting spoons is much more difficult. Now they say this about those who shirk difficult work or do things poorly.

Pitchfork and fork

The fork was invented later than the spoon. Why? It's not hard to guess. You can’t scoop up soup with your palm, but you can grab a piece of meat with your hands. They say that the rich were the first to give up this habit. Lush lace collars came into fashion. They made it difficult to tilt my head. Eating with your hands has become difficult - so a fork appeared.

The fork, like the spoon, was not immediately recognized. First of all, habits are hard to break. Secondly, at first it was very uncomfortable: only two long teeth on a tiny handle. The meat tried to jump off the teeth, the handle tried to slip out of the fingers... What does the pitchfork have to do with it? Yes, despite the fact that, looking at them, our ancestors came up with the idea of ​​a fork. So the similarities between them are not at all accidental. Both externally and in the name.

Why are buttons needed?

In the old days, clothes were laced up like boots or tied with ribbons. Sometimes clothes were secured with cufflinks made from wooden sticks. Buttons were used as decoration.

Jewelers made them from precious stones, silver and gold, and covered them with intricate patterns.

When precious buttons began to be used as fasteners, some people considered this an unaffordable luxury.

A person's nobility and wealth were judged by the number of buttons. That is why on rich ancient clothes there are often more of them than loops. Thus, King Francis I of France ordered to decorate his black camisole with 13,600 gold buttons.

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Are they all there?

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From bead to window

If you sprinkle sand and ash on pottery and then fire it, a beautiful shiny crust will form on it - glaze. Even primitive potters knew this secret.

One ancient master decided to sculpt something from glaze, that is, from sand and ash, without clay. He poured the mixture into a pot, melted it over the fire and grabbed a hot, sticky drop with a stick.

The drop fell on the stone and froze. It turned out to be a bead. And it was made of real glass - only opaque. People liked glass so much that it became more valuable than gold and precious stones.

Glass that lets light through was invented many years later. Even later it was installed in the windows. And here it turned out to be very useful. After all, when there was no glass, the windows were covered with bull's bladder, canvas soaked in wax, or oiled paper. But mica was considered the most suitable. Naval sailors used it even when glass spread: the mica did not shatter into pieces from cannon shots.

Mica, which was mined in Russia, has long been famous. Foreigners spoke with admiration about “stone crystal,” which is flexible like paper and does not break.

Mirror or life

In one old fairy tale, the hero accidentally ate magic berries and wanted to wash them down with water from a spring. He looked at his reflection in the water and gasped - he had grown donkey ears!

Since ancient times, the calm surface of water has indeed often served as a mirror for man.

But you can’t take a quiet river backwater or even a puddle into your house.

I had to come up with hard mirrors made of polished stone or smooth metal plates.

These plates were sometimes covered with glass to prevent them from darkening in the air. And then, on the contrary, they learned to cover glass with a thin metal film. This happened in the Italian city of Venice.

Venetian merchants sold glass mirrors at exorbitant prices. They were made on the island of Murano. How? For a long time it was a secret. Several masters shared their secrets with the French and paid for it with their lives.

In Rus' they also used metal mirrors made of bronze, silver and damask steel. Then glass mirrors appeared. About three hundred years ago, Peter I ordered the construction of mirror factories in Kyiv.

Secret ice cream

Ancient manuscripts say that the ancient Greek commander Alexander the Great was served fruits and juices mixed with ice and snow for dessert.

In Rus', on holidays, next to pancakes, a dish with frozen, finely chopped milk, sweetened with honey, was placed on the table.

In the old days, in some countries, recipes for cold delicacies were kept secret, and court cooks faced the death penalty for disclosing them.

And it wasn’t easy to make ice cream back then. Especially in summer.

Ice and snow were brought from the mountains to the palace of Alexander the Great.

Later they started selling ice, and how! Ships with transparent blocks in their holds hurried to the shores of hot countries. This continued until the advent of “ice-making machines” - refrigerators. This happened about a hundred years ago.

Today, ice cream is sold everywhere and everything: fruit and berry, milk and cream. And it is available to everyone.

How the iron became electric

Everyone is familiar with the electric iron. And when people didn’t know how to use electricity, what kind of irons were there?

At first - none. Ironed cold. The wet material was carefully straightened and stretched before drying. Coarse fabrics were wound onto a roller and a corrugated board, a ruble, was passed over it.

But then irons appeared. There weren't any among them. Stove-top, heated directly on the fire. Coal ones, with blowers, or even with a chimney, similar to stoves: hot coals smoldered in them. The gas iron burned with gas from a can attached to the back, while the kerosene iron burned with kerosene.

The electric iron was invented about a hundred years ago. He turned out to be the best. Especially after I acquired a device for temperature regulation - a thermostat, as well as a humidifier...

The irons are different, but their operating principle is the same - first heat, then iron.

Doesn't bark, doesn't bite...

The first locks did not need a key: the doors were not locked, but tied with a rope. To prevent strangers from opening them, each owner tried to tighten the knot more cunningly.

The legend of the Gordian knot has survived to this day. No one could untie this knot until Alexander the Great cut it with his sword. The attackers also began to deal with rope locks using the same method.

It was more difficult to unlock the “living locks” - just try to argue with a well-trained guard dog. And one ancient ruler ordered a pool with islands to be built in the palace.

The wealth was placed on islands, toothy crocodiles were released into the water... They, however, did not know how to bark, and so as not to forget how to bite, they were kept from hand to mouth.

By now, many locks and keys have been invented. There is also one that unlocks... with your finger. Don't be surprised - this is the most reliable lock. After all, the pattern on the skin of the fingertips is not repeated on anyone. Therefore, a special device unmistakably distinguishes the owner’s finger inserted into the well from someone else’s. Only the one who locked it can open the lock.

Singing button

Before you cross the threshold of your apartment, you press the button. The bell rings and mom rushes to open the door.

For the first time, an electric trill announced the arrival of a guest more than a hundred years ago, in France. Before that, there were mechanical bells - about the same as on modern bicycles. Such calls can sometimes be seen in homes today - as a reminder of the times when electricity was not used everywhere.

There is an opinion that any invention is associated with painstaking research and scientific research. But in reality this does not always happen. History knows cases when items that became in demand and popular were invented completely by accident.

This review contains the most unexpected stories of the appearance of objects that have entered into human everyday life today.

#1 Potato chips (1853)

The story goes that George Crum, the chef of the restaurant at the prestigious Moon Lake House Hotel in Saratoga Springs (USA), one day in 1853 was faced with a capricious client. That client was railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt.

A customer began complaining that his fries were cut too thick and were too soft and undercooked. Although Crum did everything possible to please Vanderbilt, he returned the portion back time after time.

Then the chef decided to teach the client a lesson. He sliced ​​the potatoes as thin as he could, fried them until they started to break apart when pressed with a fork, and sprinkled them with salt. However, the unexpected happened - Vanderbilt admired the dish and ordered another serving. The fame of Saratoga Chips quickly spread throughout the area, and Crum opened his own restaurant.

#2 Artificial sweetener saccharin (1877)

Late one evening in 1877, Russian chemist Konstantin Fahlberg was so engrossed in his research that he forgot to wash his hands while walking home for dinner from his laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

When he took a piece of bread at home, it turned out that the bread was sweet for some reason. Fahlberg then remembered that earlier that day he had accidentally spilled an experimental chemical compound on his hands. Those. The sweet taste of the bread was due to some kind of chemical.

Fahlberg hurriedly went back to the laboratory, where he experimentally determined what kind of compound it was - ortho-sulfobenzoic acid, to which the scientist later gave the name saccharin.

#3 Coca-Cola (1886)

In an attempt to find a cure for headaches and hangovers, chemist John Pemberton from Atlanta, USA, concocted a syrup made from wine and coca extract, which he called Pemberton's French Wine-Coca.

In 1885, at the height of American Prohibition, the sale of alcohol was banned in Atlanta, which forced Pemberton to begin producing a purely coca-based syrup, which had to be diluted with water. The story goes that one day, due to carelessness, a bartender accidentally diluted the syrup with ice-cold sparkling water instead of tap water. Thus, modern cola was born.

#4 X-Rays (1895)

In his laboratory in 1895, German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen experimented with cathode ray tubes (roughly analogous to modern fluorescent lamps) to study how electricity passes through gases. He carefully pumped out the air from the cathode tube, filled it with a special gas and passed a high voltage electric current through it.

To Roentgen's surprise, the screen, located a meter from the tube, suddenly began to emit a green fluorescent glow. This was strange because the light-emitting cathode ray tube was surrounded by thick black cardboard. The only explanation was that the "invisible rays" produced by the tube somehow passed through the cardboard and onto the screen.

X-ray decided to test this on his wife Bertha, after which it turned out that the rays freely passed through the tissues of her hand, as a result of which the bones became visible. The news of Roentgen's discovery quickly spread throughout the world.

#5 Ice Cream Cone (1904)

By the end of the 19th century, when ice cream became cheap enough for ordinary people to afford, it was usually sold in cups made of paper, glass or metal, which were then returned to the seller.

In 1904, at the World's Fair in St. Louis, America, there were more than 50 ice cream stalls and more than a dozen with hot waffles. It was hot and the ice cream was selling much better than the waffles. When ice cream seller Arnold Fornachu ran out of paper cups, Syrian Ernest Hamwi, who was selling waffles nearby, rolled one of his waffles into a tube and offered to put ice cream in it. This is how the first waffle cone appeared.

#6 Penicillin (1928)

On September 3, 1928, Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming was cleaning out his laboratory at St. Mary's Hospital in London after a vacation. While cleaning, he noticed blue-green mold on a Petri dish that he forgot to wash before vacation.

Fleming was about to throw away the sample when he noticed something unusual: mold had killed the colonies of staphylococcal bacteria present on the Petri dish. A few months later, he isolated penicillin from these molds.

If Fleming had not been in such a hurry to go on vacation, he would have washed the dishes, and one of the most widely used antibiotics in the world would not exist today.

#7 Microwave (1946)

While testing microwaves in 1946, radar engineer and technician Percy Spencer, who was standing in front of the radar, noticed that a candy bar in his pocket began to melt. Spencer and his colleagues then tried heating other foods with microwaves to see if a similar effect would occur.

When popcorn was placed in front of the radar, it immediately began to pop. And the egg, placed in the kettle, literally boiled.

Finally, thanks to chance, an alternative to conventional gas and electric ovens appeared. It has become possible to prepare food much faster than before.

#8 Velcro (1955)

Velcro was patented 62 years ago. And the story of its appearance was quite unusual.

In 1955, after walking his dog in the forest, Swiss electrical engineer Georges de Mestral discovered that his pants and dog's fur were literally covered with burrs. By examining the burrs of burrs under a microscope, de Mestral found thousands of tiny hooks that easily latched onto the small loops found in any everyday clothing. This prompted him to make a double-sided clasp, with one side equipped with hooks and the other with soft loops.

De Mestral tested several materials to see which would provide the strongest grip and found that nylon was ideal.

#9 Post-it notes (1968 and 1974)

In 1968, chemist Spencer Silver, who worked for the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company in St. Paul, was tasked with developing a strong adhesive for the aerospace industry, but he ended up inventing a weak adhesive. Oddly enough, the tiny acrylic beads that make up this glue are almost indestructible, so it can be used repeatedly.

Initially, Silver wanted to sell his adhesive to apply to the surface of bulletin boards so that people could stick their notices on them and then easily tear them off.

A few years later, in 1974, chemist Art Fry grew tired of the paper bookmarks that kept falling out of his hymnbooks (he sang in a church choir in St. Paul). And then he came up with a brilliant idea - why not use Dr. Silver's glue on these pieces of paper.

Fry cut up some yellow paper he found in the lab nearby and coated one side of it with glue. The idea has proven so popular that more than 90 percent of people today use stickers.

#10 Viagra (1998)

Clinical trials at the pharmaceutical company Pfizer initially studied the use of Viagra as a cardiovascular drug to lower blood pressure, dilate blood vessels and treat sore throats. Although the results were disappointing, in one study, male volunteers experienced an unusual side effect - very durable erections.

No one at Pfizer even thought about using Viagra to treat erectile dysfunction in the first place, and the company nearly launched the drug as a treatment for sore throats... if not for a random experiment.

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Entertaining stories of the creation of brands, books, architectural structures, social phenomena, mythological creatures, cosmetics, transport, food, dishes and drinks, household items that surround us in everyday life and much, much more.

Boris Pasternak is rightfully considered one of the brightest Russian poets and writers of the 20th century. It was he who came up with the idea to combine prose and poetry in one work, which caused a flurry of criticism from his contemporaries, but was appreciated by his descendants.

We are talking, in particular, about the famous novel “Doctor Zhivago”, the last part of which is dedicated to the poems of the main character. The reader learns that Yuri Zhivalo is a subtle lyricist and lover of rhymed phrases in the first chapters of the novel. However, Boris Pasternak tries not to distract readers with lyrical digressions, so he decides to combine all the poems of Yuri Zhivago into a separate collection.

The first poem attributed to the authorship of the main character is called “Winter Night”. Later, it was often published as an independent literary work called “Candle” and was even set to music, adding to the repertoire of Alla Pugacheva and the ex-leader of the Gorky Park group Nikolai Noskov.

Veterinarian John Dunlop was an inventive and observant man. He also loved his son very much, who, in turn, loved to ride the bicycle that his father gave him. It was only when it was necessary to go onto paved streets that riding became a real torture for the boy, since the cyclist was subjected to hellish shaking - solid tires provided good grip, but not comfort. And then Dunlop came up with a simple but effective idea - he removed the cast tire and instead wrapped a specially shaped wheel with a tube glued together from several strips of rubber and filled with air - the prototype of a modern tire. The ride immediately became much more comfortable.

Experts from France have calculated that a woman “eats” from 4 to 6 kg of lipstick during her life. A man “eats” twice as much from a woman’s lips. Let's try to find out how harmful it is for the body and, in general, learn about the path of evolution of lipstick.

Many people mistakenly believe that this type of decorative cosmetics appeared only in ancient Egypt and was the invention of the famous Queen Cleopatra. In fact, the desire to make their lips brighter arose among primitive women. Already in the layers of the Ice Age, archaeologists find red sticks, pointed with a characteristic cone. This is the cosmetics of prehistoric coquettes. Edward Taylor, in his famous book “Primitive Culture,” noted that lipstick is a secondary product in relation to the paints of the primitive artist.

As soon as the women saw the stone women and primitive figurines with painted lips, they immediately transferred their artistic experience to the original. Lipstick was made as follows: hollow plant stems were filled with a red dye. Since time immemorial, three types of natural dyes have been used for cosmetics: minerals - cinnabar (mercury sulfide) and red lead (iron oxide); biological dye carmine and vegetable dyes - saffron and henna.

"Max Factor - the father of modern cosmetics"

Max Factor is a famous cosmetics empire named after its founder Max Factor (real name Maximilian Abramowicz Faktorowicz), who was born on September 15, 1877 in the city of Zduńska Wola. This city is part of the Lodz Voivodeship, hence the confusion and incorrect indication in many articles of the city of Lodz as the birthplace of Max. Then it was the territory of Tsarist Russia, and now it is modern Poland.

Maximilian grew up in a large family (more than 10 people), and from childhood he had to go to work to help his parents feed the family. At the age of seven, he first became acquainted with the world of theater - he was sent to sell oranges and lollipops in the lobby. At the age of 8, Factor became a pharmacist's assistant, and at the age of nine, he became a cosmetologist's apprentice, performing small assignments. At the age of fourteen, he moved to Moscow and joined the Bolshoi Theater as an assistant make-up artist. The skills acquired in the theater greatly helped Factor in the future. He then had to undergo compulsory military service in the Russian army.

After demobilization, in 1895, Faktorovich opened his own store in Ryazan, where he sold blush, creams, perfume and wigs - mostly all of his own making. Once a theater troupe stopped in Ryazan and after a few weeks the products of the Polish Jew were already known at court. “All my time was occupied by individual consultations, I showed them how to emphasize the strengths and hide the flaws of their faces”. Later he moved to St. Petersburg, where he began working at the Opera House, doing costumes and makeup. The actors, made up by Max Factor, played in front of Nicholas II, and soon the name of the talented make-up artist became widely known among the nobility. For several years he worked as a cosmetics specialist at the court of the Russian Tsar and in the imperial theaters.

For the Kingdom of Poland

Reprint. Cards were produced by the Imperial Card Factory specifically for the Polish provinces annexed to Russia at the beginning of the 19th century and were called “Cards Made for the Kingdom of Poland.” The most important differences between these cards are the drawings of German-type card suits, as well as a different composition of card figures, in which there are no queens, but, in addition to the king, there are two more “male” persons - vyshnik and nizhnik (in relation to Russian cards, these were like jack high and jack junior).

Nevsky

A reprint of the famous deck, released in 1992 at the Leningrad Color Printing Plant in honor of the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Imperial Card Factory.

The most popular type of maps in the USSR were “Atlas maps”, the design of which has not changed in Russia for more than 150 years. The drawing itself was created in the mid-19th century by academician of painting Adolph Iosifovich Charlemagne. The very concept of “satin” refers to the manufacturing method - printing on “satin” paper rubbed with talcum powder. Cards printed on such paper shuffled well and were not afraid of moisture, unlike plain paper, which did not have such advantages. Over time, they stopped making maps of lower quality, and the name “satin” was assigned specifically to the design of the maps of academician Charlemagne. Card production was launched in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, at the state-owned Alexander Manufactory, where the Imperial Card Factory began operating in 1819. In the second half of the 19th century, the Atlas deck became widespread in the Russian Empire.

A.I. Charlemagne did not create a fundamentally new card style. Satin cards were the result of processing pre-existing card designs that were used back in the 17th and early 18th centuries in Moscow card factories, which were also based on the so-called “North German picture”, which came from an ancient folk French card deck.

In Germany, north of the Schönbuch nature park, there is the town of Waldenbuch, in the middle of the wonderful town of Aichtal.

It can be assumed that Waldenbuch was named so because of the beautiful forest that surrounds it. However, it was the German word "Walto", a short form of the word "Waltheri" meaning "warrior", from which the area was named "Waltenbuch" ("warrior's forest"), named after the Germans who drove out the Romans there in the fifth century.

However, the first who liked this place so much were the Celts. They inhabited the Waldenbuch area in the 8th-7th centuries. BC. Also, the wonderful Waldenbuch fell into the hearts of others, even those who were here for a very short time.

Story

Every family has its own traditions. The Ritter family has kept a sweet secret for almost a hundred years: the recipe for the success of producing good chocolate. The company, started by Alfred Ritter and his wife Clara in 1912 as a small family company, has grown to become an internationally successful company. Today, Ritter Sport chocolate is sold in 80 countries around the world. The success story is being written by the third generation - Alfred T. Ritter and his sister Marli Hoppe-Ritter.

The large German enterprise Ritter to this day remains primarily a family business, so concern for product quality is in the first place for the company. The family stands behind its name for the quality of every chocolate bar that leaves their enterprise. We invite you to take in at one glance the most chocolate milestones of the 20th century!

The story of Ritter Sport chocolate begins where films about love usually end: with a wedding. In 1912, confectioner Alfred Eugen Ritter and Clara Göttle, owner of a sweets shop, were married. Together they found the chocolate and sugar confectionery Alfred Ritter Cannstatt - the love of good chocolate, as we see, has its roots in our family history.

After the acquisition of Uniroyal Goodrich Tire (USA) in 1990 year, Michelin has reached the necessary size for sustainable development in North America. IN 1991 François Rollier resigns and François Michelin appoints his son, 28-year-old Edouard Michelin, as managing partner. IN 1993 Michelin invents a new production technology - “C3M”. It allows you to save energy, better automates production processes, etc. Trial testing of the C3M technology is carried out at the plant in Clermont-Ferrand.

IN 1994 year, the world saw Michelin Energy tires - the first tires, one of the main qualities of which was improved fuel efficiency. After an almost 80-year break, a Michelin representative office is reopening in Moscow. The Polish tire company Stomil - Olsztyn became part of the Michelin group in 1995 year. A new plant opens in Manila, Philippines. This is the first time Michelin tires have been used on a space shuttle.

1900 The year in the history of the company is significant in that the first guide called “Michelin Red Guide” was published. The guide was originally a list of various places that could be useful to the traveler, for example: hotels, repair shops, eateries or paid car parks. It was distributed free of charge and had very moderate demand. However, a great future awaited him. The first 35 thousand copies of the guide contained the prophetic words of Andre Michelin: “This guide was born at the dawn of a new century, and will exist as long as the century itself.”

WITH 1904 By 1906 The company is actively developing. The first product warehouses appeared in the Russian Empire - Moscow and Warsaw. The Michelin plant in Clermont-Ferrand already occupies almost 30 hectares and employs almost 4 thousand people. A new model of Michelin Sole tires is being released, equipped with special metal pins. This invention is now universally known as “studded tires”, providing better traction between the wheels and the road surface.

A subsidiary, Michelin Tire Co., was founded in London. Ltd." Michelin is building its first plant outside France in Turin, Italy. IN 1907 Michelin crosses the Atlantic and builds its first plant in the United States in Milltown, New Jersey (the plant was closed in 1931 year). Another plant is being built in Clermont-Ferrand. In honor of the first international automobile exhibition in St. Petersburg, the Moscow-St. Petersburg race was organized. The winner is A. Duret driving a Laurent-Dietrich car equipped with Michelin tires. The average speed of the winner on the route reaches 70 km/h. In addition to the competition winner, several other participants started on Michelin tires.

IN 1908 Michelin announces the award of the Grand Prix to the winner of the air race. This was done with the aim of developing aviation. The race involved flying from Paris to Clermont-Ferrand, landing at the extinct volcano Puy de Dome, which is located approximately 15 km from Clermont-Ferrand. This feat was accomplished three years later by two Frenchmen, Renaux and Senouque.

The French company Michelin, a manufacturer of road tires, is usually associated with the company's logo. This is the so-called "Bibendum", which looks like a stack of tires in the form of a person. This brand is one of the most recognizable in the world. The history of the company has deep roots - it has existed for more than a century and a half. Initially, the company was called "Barbier Dubre and Co." - after the names of its two founders. The company will receive its modern name a little later, when the Michelin brothers Andre and Eduard join the family business. As for the “Michelin man” logo, the idea of ​​its creation came only 65 years after the first steps in this direction.

And the first steps were taken in the distant 1829 year when Édouard Daubrée married the Scot Elizabeth Pugh Barker, niece of the notorious chemist Charles Macintosh. Mackintosh created a waterproof raincoat made of rubber fabric, which was later named after him, and received a patent for his invention in 1823 year. The mackintosh coat was incredibly popular in the mid-19th century, favored by celebrities such as Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

Tea drinking for residents of the East, especially China and Japan, is an ancient tradition. Tea culture is inseparable from the art, culture of these countries, and the entire way of life. The ancient culture of Japan is full of unusual symbols and traditions, as mysterious as a hieroglyph. One of these traditions is the world-famous tea ceremony.

Tea was brought to Japan from China in the 7th century. Japanese monks were at the origins of the spread of tea in the country. In China, it was valued as a medicinal plant that helps against fatigue, eye disease, and rheumatism. Then, as a sophisticated pastime. But there was probably no such cult of tea as in Japan in any other country. This ritual has been performed virtually unchanged for centuries in almost every Japanese home. Girls still remember the basics of ancient art at school. Many men also know how to conduct a tea ceremony.

It was then that the Sanrio company appeared in Japan. Its founder, Shintaro Tsuji, decided to give people at least a little joy after the difficult and long years of war. The motto of the newborn company was “A small gift - a big smile,” and Tsuji really managed to bring it to life - almost no one left the store empty-handed: customers took small gifts to their loved ones - postcards, inexpensive toys and other such pleasant things. little things.

Have you ever wondered who came up with the favorite treat of children and adults, the popular and delicious chocolate-nut spread called Nutella? The name of this inventor is Pietro Ferrero. It’s not for nothing that his last name seemed familiar to you - this man founded one of the largest food production companies, mainly confectionery-oriented - Ferrero. This company is familiar to us for such products as: candies “Raffaello”, “Mon Chéri” and “Ferrero Rochen”, mint dragee “Tic-Tac”, chocolate egg with a toy “Kinder Surprise”, as well as a series of products “Kinder” (Kinder Chocolate, Kinder Happy Hippo, Kinder Bueno, Kinder Pingui, Kinder Country, Kinder Maxi King and others).

Nutella itself, a delicate chocolate cream with a nutty flavor, has an interesting history. As is often the case with many great inventions, the idea for creating a sweet paste came about by chance. But we will start our story from afar. In 1946, Pietru Ferrero, a native of the Italian province of Cuneo, inherited from his parents a small bakery in the city of Alba in northern Italy. Due to his indefatigable imagination and love for experimenting with products, Pietro turned his shop into a pastry shop with a tiny workshop. It was there that he spent all his free time, experimenting with various ingredients in order to please his customers with fresh and varied confectionery products. His wife Piera and brother Giovanni helped him in this.