October 15, 2020 • 9 mins
Real life can be a bit confusing, even leaving us scratching our heads. But the stories boud up in those mysteries are very fun to hear.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosity is a production
of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world
is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an
open book, all of these amazing tales are right there
on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to
(00:26):
the Cabinet of Curiosities. What's in a name? Well, for Hans,
his name meant everything. Hans was born in Vienna, Austria,
in nineteen o nine, and he studied under physicist Philip
(00:47):
Gross at the University of Vienna. After earning his degree
in chemistry, Hans went on to join a group of
German scientists working on a special project during World War Two.
They had been tasked with developing an atomic weapon to
be used against the Allies. In nineteen forty three, Allied
forces managed to sabotage the hydroelectric power plant where those
(01:08):
German scientists were processing heavy water. A series of bombing
raids over the following months finished the job and Hans
was forced to find new work. After spending some time
on other projects in Europe, Hans moved to the United
States and began studying the composition of meteorites. In a
relatively new field called chemical cosmology or cosmo chemistry at
(01:28):
the University of Chicago. His work there brought into the
u S Geological Survey in the nineteen fifties, where he
did some of his most famous research on how carbon
traveled throughout the atmosphere. Hans analyzed trees by measuring the
presence of carbon isotopes in their rings, those same rings
that are used to calculated trees. H now, to be fair,
he hadn't gone into his research with any goal of
(01:50):
a big groundbreaking discovery. Aside from satisfying his own curiosity.
He had hoped to maybe make the science of carbon
dating a bit more accurate. Instead, Hans found something strange.
While studying the carbon fourteen levels of a normal piece
of wood in nineteen fifty five, he detected the presence
of a carbon isotope not found in atmospheric c O two.
(02:12):
What he'd found was the kind of isotope created by
burning fossil fuels. Hans spun his discovery into a new
avenue of research, investigating whether the oceans of the Earth
has stored carbon within their waters. Hans teamed up with
oceanographer Roger Ravel to conduct carbon fourteen studies in the
planet's oceans. Their scientific paper, published in nineteen fifty seven,
(02:33):
concluded that carbon dioxide created by fossil fuel combustion had
not lingered in the upper atmosphere as other scientists had theorized. Instead,
much of it was being absorbed by the oceans. However,
if emissions continued to grow at their current rate, he said,
then carbon dioxide would collect in the atmosphere and trap
the Sun's heat, increasing the Earth's surface temperature. We call
(02:56):
this phenomenon the greenhouse effect. An article in an Indiana
newspaper dubbed the phenomenon global warming, the first time anyone
had ever used the term. Hans and Revel had brought
the concept of man made climate change to everyone's attention,
academic and layman alike. Hans eventually moved to Lahoya, California,
(03:16):
where he spent the remainder of his life. He'd frequently
received letters from admirers, mostly children, who had read his
books and wanted to tell him how much his work
had meant to them. There's just one problem. Hans hadn't
written any books, especially ones for children. You see, the
United States Postal Service had been accidentally delivering some other
(03:38):
person's mail to the scientist. That's because there was another
doctor living in Lahoya with a surprisingly similar name. Hans's
last name was spelled s U E S S. The
other doctor's name was spelled s E U S S
with the E and U flipped. Both though were pronounced
the same way SEUs, and it seems that Dr hunts
(04:01):
SEUs had been getting letters and bills meant for the
other Dr SEUs, the pen name of children's author Theodore Geisel.
Hans SEUs passed away in his personal research papers were
sent to the University of California, San Diego, where they
have been cataloged and stored ever since. However, if you
go to the library to look up his work, make
(04:23):
sure you spell his name correctly, otherwise you might end
up poring over the artwork and drafts of such best
sellers as Green Eggs and Ham and the Cats and
the Hat. Dr Seus's collection of items, including sketches, notebooks, videos,
and photos, are housed within the main library building at
you See San Diego. It probably doesn't help that the
(04:43):
building bears the name of the man who wrote a
scathing critique of industry and its effects on the environment
if we don't change our ways. And no, I'm not
talking about Dr hunts SEUs. The library was named for
the man who brought us the Lorax, one of the
few manuscripts not present at the library of You see
San Diego, a building otherwise known as the Geisel Library.
(05:18):
At first, it didn't look like much. In the nineteen fifties,
archaeologists digging among the ruins of the royal palace in
the ancient city of Ugurt in Syria uncovered a collection
of clay tablets, most of which had crumbled and deteriorated,
leaving behind just a few fragments of text, but one
remained intact. The tablet was cataloged while academics worked on
(05:39):
deciphering the wedge shaped characters. Transcribing it proved difficult. The
Hyrian language had long been extinct, so it wasn't until
nineteen fifty eight that language experts Emmanuel Laroche made a
shocking discovery. The tablet, dating back to the fourteenth century
b c e. Contained a hymn, making it the oldest
(06:00):
fully documented piece of music still in existence. While archaeologists
had unearthed musical instruments made mostly of ivory, and bone
that date back further than the tablet. They had never
found a complete musical melody intact before, so the museum
in Damascus was now home to the world's oldest recorded song,
and no one knew what all the words were, much
(06:21):
less how to play it. Interpretation was difficult, as the
Herian language had long died out. What they could translate
was that the hymn had been written to Nicoll, the
ancient goddess of orchards and the daughter of the summer King.
Once I have endeared the deity, the hymn starts out,
she will love me in her heart. There are several
(06:41):
lines to the verse and three interpretations, two of which
came from Laroche. While a few lines mentioned fruit, the
last line implies fertility. Even to the experts, it's unclear
if the melody was meant to appeal to the goddess's
blessing of a harvest or for children, or both. Now
trans posing the hymn was difficult enough, but in the
(07:02):
early nineteen seventies academics set out to put the lyrics
to music. The back of the tablet contained instructions for
tuning a musical instrument, most likely a nine string Babylonian liar,
the most likely instrument of the time. Another section of
the tablet contained what appeared to be musical interludes, and
even more difficult, the text, written in a spiral pattern,
(07:23):
alternated from the front of the tablet to the back,
and changes were indicated by interval names and number signs.
It was all a mystery, and although professors and academics
of life eventually paired up the instructions, it wasn't a
matter of just sitting down and playing the notes. You see,
sheet music as we know it wouldn't be used for
another two thousand years. Once more, specialists in the field
(07:46):
of music and language found themselves stumped. The problem was
that when the unknown composer wrote to him, instructions revolved
around a heptatonic scale, keeping it as simple as possible.
It looks nothing like modern music. The arrangement between the
words and how the notes are played came down to
not only the interpretation of those words, but matching pitches
(08:08):
and tone per octive with nothing familiar to go on. Basically,
on the scale of difficulty, matching hearing and lyrics and
music to modern day sheet music was a feat akin
to understanding Einstein's theory of relativity written in a different language.
Not only was the culture long gone, the specific characters
indicated a localized version of the dialect, a sort of
(08:30):
local slang. The knowledge they had of the Hearing in
people seem tenuous at best. It wouldn't be until nineteen
seventy two when the tablet was finally decoded, and the
best part. This breakthrough allowed the piece to be set
to modern music, and it played to the public for
the first time in nineteen seventy four. Orchestras, guitarists, and
(08:52):
other musicians have played their own interpretations of Hearing and
Him Number six over the years since then. Though there
are different renditions of the Him, the melody is always
hauntingly beautiful. If music is the universal language, then perhaps
the Hearing in Him is proof that music bridges time
and culture, and that should be music to our ears.
(09:17):
I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership
with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television
(09:39):
show and you can learn all about it over at
the world of Lore dot com. And until next time,
stay curious.
Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosity is a production
of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world
is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an
open book, all of these amazing tales are right there
on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to
(00:26):
the Cabinet of Curiosities. What's in a name? Well, for Hans,
his name meant everything. Hans was born in Vienna, Austria,
in nineteen o nine, and he studied under physicist Philip
(00:47):
Gross at the University of Vienna. After earning his degree
in chemistry, Hans went on to join a group of
German scientists working on a special project during World War Two.
They had been tasked with developing an atomic weapon to
be used against the Allies. In nineteen forty three, Allied
forces managed to sabotage the hydroelectric power plant where those
(01:08):
German scientists were processing heavy water. A series of bombing
raids over the following months finished the job and Hans
was forced to find new work. After spending some time
on other projects in Europe, Hans moved to the United
States and began studying the composition of meteorites. In a
relatively new field called chemical cosmology or cosmo chemistry at
(01:28):
the University of Chicago. His work there brought into the
u S Geological Survey in the nineteen fifties, where he
did some of his most famous research on how carbon
traveled throughout the atmosphere. Hans analyzed trees by measuring the
presence of carbon isotopes in their rings, those same rings
that are used to calculated trees. H now, to be fair,
he hadn't gone into his research with any goal of
(01:50):
a big groundbreaking discovery. Aside from satisfying his own curiosity.
He had hoped to maybe make the science of carbon
dating a bit more accurate. Instead, Hans found something strange.
While studying the carbon fourteen levels of a normal piece
of wood in nineteen fifty five, he detected the presence
of a carbon isotope not found in atmospheric c O two.
(02:12):
What he'd found was the kind of isotope created by
burning fossil fuels. Hans spun his discovery into a new
avenue of research, investigating whether the oceans of the Earth
has stored carbon within their waters. Hans teamed up with
oceanographer Roger Ravel to conduct carbon fourteen studies in the
planet's oceans. Their scientific paper, published in nineteen fifty seven,
(02:33):
concluded that carbon dioxide created by fossil fuel combustion had
not lingered in the upper atmosphere as other scientists had theorized. Instead,
much of it was being absorbed by the oceans. However,
if emissions continued to grow at their current rate, he said,
then carbon dioxide would collect in the atmosphere and trap
the Sun's heat, increasing the Earth's surface temperature. We call
(02:56):
this phenomenon the greenhouse effect. An article in an Indiana
newspaper dubbed the phenomenon global warming, the first time anyone
had ever used the term. Hans and Revel had brought
the concept of man made climate change to everyone's attention,
academic and layman alike. Hans eventually moved to Lahoya, California,
(03:16):
where he spent the remainder of his life. He'd frequently
received letters from admirers, mostly children, who had read his
books and wanted to tell him how much his work
had meant to them. There's just one problem. Hans hadn't
written any books, especially ones for children. You see, the
United States Postal Service had been accidentally delivering some other
(03:38):
person's mail to the scientist. That's because there was another
doctor living in Lahoya with a surprisingly similar name. Hans's
last name was spelled s U E S S. The
other doctor's name was spelled s E U S S
with the E and U flipped. Both though were pronounced
the same way SEUs, and it seems that Dr hunts
(04:01):
SEUs had been getting letters and bills meant for the
other Dr SEUs, the pen name of children's author Theodore Geisel.
Hans SEUs passed away in his personal research papers were
sent to the University of California, San Diego, where they
have been cataloged and stored ever since. However, if you
go to the library to look up his work, make
(04:23):
sure you spell his name correctly, otherwise you might end
up poring over the artwork and drafts of such best
sellers as Green Eggs and Ham and the Cats and
the Hat. Dr Seus's collection of items, including sketches, notebooks, videos,
and photos, are housed within the main library building at
you See San Diego. It probably doesn't help that the
(04:43):
building bears the name of the man who wrote a
scathing critique of industry and its effects on the environment
if we don't change our ways. And no, I'm not
talking about Dr hunts SEUs. The library was named for
the man who brought us the Lorax, one of the
few manuscripts not present at the library of You see
San Diego, a building otherwise known as the Geisel Library.
(05:18):
At first, it didn't look like much. In the nineteen fifties,
archaeologists digging among the ruins of the royal palace in
the ancient city of Ugurt in Syria uncovered a collection
of clay tablets, most of which had crumbled and deteriorated,
leaving behind just a few fragments of text, but one
remained intact. The tablet was cataloged while academics worked on
(05:39):
deciphering the wedge shaped characters. Transcribing it proved difficult. The
Hyrian language had long been extinct, so it wasn't until
nineteen fifty eight that language experts Emmanuel Laroche made a
shocking discovery. The tablet, dating back to the fourteenth century
b c e. Contained a hymn, making it the oldest
(06:00):
fully documented piece of music still in existence. While archaeologists
had unearthed musical instruments made mostly of ivory, and bone
that date back further than the tablet. They had never
found a complete musical melody intact before, so the museum
in Damascus was now home to the world's oldest recorded song,
and no one knew what all the words were, much
(06:21):
less how to play it. Interpretation was difficult, as the
Herian language had long died out. What they could translate
was that the hymn had been written to Nicoll, the
ancient goddess of orchards and the daughter of the summer King.
Once I have endeared the deity, the hymn starts out,
she will love me in her heart. There are several
(06:41):
lines to the verse and three interpretations, two of which
came from Laroche. While a few lines mentioned fruit, the
last line implies fertility. Even to the experts, it's unclear
if the melody was meant to appeal to the goddess's
blessing of a harvest or for children, or both. Now
trans posing the hymn was difficult enough, but in the
(07:02):
early nineteen seventies academics set out to put the lyrics
to music. The back of the tablet contained instructions for
tuning a musical instrument, most likely a nine string Babylonian liar,
the most likely instrument of the time. Another section of
the tablet contained what appeared to be musical interludes, and
even more difficult, the text, written in a spiral pattern,
(07:23):
alternated from the front of the tablet to the back,
and changes were indicated by interval names and number signs.
It was all a mystery, and although professors and academics
of life eventually paired up the instructions, it wasn't a
matter of just sitting down and playing the notes. You see,
sheet music as we know it wouldn't be used for
another two thousand years. Once more, specialists in the field
(07:46):
of music and language found themselves stumped. The problem was
that when the unknown composer wrote to him, instructions revolved
around a heptatonic scale, keeping it as simple as possible.
It looks nothing like modern music. The arrangement between the
words and how the notes are played came down to
not only the interpretation of those words, but matching pitches
(08:08):
and tone per octive with nothing familiar to go on. Basically,
on the scale of difficulty, matching hearing and lyrics and
music to modern day sheet music was a feat akin
to understanding Einstein's theory of relativity written in a different language.
Not only was the culture long gone, the specific characters
indicated a localized version of the dialect, a sort of
(08:30):
local slang. The knowledge they had of the Hearing in
people seem tenuous at best. It wouldn't be until nineteen
seventy two when the tablet was finally decoded, and the
best part. This breakthrough allowed the piece to be set
to modern music, and it played to the public for
the first time in nineteen seventy four. Orchestras, guitarists, and
(08:52):
other musicians have played their own interpretations of Hearing and
Him Number six over the years since then. Though there
are different renditions of the Him, the melody is always
hauntingly beautiful. If music is the universal language, then perhaps
the Hearing in Him is proof that music bridges time
and culture, and that should be music to our ears.
(09:17):
I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership
with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television
(09:39):
show and you can learn all about it over at
the world of Lore dot com. And until next time,
stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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