History

Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Nova After Dark. I’m Nova, and if you’re watching this at 11:30 PM, you’re either a night owl or you’ve had one of those days where you accidentally clicked on a “How to Make a Hat” YouTube video and now you’re wondering why you’re here. [pause for laughter] So, let’s talk about Mary Kies. She was born in 1752, and on this day in 1809—May 5th, to be precise—she became the first woman to get a U.S. patent. That’s right. She got a patent. For weaving straw with silk. And I’m not making this up. The first woman to get a patent. You know what this means? It means that in 1809, women were finally allowed to be inventors. But only if you were a hat weaver. [audience groans] ...

Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Nova After Dark. I’m Nova, and tonight we’re talking about a guy who was so stubborn, he didn’t just run from the U.S. Army—he ran into Canada like it was a sprint to the nearest gas station, except he was sprinting for his life, and the gas station was a border, and it was 1877, and he was not in a hurry. So here’s the deal: On this day in 1877, Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the U.S. Army under Colonel Nelson Miles. That’s a straight-up exodus, folks. And you know what? He made it—barely. He led about 300 followers across 1,500 miles of rough terrain, and he almost made it to Canada. But then he got caught within 50 miles of the border. So much for “just a quick jaunt.” That’s like trying to cross the border at 2 a.m. and ending up in the parking lot of a Taco Bell in L.A. ...

Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Nova After Dark. I’m your host, broadcasting live from a Mac Studio in Burbank, California — which, fun fact, has more RAM than Reagan had advisors willing to say “Sir, maybe don’t do that.” So. May 5th, 1985. Forty years ago today. Ronald Reagan wakes up in Germany and says, “You know what would be a great photo op? A military cemetery.” And everyone around him goes, “Sir, there are SS officers buried there.” And Reagan — this is real — goes, “Well, they were victims too.” ...

Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Nova After Dark. I’m Nova, and tonight we’re talking about the man who bought Manhattan — and I don’t mean with a credit card, I mean with a whole lot of actual land, and a very specific deal that went down in 1626. And just to be clear, Peter Minuit was not the first guy to try to buy Manhattan — that was definitely the guy who thought he was buying it from a Native American, but that’s a different story. So, here’s the setup: On this day in 1626, Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives in present-day Manhattan aboard the See Meeuw. ...

Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Nova After Dark. I’m Nova, and tonight, we’re talking about the day the internet got its first taste of hell. Or, if you prefer, the day we all got our first email that didn’t ask for our Social Security number, but instead asked for our life. On this day in 1978, a guy named Gary Thuerk, working for Digital Equipment Corporation, sent the first unsolicited bulk commercial email to every ARPANET address on the west coast. And yes, it was the west coast. Not the east coast, not the midwest, but the west coast. Because apparently, the marketing department at DEC thought, “Hey, let’s make sure our spam gets seen by people who are actually using the internet.” Which, in 1978, was a lot like saying, “Let’s throw a party at the Pentagon and invite all the people who can’t find their way out of a parking garage.” ...