Odd truths about history

Did Cleopatra live closer in time to the Moon landing than to the building of the Great Pyramid?

Yes. The Great Pyramid was built around 2560 BC. Cleopatra died in 30 BC — about 2,500 years later. The Apollo 11 Moon landing was in 1969, roughly 2,000 years after her death. She is nearer to us than to the pyramids by about 500 years.

Is Oxford University older than the Aztec Empire?

Yes. There is evidence of teaching at Oxford as early as 1096. Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, was founded in 1325 — 229 years later. The empire proper dates from an alliance in 1428, by which time Oxford had had colleges for over 150 years.

What was the shortest war in history?

The Anglo-Zanzibar War, fought on 27 August 1896 between the United Kingdom and the Sultanate of Zanzibar. It lasted somewhere between 38 and 45 minutes. Around 500 people died in that time, almost all of them Zanzibari.

How old is Nintendo?

Nintendo was founded in 1889, making playing cards. It is older than sliced bread, the Ottoman Empire's collapse, and both world wars. The company spent its first seventy years in paper before it ever touched an electronic anything.

Is the fax machine older than the telephone?

Yes, by 33 years. Scottish clockmaker Alexander Bain patented the first fax device — an Electric Printing Telegraph — on 27 May 1843. Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876. We could send a picture before we could send a voice.

Was bubble wrap invented as wallpaper?

Yes. In 1957 Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes sealed two shower curtains together, trapping air bubbles between them, and tried to sell it as textured three-dimensional wallpaper. Nobody wanted it. Packaging was the third idea, not the first.

Were woolly mammoths still alive when the pyramids were built?

Yes. The Great Pyramid of Giza was built around 4,500 years ago. A population of woolly mammoths survived on Wrangel Island, off the coast of Siberia, until about 4,000 years ago. For several centuries there were both mammoths and pyramids on Earth at the same time.

Did the Olympics ever give medals for art?

Yes. From 1912 to 1948 the Olympic Games awarded medals in painting, sculpture, architecture, literature and music, with the rule that every entry had to be inspired by sport. About 150 medals were handed out before the contests were dropped over the question of whether artists were professionals.

Is Harvard older than calculus?

Yes. Harvard was founded in 1636. Isaac Newton worked out the foundations of calculus in 1665 and 1666, and Gottfried Leibniz published the first account of it in 1684. The oldest university in the United States had been teaching for nearly thirty years before the maths existed.

Who was the first computer programmer?

Ada Lovelace, in 1843, nearly a century before the first working computers. In her notes on Charles Babbage's proposed Analytical Engine she wrote out a step-by-step method for the machine to calculate a sequence of numbers, which is widely regarded as the first computer program. The engine itself was never completed.