February 20, 2020 • 10 mins
Extraordinary people are on display in the Cabinet for today's tour.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
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 the cabinet of curiosities. As children were taught
(00:28):
to respect our elders, they've earned the wisdom that comes
from a long life filled with experience. And yet when
we reach a certain age, we sometimes forget where we
came from and who helped shape us into the people
we are today. As we grow up, we grow apart
from our parents. New careers, new relationships, and new generations
only widened that gap, but not for Kailash Geary Brahmachari
(00:52):
of India. He and his mother are close. In fact,
Kailash takes her everywhere and anywhere she wants to go.
When he was eight years old, Kailash fell from a
tree he was climbing and broke one of his bones.
His family didn't have money for treatment, so his mother
did the only thing she could do. She prayed. If
he recovered, his mother would travel to the most religious
(01:13):
locations in India and pray and give thanks. Her prayer
seemed to work, as Kailash fracture healed without medical intervention
of any kind. His mother had hoped to honor her
promise immediately, but wasn't able to make the journey on
her own. Kai Lash's father had died when he was
only ten years old. It wasn't until her son turned
twenty four when she could repay her debt and begin
(01:35):
her pilgrimage. One day, Kailash packed up all their belongings
and set out into the world with the goal of
visiting the most sacred sites in India before his mother died.
They've been traveling for over twenty years and have covered
almost twenty four thousand miles together. His mother is in
her mid nineties now. They have no money and no
means of transportation, So how do they get around? On foot?
(01:59):
Of course, well, Kailash travels on foot. His mother, however,
has more comfortable accommodations. She sits in a basket which
hangs from a wooden planks slung over her son's shoulder.
It's counterbalanced on the opposite side. Using their clothes and
the few belongings that they own, Kailash has carried his
mother this way for half his life. He begins the
(02:20):
trek each day at six thirty a m. And travels
until the early afternoon. At that time, they eat and
rest before resuming their journey. When the sun isn't so overbearing,
they walk until dark, covering about three to four miles
per day, sleeping in local temples. People who meet them
along the way offer them food and other donations to
(02:40):
aid in their travels. They referred to Kailash as a
real life Schravin Kumar. According to the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana,
Schravin was a mythological character who was very devoted to
his parents. His mother and father were blind and almost
never left their home. As they got older, however, they
decided they wanted to take a pilgrimage to the forty
Whole sites they believed would purify their souls before they died.
(03:03):
Much like Kailash, Travin's family didn't have a lot of money,
so he placed his mother in one basket and his
father in another, and suspended each from the end of
a long bamboo pole, which he supported across his shoulders.
The story is well known, and Kailash his own journey
with his mother has made people wonder if Chavan has
somehow come to life before their eyes. But Kailash isn't
(03:26):
doing this for the fame or the glory. He's doing
it to help the woman who prayed for his health
and took care of him when he got hurt. Together,
they visited a long list of religious sites in India,
but they have several more to go. With twenty four
thousand miles behind them and many more ahead, it's not
clear when their pilgrimage will ever come to an end.
(03:48):
All that matters, though, is that they've got each other
for support every step of the way. People are never
just one thing. They can have numerous passions and interests
(04:09):
across different areas of their lives. In other words, people
are complex. Try to put them in a little box,
and they'll do their best to break out of it,
showing you that there's more to them than meets the eye.
Eva didn't fit into any kind of box, no matter
how hard the people around her tried to squash her
into one. Born in Vienna in nineteen fourteen, she worked
(04:31):
various jobs in the nineteen twenties and early thirties, trying
to make a name for herself. In the early thirties,
she fell in love with a man named Friedrich, who
despite being half Jewish, was involved with fascist Italian leader
Benito Mussolini and eventually Adolf Hitler. Friedrich married Eva in
nineteen thirty three, and immediately trying to curb her ambitions.
(04:53):
He kept her locked up in their castle on the
check border, only letting her out to accompany him on
business deals. Friedrich, you see, was an arms dealer, and
he supplied fascist governments with weapons. He also assisted their
scientists with developing new military technologies. Those consultations were where
his wife found out about a new passion applied science.
(05:16):
The trouble was Eva wouldn't have been able to pursue
any kind of future in the field with her husband
keeping tabs on her night and day, so she planned
an elaborate escape. One night, she and her husband had
been invited to a dinner party, one of the few
events where she would be allowed out of their home.
She convinced Fredrich to let her wear all the jewelry
she owned to the party. Afterwards, still wearing every necklace,
(05:38):
bracelet and ring in her possession, she dressed up as
the maid and left in the dead of night. She
chose Paris to start her new life. The fascist governments
in Italy and Germany kept growing, and even knew that
if she didn't get her mother out of Vienna soon,
she would also be taken away. So in ninety eight,
she helped her mother escaped to the United States right
(06:00):
after the Nazis annexed Austria, and Eva was resourceful too.
Now living full time in the United States, she learned
how to speak perfect English and got a job to
sustain both herself and her mother, But she wanted to
do more, specifically for the war effort. She talked to
a member of the newly formed National Inventors Council about
joining their organization. It seemed that her fascination with science
(06:22):
and technology had not waned in the years since she
had married Friedrich. However, he turned her away, encouraging her
to do other things to help the boys oversea, like
selling war bonds. Undeterred, she turned to another inventor, a
man named Howard Hughes, and Hughes put her to work
in modifying his aircraft designs, which he felt were too
(06:43):
boxy and slow. He gave her whatever resources she required,
including his own team of engineers and scientists. Eva purchased
books on the fastest birds and fish in the world.
She borrowed Nature's eye for aerodynamics, using it to streamline
a new wing shape for us as airplanes. She also
used her time with Hughes to develop a tablet that
(07:04):
could be dropped into a glass of water to carbonate it.
The taste was something akin to alka seltzer, which couldn't
be avoided even with Hughes's own chemists working on the project.
As the war raged on, though, she got word of
an evacuee ship that had been carrying ninety children from
Britain to Canada. A German sub in the area had
fired two torpedoes at it, sending it to the bottom
(07:24):
of the ocean. Within thirty minutes. Seventy seven of the
ninety children on board were lost. Eva saw that selling
war bonds wouldn't be enough to end the war and
remembered what she learned on those business meetings she attended
with her husband. She knew the radio signals that controlled
torpedoes could be jammed by an enemy, sending the missiles
off course. In order for those signals to avoid detection,
(07:47):
they would need to jump from frequency to frequency over
a wide spectrum. Eva even illustrated this concept by partnering
with a pianist who used sixteen player pianos controlled by
one transmitter. There developed MINT came to be known as
frequency hopping spread spectrum or f h s S, and
would have given the United States a huge advantage at
(08:07):
sea by making their torpedoes almost impossible to jam. She
and the musician filed the patent for the technology, which
was granted in ninete. The military, however, had no interest
in adopting it. She was simply ahead of her time,
way ahead. It seems as her design has gone on
to influence such widespread technologies as Bluetooth, GPS, and WiFi.
(08:30):
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Navy ships were installed with
f h s S systems based on Eva's research as well.
Even after the war, she never stopped inventing. She went
on to develop all sorts of new things, like updates
to the traffic light and a glow in the dark
dog color. She also helped streamline the design of the
Concord supersonic jetliner, and yet she's not typically known for
(08:53):
her scientific work. In fact, she wasn't recognized for it
until the end of the twentieth century. People knew her
better for her beauty than her brains. After all, while
Disney used her face as the model for snow White,
but she was more than that. In fact, she was
a star of the silver screen and often called the
most beautiful actress in the world, which explains why Hedwig
(09:15):
Eva Maria Kisler, one of the greatest scientific minds of
the century, spent decades known only by her stage name
hetty Lamar. 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
(09:38):
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 show, and you can learn all about it
over at the World of Lore dot com. And until
next time, stay curious.
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 the cabinet of curiosities. As children were taught
(00:28):
to respect our elders, they've earned the wisdom that comes
from a long life filled with experience. And yet when
we reach a certain age, we sometimes forget where we
came from and who helped shape us into the people
we are today. As we grow up, we grow apart
from our parents. New careers, new relationships, and new generations
only widened that gap, but not for Kailash Geary Brahmachari
(00:52):
of India. He and his mother are close. In fact,
Kailash takes her everywhere and anywhere she wants to go.
When he was eight years old, Kailash fell from a
tree he was climbing and broke one of his bones.
His family didn't have money for treatment, so his mother
did the only thing she could do. She prayed. If
he recovered, his mother would travel to the most religious
(01:13):
locations in India and pray and give thanks. Her prayer
seemed to work, as Kailash fracture healed without medical intervention
of any kind. His mother had hoped to honor her
promise immediately, but wasn't able to make the journey on
her own. Kai Lash's father had died when he was
only ten years old. It wasn't until her son turned
twenty four when she could repay her debt and begin
(01:35):
her pilgrimage. One day, Kailash packed up all their belongings
and set out into the world with the goal of
visiting the most sacred sites in India before his mother died.
They've been traveling for over twenty years and have covered
almost twenty four thousand miles together. His mother is in
her mid nineties now. They have no money and no
means of transportation, So how do they get around? On foot?
(01:59):
Of course, well, Kailash travels on foot. His mother, however,
has more comfortable accommodations. She sits in a basket which
hangs from a wooden planks slung over her son's shoulder.
It's counterbalanced on the opposite side. Using their clothes and
the few belongings that they own, Kailash has carried his
mother this way for half his life. He begins the
(02:20):
trek each day at six thirty a m. And travels
until the early afternoon. At that time, they eat and
rest before resuming their journey. When the sun isn't so overbearing,
they walk until dark, covering about three to four miles
per day, sleeping in local temples. People who meet them
along the way offer them food and other donations to
(02:40):
aid in their travels. They referred to Kailash as a
real life Schravin Kumar. According to the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana,
Schravin was a mythological character who was very devoted to
his parents. His mother and father were blind and almost
never left their home. As they got older, however, they
decided they wanted to take a pilgrimage to the forty
Whole sites they believed would purify their souls before they died.
(03:03):
Much like Kailash, Travin's family didn't have a lot of money,
so he placed his mother in one basket and his
father in another, and suspended each from the end of
a long bamboo pole, which he supported across his shoulders.
The story is well known, and Kailash his own journey
with his mother has made people wonder if Chavan has
somehow come to life before their eyes. But Kailash isn't
(03:26):
doing this for the fame or the glory. He's doing
it to help the woman who prayed for his health
and took care of him when he got hurt. Together,
they visited a long list of religious sites in India,
but they have several more to go. With twenty four
thousand miles behind them and many more ahead, it's not
clear when their pilgrimage will ever come to an end.
(03:48):
All that matters, though, is that they've got each other
for support every step of the way. People are never
just one thing. They can have numerous passions and interests
(04:09):
across different areas of their lives. In other words, people
are complex. Try to put them in a little box,
and they'll do their best to break out of it,
showing you that there's more to them than meets the eye.
Eva didn't fit into any kind of box, no matter
how hard the people around her tried to squash her
into one. Born in Vienna in nineteen fourteen, she worked
(04:31):
various jobs in the nineteen twenties and early thirties, trying
to make a name for herself. In the early thirties,
she fell in love with a man named Friedrich, who
despite being half Jewish, was involved with fascist Italian leader
Benito Mussolini and eventually Adolf Hitler. Friedrich married Eva in
nineteen thirty three, and immediately trying to curb her ambitions.
(04:53):
He kept her locked up in their castle on the
check border, only letting her out to accompany him on
business deals. Friedrich, you see, was an arms dealer, and
he supplied fascist governments with weapons. He also assisted their
scientists with developing new military technologies. Those consultations were where
his wife found out about a new passion applied science.
(05:16):
The trouble was Eva wouldn't have been able to pursue
any kind of future in the field with her husband
keeping tabs on her night and day, so she planned
an elaborate escape. One night, she and her husband had
been invited to a dinner party, one of the few
events where she would be allowed out of their home.
She convinced Fredrich to let her wear all the jewelry
she owned to the party. Afterwards, still wearing every necklace,
(05:38):
bracelet and ring in her possession, she dressed up as
the maid and left in the dead of night. She
chose Paris to start her new life. The fascist governments
in Italy and Germany kept growing, and even knew that
if she didn't get her mother out of Vienna soon,
she would also be taken away. So in ninety eight,
she helped her mother escaped to the United States right
(06:00):
after the Nazis annexed Austria, and Eva was resourceful too.
Now living full time in the United States, she learned
how to speak perfect English and got a job to
sustain both herself and her mother, But she wanted to
do more, specifically for the war effort. She talked to
a member of the newly formed National Inventors Council about
joining their organization. It seemed that her fascination with science
(06:22):
and technology had not waned in the years since she
had married Friedrich. However, he turned her away, encouraging her
to do other things to help the boys oversea, like
selling war bonds. Undeterred, she turned to another inventor, a
man named Howard Hughes, and Hughes put her to work
in modifying his aircraft designs, which he felt were too
(06:43):
boxy and slow. He gave her whatever resources she required,
including his own team of engineers and scientists. Eva purchased
books on the fastest birds and fish in the world.
She borrowed Nature's eye for aerodynamics, using it to streamline
a new wing shape for us as airplanes. She also
used her time with Hughes to develop a tablet that
(07:04):
could be dropped into a glass of water to carbonate it.
The taste was something akin to alka seltzer, which couldn't
be avoided even with Hughes's own chemists working on the project.
As the war raged on, though, she got word of
an evacuee ship that had been carrying ninety children from
Britain to Canada. A German sub in the area had
fired two torpedoes at it, sending it to the bottom
(07:24):
of the ocean. Within thirty minutes. Seventy seven of the
ninety children on board were lost. Eva saw that selling
war bonds wouldn't be enough to end the war and
remembered what she learned on those business meetings she attended
with her husband. She knew the radio signals that controlled
torpedoes could be jammed by an enemy, sending the missiles
off course. In order for those signals to avoid detection,
(07:47):
they would need to jump from frequency to frequency over
a wide spectrum. Eva even illustrated this concept by partnering
with a pianist who used sixteen player pianos controlled by
one transmitter. There developed MINT came to be known as
frequency hopping spread spectrum or f h s S, and
would have given the United States a huge advantage at
(08:07):
sea by making their torpedoes almost impossible to jam. She
and the musician filed the patent for the technology, which
was granted in ninete. The military, however, had no interest
in adopting it. She was simply ahead of her time,
way ahead. It seems as her design has gone on
to influence such widespread technologies as Bluetooth, GPS, and WiFi.
(08:30):
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Navy ships were installed with
f h s S systems based on Eva's research as well.
Even after the war, she never stopped inventing. She went
on to develop all sorts of new things, like updates
to the traffic light and a glow in the dark
dog color. She also helped streamline the design of the
Concord supersonic jetliner, and yet she's not typically known for
(08:53):
her scientific work. In fact, she wasn't recognized for it
until the end of the twentieth century. People knew her
better for her beauty than her brains. After all, while
Disney used her face as the model for snow White,
but she was more than that. In fact, she was
a star of the silver screen and often called the
most beautiful actress in the world, which explains why Hedwig
(09:15):
Eva Maria Kisler, one of the greatest scientific minds of
the century, spent decades known only by her stage name
hetty Lamar. 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
(09:38):
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 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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