January
-
1 Jan, 1762: Cock Lane Ghost mystery
- This started in London first week in 1762 and includes murder allegations, a ghost and a haunted house.
Ep. #203
2 Jan, 1860: Planet Vulcan
- The discovery of the planet Vulcan, orbiting between Mercury and the Sun was announced by the French Acadademy of Sciences. It later turned out not to exist.
Ep. #055
2 Jan, 1920: Isaac Asimov (birth of)
- Prolific and prominent writer and science communicator
Ep. #359
4 Jan, 1581: James Ussher (birth of)
- Prolific Irish scholar and church leader, famous for his chronology that sought to establish the time and date of the creation
Ep. #153
6 Jan, 1920: Doris Stokes (birth of)
- Self-proclaimed psychic and ‘claireaudient’.
Ep. #204
8 Jan, 1823: Alfred Russel Wallace (birth of)
- British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection.
Ep. #256
8 Jan, 1981: Trans-en-Provence Case
- UFO sighting in France
Ep. #307
9 Jan, 1349: The Basel Massacre
- The city of Basel tried to stop the black plague by killing and deporting the Jews in the city
Ep. #409
11 Jan, 1906: Albert Hoffman (birth of)
- Swiss scientist and discoverer of LSD-25
Ep. #107
13 Jan, 1404: Act Against Multipliers
- This act made it illegal to create silver or gold using alchemy
Ep. #005
15 Jan, 2001: Wikipedia
- Wikipedia was launched
Ep. #360
16 Jan, 1964: Massimo Pigliucci (birth of)
20 Jan, 1612: Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (death of)
- Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the House of Habsburg.
Ep. #258
21 Jan, 1789: Baron d’Holbach (death of)
- French-German philosopher, encyclopedist, writer, and prominent figure in the French Enlightenment
Ep. #309
21 Jan, 1807: London Institute
- The London Institution gets Royal Charter
Ep. #361
21 Jan, 1854: Eusapia Palladino (birth of)
- Italian spiritualist physical medium
Ep. #057
22 Jan, 1561: Sir Francis Bacon (birth of)
- English philosopher and Statesman
Ep. #155
23 Jan, 1943: Stanisław Burzyński (birth of)
- Founder of The Burzynski Clinic, is a controversial clinic offering an unproven cancer treatment
Ep. #109
24 Jan, 1928: Desmond Morris (birth of)
- British zoologist and anthropologist. He was instrumental in popularizing the Aquatic Ape hypothesis.
Ep. #206
25 Jan, 1900: Theodosius Dobzhansky (birth of)
- Ukrainian-American evolutionary biologist
Ep. #310
27 Jan, 1950: Derek Acorah (birth of)
- Brittish spiritual medium
Ep. #007
28 Jan, 1884: Auguste and Jean Felix Piccard (birth of)
- The Piccard twins explored both the heavens and the deep sea using the bathyscaphe
Ep. #362
29 Jan, 1986: The Height 611 UFO incident
- Known as ‘Russia’s own Roswell incident’.
Ep. #207
30 Jan, 1948: Edzard Ernst (birth of)
- Retired academic physician and researcher specializing in the study of complementary and alternative medicine
Ep. #156
31 Jan, 1911: Grandmother (“Baba”) Vanga (birth of)
- Bulgarian mystic, clairvoyant, and herbalist.
Ep. #059
31 Jan, 1951: József Gyurcsok (birth of)
- Hungarian remote energy healer and tele-evangelist
Ep. #363
31 Jan, 2021: INH (Informationsnetzwerk Homöopathie, or Information Network Homeopathy)
- INH is a German association of homeopathy critics . The association is part of the GWUP (the German Skeptics).
Ep. #259
February
-
2 Feb, 1970: Bertrand Russell (death of)
- Bertrand Russell was a British mathematician, philosopher, and public intellectual.
Ep. #412
2 Feb, 2010: Andrew Wakefield’s paper
- The Lancet formally retracts Andrew Wakefield’s 1998 paper
Ep. #311
3 Feb, 1984: Elizabeth Holmes (birth of)
- American former biotechnology entrepreneur and convicted fraudster, known for the Theranos bluff.
Ep. #364
5 Feb, 2011: 1023 Campaign
- The 1023 global homeopathy challenge happened on 5 February 2011.
Ep. #260
6 Feb, 1999: Skeptics in the Pub
- The first ever skeptical pub was held this date in London
Ep. #111
8 Feb, 1724: Peter the Great (death of)
- Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, despite obvious flaws also happened to be quite a fan on the enlightenment
Ep. #413
8 Feb, 1834: Dimitri Mendeleev (birth of)
- Russian chemist and inventor. He is best known for formulating the Periodic Law and creating a farsighted version of the periodic table of elements.
Ep. #312
8 Feb, 1855: Devil’s Footprints
- A series of strange footprints was reported from around the Exe Estuary in East and South Devon, England
Ep. #110
10 Feb, 1937: Anne Anderson (birth of)
- Reproductive physiologist, forerunner of evidence based medicine
Ep. #009
10 Feb, 1947: Oliver Lodge‘s letters
- Oliver Lodge‘s last letter was opened, failing to prove that psychics are real
Ep. #157
12 Feb, 1809: Charles Darwin (birth of)
- English naturalist, geologist and biologist.
Ep. #209
13 Feb, 1923: Philippe de Cherisey (birth of)
- French writer, radio humorist, surrealist and supporting actor. He is best known for his creation of fake parchments
Ep. #158
15 Feb, 1564: Galileo Galilei (birth of)
- the “father of modern science”
Ep. #061
16 Feb, 1923: Opening of Tutankhamun’s burial chamber
- This brought ‘the curse of the mummy’ into poular culture
Ep. #414
18 Feb, 1930: Pluto
- Pluto day – the descovory of Planet X
Ep. #365
19 Feb, 1473: Nicolaus Copernicus (birth of)
- Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon. He formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center.
Ep. #262
19 Feb, 1846: Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau (birth of)
- French crusader against archeological forgeries
Ep. #415
22 Feb, 1997: Dolly the sheep
- Presentation of Dolly to the press.
Ep. #263
22 Feb, 2004: Andrew Wakefield
- Brian Deer’s landmark investigation into the Wakefield fraud was published
Ep. #113
22 Feb, 2010: Homeopathy
- The British Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee published its damning Evidence Check on homeopathy
Ep. #159
23 Feb, 1455: Gutenberg Bible
- First book printed using reusable metal types
Ep. #314
24 Feb, 1588: Johann Weyer (death of)
- Dutch physician, occultist and demonologist
Ep. #011
24 Feb, 1871: The Descent of Man
- On this day, Charles Darwin’s groundbreaking book was published
Ep. #366
27 Feb, 1971: Derren Brown (birth of)
March
-
3 Mar, 1968: Brian Cox (birth of)
- English physicist and former musician who is a professor of particle physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester and The Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement in Science.
Ep. #264
4 Mar, 2002: Bankrupsy of David Irwing
- David Irving, famous holocaust denier, was declared bankrupt on 4 March 2002, after losing a libel suit against a writer who published a book about his “research”.
Ep. #212
5 Mar, 1512: Gerardus Mercator (birth of)
- Mercator is famous for developing the most known projection of the spherical Earth onto two dimensional maps
Ep. #417
5 Mar, 1616: Decree Against Copernicanism
- The Catholic Church puts a ban on Nicolaus Copernicus’ ‘On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres’, 70 years after Copernicus’ death. The ban was not lifted until 1966, and Galileo Galilei (who defended the view of Copernicus) was not rehabilitated by the Church until 1992.
Ep. #367
9 Mar, 1451: Amerigo Vespucci (birth of)
- Vespucci was a cartographer who had no idea that his name in the future would be used to refer to what he called ‘the new world’
Ep. #368
9 Mar, 1847: Mary Anning (death of)
- English fossil collector, dealer, and palaeontologist
Ep. #115
9 Mar, 1934: Yuri Gagarin (birth of)
10 Mar, 1969: Massimo Polidoro (birth of)
- Italian psychologist, writer, journalist, television personality, co-founder and executive director of the Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Pseudoscience (CICAP)
Ep. #316
14 Mar, 1835: Giovanni Schiaparelli (birth of)
- Astronomer who believed he had discovered ‘canali‘ on Mars
Ep. #162
14 Mar, 2018: Stephen Hawking (death of)
- English theoretical physicist, cosmologist
Ep. #117
15 Mar, 1848: Hungarian Revolution of 1848
- On this day the Hungarian Revolution broke out against Habsburg absolutism. People today have many misconceptions about what happened and why.
Ep. #317
18 Mar, 1981: Quark
- Premiere of Italian science program Quark hosted by skeptic Piero Angela
Ep. #163
19 Mar, 1992: Hungarian Skeptic Society
- Predecessor the Hungarian Skeptic Society, Tényeket Tisztelők Társasága was founded on 19th March 1992.
Ep. #266
20 Mar, 1726: Sir Isaac Newton (death of)
- English mathematician, astronomer and physicist
Ep. #065
22 Mar, 1832: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (death of)
- German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic
Ep. #117
23 Mar, 1907: Daniel Bovet (birth of)
- Swiss-born Italian pharmacologist who won the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Ep. #015
23 Mar, 1919: Italian Fascist Party
- Benito Mussolini, an Italian World War I veteran and publisher of Socialist newspapers, breaks with the Italian Socialists and establishes the nationalist Fasci di Combattimento
Ep. #318, Ep. #419
24 Mar, 1897: Wilhelm Riech (birth of)
- Riech was the father of so-called “orgone energy” which is a made up concept
Ep. #370
25 Mar, 1811: Percy Shelley
- On this date Percy Shelley was expelled from Oxford Uni for his pamphlet “The Necessity of Atheism”
Ep. #420
26 Mar, 1941: Richard Dawkins (birth of)
- British evolutionary biologist and author.
Ep. #215
27 Mar, 1845: Wilhelm Röntgen (birth of)
- German mechanical engineer and physicist, who, on 8 November 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range known as X-rays or Röntgen rays, an achievement that earned him the inaugural Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.
Ep. #267
29 Mar, 1824: Ludwig Büchner (birth of)
- Ludwig Büchner was a German philosopher, physiologist and physician who became one of the exponents of 19th-century scientific materialism.
Ep. #371
29 Mar, 1939: UK Cancer Act of 1939
- This act was passed, most significantly to regulate advertising claims of cancer cures
Ep. #164
30 Mar, 1925: Rudolf Steiner (death of)
- Founder of Anthroposophy
Ep. #067
31 Mar, 1596: René Descartes (birth of)
- French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who invented analytic geometry, linking the previously separate fields of geometry and algebra.
Ep. #268
April
-
1 Apr, 2010: Simon Singh
- Simon Singh wins “fair comment” libel appeal against BCA
Ep. #319
1 Apr, 2019: Internet Pranks
- We go through some examples
Ep. #165
2 Apr, 2008: Rupert Sheldrake was stabbed
- The incident happened after a lecture on April 2, 2008.
Ep. #216
5 Apr, 2012: Founding of ComCept
- Comunidade Céptica Portuguesa (English: Portuguese Skeptical Community), is a Portuguese project dedicated to scientific skepticism, created to promote rational and critical thinking about paranormal and pseudoscientific claims from a scientific point of view.
Ep. #269
6 Apr, 1956: Chris French (birth of)
- British psychologist specialising in the psychology of paranormal beliefs and experiences, cognition and emotion. He is the head of the University of London’s anomalistic Psychology Research Unit and appears regularly in the media as an expert on testing paranormal claims.
Ep. #320
6 Apr, 1961: Jules Bordet (death of)
- Belgian bacteriologist and immunologist
Ep. #017
6 Apr, 2009: L’Aquila earthquake
- The earthquake resulted in criminal sentences that what were perceived by many as an attack on science. As is often the case, the truth is a little more complicated than that.
Ep. #421
10 Apr, 1755: Samuel Hahneman (birth of)
- German physician, best known for creating homeopathy.
Ep. #166
11 Apr, 1903: Gemma Galgani (death of)
- Italian mystic and saint
Ep. #069
12 Apr, 1888: Premature obituary for Alfred Nobel
- 12 April 1888, a French newspaper allegedly published an obituary for Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, calling him “a merchant of death”, prompting Nobel to launch his esteemed award.
Ep. #217
12 Apr, 1955: Polio
- Polio vaccine declared safe
Ep. #119
12 Apr, 1969: Finnish Air Force UFO sighting
- Mysterious UFO sighting, still unexplained
Ep. #373
13 Apr, 1728: Paolo Frisi (birth of)
- Paolo Frisi was an Italian mathematician, astronomer and polymath.
Ep. #422
13 Apr, 1949: Christopher Hitchens (birth of)
- Journalist and prominent atheist
Ep. #018
14 Apr, 1629: Christiaan Huygens (birth of)
- Dutch mathematician, physicist, astronomer and inventor, who is regarded as one of the greatest scientists of all time and a major figure in the scientific revolution.
Ep. #321
14 Apr, 1935: Erich von Däniken (birth of)
- Swiss author of several books which make claims about extraterrestrial influences on early human culture, including the best-selling Chariots of the Gods?, published in 1968. Von Däniken is one of the main figures responsible for popularizing the “paleo-contact” and ancient astronauts hypotheses.
Ep. #270
16 Apr, 1971: Norbert Schobert (birth of)
- Norbert Schobert is an Hungarian fitness guru and serial nominee of the Flat Earth Award
Ep. #423
19 Apr, 1934: Surgeons Photograph
- The Surgeons Photograph is a famous fake photo, claiming to show the Loch Ness monster (“Nessie”)
Ep. #374
19 Apr, 1943: First deliberate LSD trip
- On this day Albert Hofmann chose to deliberately ingest 250 micrograms of the Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) he had synthesized at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland. Three days earlier he had accidentally absorbed some through his skin by touching a container of the drug. From the accidental exposure he experienced restlessness, dizziness and “extreme activity of imagination.” Although he had first made it five years before, as a drug intended to relieve respiratory ailments, it was only on this day that he found the drug was a hallucinogen. The striking experience was one he chose to repeat.
Ep. #218
20 Apr, 1889: Adolph Hitler (birth of)
- German dictator
Ep. #019
20 Apr, 1902: Radium isolated
- Marie and Pierre Curie isolated radium for the first time on 20 April 1902.
Ep. #271
20 Apr, 1959: Wim Hof (birth of)
- Wim Hof, (“the Iceman”), is extraordinarily resistant to extreme cold. His Wim Hof Method (WHM) combines breathing exercises, cold exposure, and meditation. Hyperventilation has been shown to reduce the body’s response to inflammation, but Hof’s extravagant claims of health benefits are not supported by scientific evidence.
Ep. #322
21 Apr, 1932: Iván Almár (birth of)
- Hungarian astronomer and prominent figure of SETI and the Hungarian skeptic movement
Ep. #167
23 Apr, 1977: John Oliver (birth of)
- John Oliver is a British and American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host.
Ep. #424
26 Apr, 1986: Chernobyl disaster
- The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union.
Ep. #272
29 Apr, 1380: Catherine of Siena (death of)
- Mystic, activist, author, and lay member of the Dominican Order
Ep. #071
30 Apr, 1777: Carl Friedrich Gauss (birth of)
- Carl Friedrich Gauss was German mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to many fields in mathematics and science.
Ep. #375
30 Apr, 1878: Germ Theory
- Louis Pasteur presents his Germ Theory
Ep. #168
May
-
1 May, 1776: The Illuminati in Bavaria
- Founding of the mythical organisasion
Ep. #122
1 May, 1881: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (birth of)
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a controversial figure of science and theology
Ep. #425
4 May, 1825: Thomas Henry Huxley (birth of)
- Known as “Darwin’s Bulldog” for his persistent and relentless defence of Darwin’s theory of evolusion
Ep. #021
5 May, 1813: Søren Kierkegaard (birth of)
- Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher.
Ep. #273
5 May, 1925: Scopes Monkey Trial – the arrest of John Scopes
- The ‘Scopes Monkey Trial’ was provoked by science minded forces to demonstrate the absurdity of prohibiting the teaching of evolution in schools in Tennessee. Even though the verdict went the other way, the trial succeeded in swaying the public and the so-called ‘Butler Act’ was never again used to procecute somebody.
Ep. #376
6 May, 1983: Adolf Hitler
- Stern Magazine admitted that they had spent 19 million marks on fake Hitler diaries
Ep. #169
8 May, 1926: David Attenborough (birth of)
- English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author
Ep. #324
8 May, 1980: Smallpox
- WHO general assembly announces eradication of smallpox
Ep. #426
10 May, 1978: UFO abduction in Poland
- An alleged alien abduction in Poland on May 10, 1978 is now commemorated with a stone memorial.
Ep. #221
12 May, 1364: Jagiellonian University
- The founding of the most prestigious university of Poland, the Jagiellonian University in Kraków
Ep. #377
12 May, 1820: Florence Nightingale (birth of)
- English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing
Ep. #073
13 May, 1917: Apparitions of Our Lady of Fàtima
- The first of several apparitions of the virgin Mary in Fàtima, Portugal
Ep. #325
14 May, 1796: First Smallpox inoculation
- On this day, Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox inoculation
Ep. #274
15 May, 1859: Pierre Curie (birth of)
- Pierre Curie was not just a brilliant scientist, but also intrigued by spiritualism.
Ep. #427
15 May, 2009: Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij (VTDK)
- VTDK wins court case
Ep. #170
18 May, 1959: Ranga Yogeshwar (birth of)
- Luxembourgish physicist and science journalist.
Ep. #275
19 May, 1941: Heinz Oberhummer (birth of)
- Austrian physicist and skeptic.
Ep. #326
19 May, 1962: Colin Fry (birth of)
- English television personality, entertainer and self-proclaimed medium
Ep. #124
20 May, 1974: Ben Goldacre (birth of)
- Ben Goldacre is a prominent science communicator
Ep. #378
20 May, 2010: Everybody Draw Mohammed Day
- Event in support of artists threatened with violence for drawing representations of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Ep. #023
21 May, 1911: Peter Hurkos (birth of)
- Dutchman who allegedly manifested extrasensory perception (ESP) after recovering from a head injury and coma.
Ep. #223
22 May, 1859: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (birth of)
- British writer and physician
Ep. #075
23 May, 1734: Franz Mesmer (birth of)
- Franz Anton Mesmer was a German physician with an interest in astronomy. He theorized the existence of a process of natural energy transference occurring between all animate and inanimate objects; this he called “animal magnetism”, later referred to as mesmerism.
Ep. #428
26 May, 1897: Bram Stoker’s Dracula
- First publication of Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Ep. #276
28 May, 1807: Louis Agassiz (birth of)
- Swiss-American biologist and geologist, founder of glaciology – and creationist.
Ep. #224
30 May, 1431: Joan of Arc (death of)
- Joan of Arc (never known by that name in her life time) believed her divine inspiration told her to fight on the side of Charles VII of France in the Hundred Years’ War. Falling into enemy hands, she was burned at the stake by the English side in the war.
Ep. #429
31 May, 1725: Fake fossils
- Fake fossils accepted as genuine by Johann Beringer
Ep. #172
June
-
2 Jun, 1739: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences was established
Ep. #328
2 Jun, 1740: Marquis de Sade (birth of)
- Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer famous for his libertine sexuality.
Ep. #277
3 Jun, 1726: James Hutton (birth of)
- James Hutton is known as “the father of modern geology”
Ep. #430
3 Jun, 1873: Otto Loewi (birth of)
- German-born pharmacologist and psychobiologist
Ep. #025
5 Jun, 1921: Gérard de Sède, baron de Liéoux (birth of)
- French author, writing under the nom-de-plume of Gérard de Sède, and a member of various surrealist organizations
Ep. #225
6 Jun, 1975: European Common Market
- UK referendum to join European Common Market
Ep. #173
7 Jun, 1195: Ball lightning
- The first sighting of a ball lighting in England
Ep. #329
8 Jun, 1916: Francis Crick (birth of)
- British molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin played crucial roles in deciphering the helical structure of the DNA molecule.
Ep. #278
9 Jun, 2014: Creationism
- Teaching creationism as science was banned in public schools in the UK.
Ep. #226
10 Jun, 1895: Immanuel Velikovsky (birth of)
- Russian, Israeli, and American scholar, known as the author of a number of controversial books reinterpreting the events of ancient history
Ep. #126
12 Jun, 1922: Margherita Hack (birth of)
12 Jun, 2023: Silvio Berluconi (death of)
- Italian politician
Ep. #382
15 Jun, 1941: Evelyn Underhill (death of)
- English Anglo-Catholic writer and pacifist known for her numerous works on religion and spiritual practice
Ep. #077
16 Jun, 1858: John Snow (death of)
- The father of modern epidemiology, died on 16 June 1858. He is famous for tracking down the source of the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak in London.
Ep. #227
16 Jun, 2002: Padre Pio
- Padre Pio gets canonised. Also known as Saint Pius of Pietrelcina (Italian: Pio da Pietrelcina; 25 May 1887 – 23 September 1968), Padre Pio was an Italian Franciscan Capuchin, friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic, now venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
Ep. #330
17 Jun, 1603: Joseph of Cupertino (birth of)
- Italian Conventual Franciscan friar, Christian mystic and saint
Ep. #027
17 Jun, 1832: William Crookes (birth of)
- Great british chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry but also was a believer in spiritualism.
Ep. #175
19 Jun, 1623: Blaise Pascal (birth of)
- French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, writer and Catholic theologian.
Ep. #279
19 Jun, 1795: James Braid (birth of)
- Scottish surgeon and “gentleman scientist”
Ep. #128
22 Jun, 1633: Galileo Galilei was forced to revoke his views on planetary motion.
- Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath
Ep. #383
22 Jun, 1887: Sir Julian Huxley (birth of)
- Sir Julian Huxley was a volutionary biologist and president of BHA
Ep. #432
23 Jun, 2016: Bexit Referendum
- On this date the UK voted to leave the European Union
Ep. #433
24 Jun, 1374: Medieval Dancing Plague
- The strange “Medieval Dancing Plague” broke out this day in Aachen, Germany
Ep. #228
25 Jun, 1961: Ricky Gervais (birth of)
- Ricky Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, and writer.
Ep. #331
26 Jun, 1943: Karl Landsteiner (death of)
- Austrian biologist, physician, and immunologist.
Ep. #280
30 Jun, 1860: The Oxford Evolution Debate
- Best remembered for Thomas Henry Huxley telling Bishop Samuel Wilberforce that he would not be ashamed to have a monkey for his ancestor, but he would be ashamed to be connected with a man who used his great gifts to obscure the truth (the exact wording is debated).
Ep. #079
30 Jun, 1894: Tower Bridge
- Opening by the Prince of Wales. The story about how Robert P McCulloch was conned into buying London Bridge thinking he actually paid for Tower Bridge in 1968 is just an urban myth.
Ep. #176
30 Jun, 1908: The Tunguska event
- The Tunguska event is the largest meteor impact event on Earth in recorded history
Ep. #384
July
-
1 Jul, 1646: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (birth of)
- Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat.
Ep. #332
1 Jul, 1818: Ignaz Semmelweis (birth of)
- Ethnic German-Hungarian physician and scientist born in the Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire, now known as an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures. He discovered that doctors washing hands drastically drove down deaths in maternity wards.
Ep. #229
1 Jul, 1976: Anneliese Michel (death of)
- German woman killed by exorsism
Ep. #029
2 Jul, 1946: Peter Popoff (birth of)
- German-born American televangelist and debunked clairvoyant and faith healer. He was exposed in 1986 for using a concealed earpiece to receive radio messages from his wife, who gave him the names, addresses, and ailments of audience members during Popoff-led religious services.
Ep. #281
5 Jul, 1687: Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica
- Newton’s ‘Principia’ lay the ground for much of modern science, over three hundred years ago.
Ep. #333
5 Jul, 1810: P. T. Barnum (birth of)
- P. T. Barnum has given his name to the terms ‘Barnum statements’ and ‘Barnum effect”.
Ep. #434
5 Jul, 1817: Carl Vogt (birth of)
- German scientist, philosopher, popularizer of science, and politician.
Ep. #385
6 Jul, 1885: Rabies vaccine
7 Jul, 1829: August Kekulé (birth of)
- August Kekulé was a French organic chemist who redefined his disciplin in the mid 1800s
Ep. #443
8 Jul, 1857: Alfred Binet (birth of)
- French psychologist.
Ep. #178
10 Jul, 1856: Nikola Tesla (birth of)
- Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.
Ep. #282
14 Jul, 1933: Eugenics
- The Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring in Nazi Germany was made into act
Ep. #130
14 Jul, 1951: Photo of Loch Ness
- The most iconic and known supposed picture of the mythical creature
Ep. #081
15 Jul, 1834: The Spanish Inquisition
- After several years of attempts to end it, it was finally abolished by Royal Decree
Ep. #031
15 Jul, 1975: Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
- First international space collaboration, signifying the end of the space race
Ep. #334
16 Jul, 1746: Giuseppe Piazzi (birth of)
- Giuseppe Piazzi was an Italian Catholic priest of the Theatine order, mathematician, and astronomer. He is perhaps most famous for his discovery of the first dwarf planet, Ceres.
Ep. #436
17 Jul, 1954: Angela Merkel (birth of)
- German politician and scientist.
Ep. #283
18 Jul, 1950: György Egely (birth of)
- Hungarian engineer and self-proclaimed alternative energy solutions expert, propent of ‘life energy’, UFOs and ball lightning ‘researcher’
Ep. #387
19 Jul, 1936: David Colquhoun (birth of)
- British Pharmacologist and prominent skeptic.
Ep. #179
20 Jul, 1804: Sir Richard Owen (birth of)
- English biologist and comparative anatomist. Founder of the Natural History Museum in London.
Ep. #335
20 Jul, 1822: Gregor Mendel (birth of)
- Meteorologist, mathematician, biologist, Augustinian friar and abbot.
Ep. #284
23 Jul, 1992: Anti-gay announcement from the Vatican
- Vatican release document explaining why it’s OK to discriminate against gay people
Ep. #437
25 Jul, 1920: Rosalind Franklin (birth of)
- British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal, and graphite.
Ep. #388
26 Jul, 1875: Carl Jung (birth of)
- Carl Jung continues to be an extremely influential figure in the history of psychology despite that he got most of it wrong.
Ep. #132, Ep. #232, Ep. #285
28 Jul, 1902: Karl Popper (birth of)
- Austrian philosopher of Science
Ep. #083
29 Jul, 1862: Eduard Brückner (birth of)
- German geographer, meteorologist, glaciologist and climate scientist
Ep. #033
29 Jul, 1951: Susan Blackmore (birth of)
- British writer, lecturer, skeptic, broadcaster, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth. Her fields of research include memetics, parapsychology, consciousness, and she is best known for her book The Meme Machine.
Ep. #233
31 Jul, 1831: Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (birth of)
- Russian author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875
Ep. #035
August
-
1 Aug, 1744: Lamarck (birth of)
- Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck, or ‘Lamarck’, was born. He was a French naturalist with not entirely correct ideas about the evolution of species and although he was wrong about how it works, he still set the stage for Darwin, who was born about sixty years later.
Ep. #181
1 Aug, 1934: Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich
- This was the day Hitler made himself ‘der Führer’
Ep. #438
6 Aug, 1881: Alexander Fleming (birth of)
- Scottish physician and microbiologist, best known for discovering the world’s first broadly effective antibiotic substance, which he named penicillin.
Ep. #389
7 Aug, 1903: Louis Leakey (birth of)
- Louis Leakey made important, but often controversial, contributions to our understanding of ancient hominids.
Ep. #439
7 Aug, 1928: James ‘the Amazing’ Randi (birth of)
- ‘Grandfather of Skepticism’
Ep. #182
7 Aug, 1948: Lysenkoism
- Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences announced that from that point on Lysenkoism would be taught as “the only correct theory”.
Ep. #234
7 Aug, 1987: Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim (birth of)
- German chemist, science communicator, television presenter and YouTuber.
Ep. #286
10 Aug, 1940: Peter Atkins (birth of)
- Professor of Physical Chemistry and outspoken atheist
Ep. #338
12 Aug, 1865: First antiseptic surgey
- On 12 August 1865 Joseph Lister performed the first ever antiseptic surgical operation
Ep. #440
12 Aug, 1967: Sea Org Day
- Sea Org Day marks the founding of the Sea Organization in Scientology
Ep. #390
13 – 14 Aug, 1956: The Lakenheath-Bentwaters Incident
- A series of radar and visual contacts with unidentified flying objects over airbases in eastern England
Ep. #085
15 Aug, 1248: Foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral
- The foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral was laid to become the resting place of the “Three Wise Men”
Ep. #391
15 Aug, 1977: the Wow! signal
- the Wow! signal was a strong narrowband radio signal received on August 15, 1977, by Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope in the United States.
Ep. #235
17 Aug, 2006: ‘Orbo’ free energy device
- The company Steorn published their claims on its ‘Orbo’ free energy device. They got financing to the tune of 23 million Euro, but strangely the device never materialized…
Ep. #183
18 Aug, 1503: Pope Alexander VI (death of)
- Pope 1492 to 1503. Issued several Papal bulls that legitimized the oppression of North and South America
Ep. #339
18 Aug, 1932: Luc Montagnier (birth of)
- Nobel Laureate and proponent of pseudoscience
Ep. #287
19 Aug, 2001: Sylvia Millecam (death of)
- Dutch actress and comedian. Her death of breast cancer in 2001 could possibly have been avoided if she had not taken advice from Dutch healing medium Jomanda.
Ep. #134
24 Aug 79 (?): Eruption of Mount Vesuvius
- The eruption of Mount Vesuvius is arguably the most famous volcanic eruption of all times.
Ep. #441
25 Aug, 1835: The Great Moon Hoax
- This series of articles has been regarded as the first modern fake news event
Ep. #392
25 Aug, 1850: Charles Richet (birth of)
- French physiologist at the Collège de France, who coined the term ectoplasm
Ep. #087
26 Aug, 1743: Antoine Lavoisier (birth of)
- French nobleman and chemist
Ep. #037
26 Aug, 1910: Mother Teresa (birth of)
- Probably the best known modern saints of all, still in fact pretty mean and cruel
Ep. #340
29 Aug, 1632: John Locke (birth of)
- English philosopher and physician and one of the first British “Empiricists”
Ep. #185
29 Aug, 1967: UFO Sighting at Cussac, France
30 Aug, 1797: Mary Shelley (birth of)
- Author of Frankenstein
Ep. #289
September
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1 Sep, 1964: Pontus Böckman (birth of)
- Podcaster and skeptical activist
Ep. #341
4 Sep: San Roslia Feast
- The Yearly Feast and Pilgrimage of Santa Rosalia in Palermo
Ep. #394
5 Sep, 1996: Holocaust denial
- Libel suit filed concerning Deborah Lipstadt’s book ‘Denying the Holocaust’
Ep. #137
8 Sep, 1774: Anne Catherine Emmerich (birth of)
- Catholic Augustinian Canoness who inspired Mel Gibson’s “the Passion of the Christ”
Ep. #089
10 Sep, 1713: John Needham (birth of)
- English naturalist
Ep. #039
10 Sep, 2008: Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
- At CERN in Switzerland the Large Hadron Collider (LCH) was powered up on 10 September 2008.
Ep. #239
11 Sep, 1822: Heliocentrism accepted by Vatican
- College of Cardinals finally accepts heliocentrism
Ep. #342
11 Sep, 2001: 9/11 attacks in the US
- Starting point for modern conspiracy theories online
Ep. #290
12 Sep, 1921: Stanisław Lem (birth of)
- Stanisław Lem was a Polish sci-fi / philosophical writer, famous for his novel ‘Solaris’ among other works.
Ep. #444
14 Sep, 2011: Ask for Evidence campaign
- The Ask for evidence campaign was launched 14 September 2011
Ep. #187
15 Sep, 1530: The portrait of Saint Dominic in Soriano
- Fake relic
Ep. #291
15 Sep, 2008: International Day of Democracy
- In 2008 the UN created the International Day of Democracy, 15 September
Ep. #395
18 Sep, 1819: Léon Foucault (birth of)
- French mathematician and astronomer who is best known for his invention of a pendulum which demonstrates the rotation of the earth.
Ep. #343
18 Sep, 1895: Chiropractic
- The birth of chiropractic
Ep. #139
20 Sep, 1863: Jacob Grimm (death of)
- Linguist and a fairy tale collector
Ep. #292
20 Sep, 1951: Sally Morgan (birth of)
- Sally Morgan (‘psychic Sally’) is a British television and stage artist, author and controversially, a self-proclaimed psychic medium.
Ep. #445
23 Sep, 1939: Sigmund Freud (death of)
- Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis
Ep. #091
25 Sep, 1994: ECSO
- The European Council of Skeptical Organisations (ECSO) was founded on 26 September 1994.
Ep. #241
26 Sep, 1897: Pope Paul VI (birth of)
- Initiator of the Second Vatican Council, implemeting many reforms.
Ep. #041
27 Sep, 1989: The Voronezh UFO incident
- UFO sighting in former Soviet Union
Ep. #345
28 Sep, 1994: Estonia ship disaster
- Surrounded by many conspiracy theories
Ep. #293
October
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2 Oct, 1958: Marie Stopes (death of)
- British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for eugenics and women’s rights
Ep. #093
2 Oct, 1971: Xavier Naidoo (birth of)
- Xavier Naidoo is a German R&B Singer and conspiracy theorist.
Ep. #447
2 Oct, 1991: Ig Nobel Prize
- The first Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony
Ep. #141
5 Oct, 1713: Denis Diderot (birth of)
- French philosopher and writer, author of ‘The Skeptic’s Walk’ and main contributor of the Enyclopedia
Ep. #346
7 Oct, 1885: Niels Bohr (birth of)
- Danish physicist and Nobel Laureate
Ep. #294
9 Oct, 768: Coronation of Charlemagne
- There is a myth that this never happened at all.
Ep. #243
10 Oct, 1816: Sir John Simon (birth of)
- British politician
Ep. #043
Friday the 13th
- Commonly referred to as an unlycky day, possibly worse in October(?)
Ep. #399
13 Oct, 2018: QED conference
- QED 2018 was the latest QED week and we now prepare for 2022
Ep. #347
14 Oct, 1988: Shroud of Turin
- Radiocarbon date analysis revealed that the shroud is a medieval hoax
Ep. #143
14 Oct, 2016: QED conference
- This week in 2016, 2017 and 2018 the QED Conference took place in Manchester.
Ep. #244
16 Oct, 2002: Dark Side of the Moon
- Mockumentary release on this day.
Ep. #192
18 Oct, 1881: Max Gerson (birth of)
- Max Gerson created the alternative ‘Gerson-diet’ or ‘Gerson-therapy’ which he claimed could cure cancer and more. It has no scientific base and is to be considered dangerous quackery.
Ep. #400
18 Oct, 1922: Founding of the BBC
- The BBC is the largest public service media company in the world
Ep. #348
19 – 20 Oct 2024: QED conference
- QED 2024 will have a live recording of the ESP
Ep. #449
20 Oct, 1882: Bela Lugosi (birth of)
- Hungarian-American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula.
Ep. #245
22 Oct, 1996: Evolusion recognized by the Papacy
- Pope John Paul II famously admitted that evolution makes sense on 22 October 1996. Better late than never!
Ep. #193
24 Oct, 1601: Tycho Brahe (death of)
- Danish astronomer, astrologer and alchemist
Ep. #349
24 Oct, 1611: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (birth of)
- Dutch businessman and scientist
Ep. #045
28 Oct, 312: The battle of the Milvian Bridge
- The Milvian Bridge is a bridge over the Tiber in northern Rome, Italy. It was an economically and strategically important bridge in the era of the Roman Empire and was the site of the famous Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, which led to the imperial rule of Constantine.
Ep. #246
29 Oct, 1813: William Benjamin Carpenter (birth of)
- English Physician, zoologist, physiologist and a skeptic. He described and named the Ideomotor Phenomenon, sometimes known as the Carpenter Effect.
Ep. #194
31 Oct, 1912: János Szentágothai (birth of)
- János Szentágothai was an anatomist, Professor, Member of Parliament, and President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He also initiated the Hungarian Skeptics movement.
Ep. #402
31 Oct, 1926: Harry Houdini (death of)
- Hungarian-born American escape artist, illusionist, stunt performer and mysteriarch, noted for his escape acts
Ep. #097
31 Oct, 1992: Galileo Galilei
- Vatican admits that Galileo was right
Ep. #144
November
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5 Nov, 1459: The Council of Constance
- The Council of Constance begins
Ep. #298
7 Nov, 1867: Marie Curie (birth of)
- Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist
Ep. #047
9 Nov, 1938: Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass)
- This was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party’s Sturmabteilung (SA) paramilitary forces along with civilians throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938.
Ep. #248
9 Nov, 2012: Charles Darwin
- Charles Darwin get 4000 votes in the US elections, 130 years after his death
Ep. #452
10 Nov, 1793: Festival of Reason
- The ‘Festival of Reason’ was a failed and misguided attempt to get rid of religion during the French revolution.
Ep. #403
10 Nov, 1895: József Öveges (birth of)
- Hungarian science educator
Ep. #351
10 Nov, 2009: Glasgow Skeptics
- Glasgow Skeptics founded.
Ep. #196
14 Nov, 1797: Charles Lyell (birth of)
- Charles Lyell was a Scottish scientist and is considered one of the fathers of geology
Ep. #404
14 Nov, 1929: Mihály Beck (birth of)
- Hungarian chemist and skeptic, one of the founders of the skeptical movement
Ep. #352
14 Nov, 1948: Prince Charles (birth of)
- Heir apparent to the British throne as the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II
Ep. #099
15 Nov, 1280: Albertus Magnus
- The feast day of Albertus celebrates the death of Albertus Magnus on 15 November 1280. Albertus Magnus, sometimes titled ‘Doctor Universalis’, was a German philosopher and scientist. He is widely regarded as the bridge between the ancient world and the Renaissance, preserving and expanding on the knowledge of earlier thinkers like Aristotle.
Ep. #453
18 Nov, 1900: George Kistiakowsky (birth of)
- Ukrainian-American physicist
Ep. #001
20 Nov, 1976: Trofim Lysenko (death of)
- Trofim Lysenko was a Soviet agronomist and pseudo-scientist. He was a strong proponent of Lamarckism, and rejected Mendelian genetics in favour of his own idiosyncratic, pseudoscientific ideas later termed Lysenkoism.
Ep. #405
21 Nov, 1694: Voltaire (birth of)
- French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher
Ep. #049
21 Nov, 1907: Josef M. Issels (birth of)
- German physician known for promoting an alternative cancer therapy
Ep. #147
21 Nov, 1953: the Piltdown Man
- The Piltdown Man, a skull regarded as one of the most important missing links between apes and man, was publicly announced to be a hoax on this day.
Ep. #197
23 Nov, 2011: The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health
- The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health was struck from the registry of the Charity Commission for financial misconduct
Ep. #454
24 Nov, 1859: On the Origin of Spieces
- The first publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
Ep. #301
28 Nov, 1660: The Royal Society
- This day in 1660 the Royal Society was founded
Ep. #455
28 Nov, 1908: Claude Lévi-Strauss (birth of)
- Claude Lévi-Strauss developed a structuralist theory of mythology
Ep. #406
29 Nov, 1989: Belgian UFO wave
- Beginning of several months of UFO reports. It lasted until April 1990
Ep. #101
December
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2 Dec, 1936: Peter H. Duesberg (birth of)
- German-American molecular biologist and HIV/AIDS denialist
Ep. #002
2 Dec, 2010: Decision to build a memorial to fallen aliens
- On 2 December 2010 the Ukrainian newspaper “Бердичiв дiловий” (“Business Berdichev”) announced that a group of UFOlogists had decided to build a memorial to fallen aliens.
Ep. #251
3 Dec, 1933: Paul J. Crutzen (birth of)
- Dutch atmospheric chemist
Ep. #302
4 Dec, 1873: Ghost Ship Mary Celeste
- The Ghost ship Mary Celeste was found on this day, abandoned by all crew. A couple of years later a promising young author called Arthur Conan Doyle (later Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) published a fictionalized account of the event , changing the spelling of the name of the ship slightly. This was taken as a true story and was the start not only of a brilliant writing career but also a legend and a myth that has intrigued and inspired ever since.
Ep. #199
4 Dec, 1893: John Tyndall (death of)
- Prominent 19th-century Irish physicist who discovered the molecular basis of the greenhouse effect
Ep. #148
4 Dec, 1982: Vetenskap och Folkbildning
- VoF was founded! Happy 40th birthday!
Ep. #355
5 Dec, 1952: Great Smog of London
- Severe air pollution event started that affected London in December 1952
Ep. #051
7 Dec, 1631: Transit of Venus
- Johannes Kepler was the first person to predict the time for a Venus transit. Unfortunately he died the year before it happened, and no one witnessed it. Still, we know it happened because – science!
Ep. #456
9 Dec, 1979: Smallpox
- On December 9, 1979, the Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication signed their names to the statement that “smallpox has been eradicated from the world.” It was a milestone in that it was the first time a disease was eradicated by human effort.
Ep. #200
9 Dec, 2009: Norwegian Spiral Anomaly
- Mysterious sky phenomenon
Ep. #303
11 Dec, 1843: Robert Koch (birth of)
- Robert Koch was a German physician and microbiologist, known as the father of medical bacteriology
Ep. #457
11 Dec, 1972: Apollo 17
- Apollo 17 lands on the moon, the last time humans walked on the moon
Ep. #150
12 Dec, 1901: First radio signal across the Atlantic
- Marconi sent first radio signal across the Atlantic
Ep. #408
12 Dec, 1916: Rasputin (death of)
- Russian mystic with great influence on Russian Royal house, murdered
Ep. #004
14 Dec, 1503: Nostradamus (birth of)
- French astrologer, physician and reputed seer
Ep. #103
15 Dec, 2006: Founding of Hungarian Skeptics
- The Hungarian Skeptic Society (HSS) (Hungarian: Szkeptikus Társaság Egyesület) is a skeptic organisation based in Hungary.
Ep. #253
16 Dec, 1594: Allison Balfour (death of)
- Scottish witch
Ep. #304
16 Dec, 1917: Arthur C. Clarke (birth of)
- Renowned Sci-Fi author
Ep. #003
18 Dec, 1957: Jonathan Cainer (birth of)
- British astrologer
Ep. #356
19 Dec, 1956: John Bodkin Adams
- Arrested on this day in connection with the suspicious deaths of more than 160 patients
Ep. #053
20 Dec, 1648: Tommaso Ceva (birth of)
- Tommaso Ceva was an Italian 17th century jesuit and scientist
Ep. #458
20 Dec, 1946: Uri Geller (birth of)
- Israeli-British illusionist, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic
Ep. #357
22 Dec, 1839: John Nevil Maskelyn (birth of)
- He was a stage magician, skeptic and the inventor of the pay toilet.
Ep. #201
22 Dec, 1928: Piero Angela (birth of)
- Italian television host, science journalist, writer and pianist.
Ep. #254
25 Dec, 1: Jesus (birth of)
- Our Lord and Saviour?
Ep. #305
25 Dec, 1642: Sir Isaac Newton (birth of)
- English mathematician, astronomer and physicist
Ep. #151
27 Dec, 1571: Johannes Kepler (birth of)
- German astronomer, mathematician and astrologer.
Ep. #202
30 Dec, 1993: The Smallpox Retention Controversy
- The last remaining samples of smallpox virus in lab environment was planned to be destryed. This was not executed
Ep. #105
31 Dec, 335: Saint Sylvester (death of)
- Bishop of Rome
Ep. #306
End of Dec 1476 (or early Jan 1477): Vlad the Impaler (Dracula) (death of)
- Cruel medieval warlord whose patronymic name Dragulya inspired the name of the fictional Count Dracula
Ep. #358