This is Rita Levi-Montalcini

• Lived to 103...
• Won the Nobel Prize at 77
• Published 171 scientific papers

In 1943, the Nazis bombed her lab, but what she achieved next changed science forever.

Here is her full story: 🧵 Rita Levi-Montalcini was born in 1909 in Turin, Italy.

Her father discouraged women from higher education.

But Rita had no interest in being a housewife.

And had a crazy dream...

At 16, she was forced to become Queen of England.

In just 9 days, she lost her crown.
her freedom.
her life.

This is the forgotten rise and fall of Lady Jane Grey: (THREAD)🧵
Born into Tudor England's religious chaos, was extraordinary:

• Mastered Latin, Greek, and Hebrew
• Fluent in French and Italian
• Known for her brilliant mind
• Deeply devoted to Protestant faith

Unlike most noble ladies, she wasn't your typical girl...

In 1932, the US govt. began secretly watching black men die of a curable disease.

For 40 years:
• They stayed quiet
• Studied them like lab rats.
• Withheld cure (found in 1947)

This is one of America's most disturbing experiments. Welcome to Tuskegee Experiment:🧵
In 1932, the U.S. Public Health Service recruited 600 African American men in Macon County, Alabama for a study they called "bad blood."

399 had latent syphilis. 201 were healthy controls...

This man:

• Fooled the US Navy
• Impersonated 47 different people.
• Performed REAL surgeries without a medical degree,

His deceptions made him one of human history's most fascinating con men.

But most people never understood his motivation...🧵 Born in 1921 in Massachusetts, Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr. grew up in wealth.

Then, the Great Depression hit...

In 300 BC, Roman engineers pulled off the greatest feat in ancient engineering history:

They built a 400,000 km road network that connected 3 continents by hand.

This is what they meant by "All roads lead to Rome"... (THREAD)🧵
Roman roads were tools of conquest.

When Rome expanded, the first thing they built wasn’t temples or forums—it was roads.

This is John White.

He led 115 English settlers to establish America's first colony.

When he returned 3 years later, everyone and everything had disappeared.

What he found next would become America's oldest unsolved mystery:🧵 But the real story begins earlier - with a desperate gamble that would change history forever...

In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh sent a reconnaissance expedition across the Atlantic to find the perfect spot for England's first permanent colony.

But why?

In 1979, humanity was on the brink of extinction when 250 Soviet missiles were approaching America...

JFK and all US Military intelligence systems indicated a full-scale NUCLEAR WAR.

Then Zbigniew Brzezinski made ONE decision that rewrote history forever: 🧵
3:00 AM, November 9th, 1979.

Brzezinski, President Carter's National Security Advisor, was awakened by a phone call:

"Sir, our computers are showing 250 Soviet ICBMs heading towards the United States.

We need an immediate response decision."

This was Winston Churchill's darkest WWII secret.

Inside this bunker, 6 men were voluntarily buried alive to spy on Hitler's forces.

Exiled from the world with only 7 years of supplies, their story was classified for decades.

Welcome to Operation Tracer: 🧵 By 1940, Europe was in chaos:

- France had fallen.
- Italy joined Hitler.
- Britain stood alone.

Gibraltar, controlling access to the Mediterranean, became crucial.

Losing it would cripple British supply routes and weaken the Allies...

The most dangerous, common, and overlooked problem in the world:

Your screentime.

It's why you're stressed, depressed, and your mind can't stop procrastinating.

Here're 5 ways it destroys your brain and ONE app to break free (from a Harvard-trained psychiatrist): 🧵
Harvard-trained psychiatrist Dr. K found most modern problems stem from one source...

"Lack of willpower, not knowing what you want in life, feeling unmotivated, getting bored easily, can't focus, everyone has ADHD now..."

All linked to the same addiction...

In 1939, Paul Müller found the deadliest (insect) killer in history called DDT.

• saved millions from malaria
• won a Nobel Prize
• praised as a hero.

But then one woman discovered its dark side effects on the human body and environment: 🧵
It started in a small lab in Switzerland.

Müller was obsessed with finding a way to stop insects from destroying crops.

After testing over 349 compounds, he made compound #349: DDT.

When he sprayed it on flies, they dropped dead instantly.

In 5 AD, Venetian engineers pulled off the greatest feat in ancient engineering history:

They built a 10-million-tree underwater foundation 25 feet below sea level.

But what they created next nearly broke the laws of physics.

Welcome to Venice... 🧵 Venice was built in a lagoon off the coast of Italy—a maze of mudflats, marshes, and shallow waters.

Why? Because it was the perfect defense.

Invading armies couldn’t march through water, and ships couldn’t navigate the shallow canals.

This guy used a stick to solve what NASA needs satellites for.

2,200 years ago, he calculated Earth's size with 99% accuracy—using just a stick and a shadow.

Here's the incredible story of Eratosthenes, the forgotten godfather of geography: 🧵 Born in 276 BC in Cyrene (modern-day Libya), Eratosthenes was a true Renaissance man—centuries before the Renaissance.

Mathematician. Astronomer. Geographer. Poet.

But his greatest discovery came from noticing something others overlooked.

The Aztecs built their capital in the WORST possible place:

The middle of a lake.

Yet, they turned it into a metropolis of 200,000—larger than London or Paris.

Then one fatal engineering mistake destroyed the Venice of the Americas: 🧵
Tenochtitlán wasn’t just a city—it was an island fortress.

Built on Lake Texcoco, it connected to the mainland by massive causeways.

The Aztecs transformed a swamp into one of the most advanced cities of the medieval world.

In 600 BCE, Babylonian engineers pulled off the greatest feat in ancient architectural history:

They built a lush, self-sustaining garden in the middle of a desert.

But what they created next nearly destroyed physics and archaeology forever.

Here’s the full story: 🧵 In the 6th century BCE, King Nebuchadnezzar II ruled Babylon, the most powerful empire of its time.

Babylon was a marvel: towering walls, majestic temples, and one of the ancient world’s most advanced societies.

70 years ago, a woman discovered the structure of DNA.

But 2 Cambridge men stole her work and won the Nobel Prize.

She was erased from history and died of cancer.

Here’s how the biggest theft in science buried Rosalind Franklin’s name in history… 🧵u At King's College London, a brilliant young scientist made groundbreaking discoveries about DNA structure.

Her name was Rosalind Franklin.

This is George C. Parker.

• He tricked NYPD detectives.
• He sold the Brooklyn Bridge to immigrants.
• He convinced banks he owned the Statue of Liberty.

But his "criminal" brilliance made him the most honest con man of all time.

Here's his full story...🧵 For over 30 years in the early 1900s, Parker ran what many consider the most audacious con scheme in American history.

His favorite target?

Newly arrived immigrants dreaming of making it big in America.

In 1939, Paul Müller found the deadliest insect killer in history (DDT).

This saved millions from malaria overnight...

He won a Nobel Prize and was hailed as a hero.

But then one woman discovered the dark secrets behind it: 🧵
It started in a small lab in Switzerland.

Müller was obsessed with finding a way to stop insects from destroying crops.

After testing over 349 compounds, he made compound #349: DDT.

When he sprayed it on flies, they dropped dead instantly.

In 1983, Soviet radars detected 5 US nuclear missiles heading to Moscow.

Humanity was SECONDS from extinction. All Soviet protocols demanded immediate retaliation.

But then Stanislav Petrov saw something strange: 🧵
Imagine sitting in a bunker near Moscow, monitoring nuclear warning systems.

The year is 1983.

US-Soviet tensions are at their peak.

Both sides have enough nukes to destroy Earth multiple times over.

In 312 BC, a group of wanderers discovered the secret to controlling water in the desert.

They built an impossible city that archaeologists still can't explain how they did it.

Here's how the ancient Nabataeans turned sand into gold: 🧵 Petra wasn’t just a city—it was a marvel of engineering.

Built in one of the driest deserts on Earth, it supported over 20,000 people.

But where others saw destruction, the Nabataeans saw something no one else could imagine...

This is Venice.

In 5 AD, Venetian engineers pulled off the greatest feat in ancient engineering history:

They built a 10-million-tree underwater foundation 25 feet below sea level.

But what they created next nearly broke the laws of physics.

Here's the full story: 🧵 Venice was built in a lagoon off the coast of Italy—a maze of mudflats, marshes, and shallow waters.

Why? Because it was the perfect defense.

Invading armies couldn’t march through water, and ships couldn’t navigate the shallow canals.

Nikola Tesla wrote 278 patents that shaped our modern world.

Yet in 1943, he died alone, forgotten, and in crippling debt in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel

Here are 4 times Tesla predicted the future: 🧵
(#4 is most shocking)
Tesla was called insane when he described smartphones in 1926:

"We will be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance... and the instruments will be small enough to be carried in our vest pocket."