Cause of death: an exceptionally long beard

This story dates back to 1567.
Hans Steininger, an Austrian, gained worldwide fame partly for having the longest beard in the world at the time—measuring 1.4 meters. But more than anything, he became remembered as a victim of that very beard.

During a devastating fire in his hometown, Hans fled in panic. In his haste, he failed to tuck the beard properly to keep it off the ground. As he ran, he accidentally stepped on the end of his own 1.5-meter beard, lost his balance, fell, and broke his neck—ending his life in a tragic, unexpected twist.

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11 out of the 19 hijackers involved in the September 11, 2001 plane attacks were unaware they were embarking on a suicide mission. Most likely, they believed the operation was aimed at freeing extremists involved in previous attacks. Only those trained to pilot the aircraft knew the truth.

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Facts about A.S. Pushkin's works:

Pushkin's "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish" was inspired by the Brothers Grimm story "The Fisherman and His Wife." In Pushkin's version, the old woman ends up back at her broken trough after demanding to become "ruler of the sea," while her German counterpart, at that same stage, had already become the Pope. Only when she goes further—wishing to become God Himself—does she end up with nothing.

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Even without attending school, one can gain knowledge — just as one may attend and still learn nothing.

— Henry Fielding

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In 1956, during the Giro d’Italia, cyclist Fiorenzo Magni crashed on stage twelve and broke his left collarbone. He refused a cast, had his shoulder bound, and kept riding. A mechanic rigged up a device allowing him to steer and shift gears. On stage sixteen, he crashed again—this time fracturing his humerus. He lost consciousness from the pain, but after medical treatment, he rejoined the race. Over the next mountain descents, he couldn’t brake with his left hand. Still, he finished all 23 stages. And in an almost unimaginable feat, he came second overall—just three and a half minutes behind the leader.

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Montana watches — a 90s icon. 16 melodies, backlight included. Rumor had it there was a secret button combo to unlock double the tunes.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger alongside André the Giant (French wrestler and actor) and Wilt Chamberlain (American basketball player), 1983.

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Galileo Galilei's lunar sketches from 1609.

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«He who thinks he can do without others is greatly mistaken; but he who thinks others cannot do without him is even more mistaken.»

François VI de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
French writer

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«To perfect the mind, one must think more than memorize.»

© René Descartes (1596–1650)
French philosopher, mathematician, physicist, and mechanician. One of the founders of modern philosophy and analytic geometry, and a pivotal figure in the scientific revolution.

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Championship among African Americans for breaking the bottom of barrels with a running headbutt, USA, 1905

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Moscow, 1915

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Ivan Okhlobystin, Fyodor Bondarchuk, and Leonid Agutin, 1990s.

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A monument to the Russian scientist Dmitry Mendeleev in Bratislava.

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Books from the late 19th to the early 20th century — little masterpieces of art.

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Supermodels Christy Turlington and Stephanie Seymour, 1993.

🤩 Historian's Diary

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At 58, and later well into his sixties, Leo Tolstoy made three journeys on foot from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana—each spanning over 200 kilometers, completed in just five to six days.

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Anji Bridge — the oldest preserved bridge in China. Believed to have been built around 605 AD. Height: 7.3 m.

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Abel Bikila, the first Ethiopian runner to win Olympic gold, sprints barefoot through the streets of Rome in 1960, leaving his competitors behind

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"Flood in the Bois de Boulogne in 1421" by Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912).

In 1421, the Netherlands was struck by a devastating flood. Seventy-two villages were submerged, and around ten thousand people lost their lives.

According to legend—later inspiring the painting’s scene—after the disaster, survivors found a cradle washed ashore. A cat, soaked and trembling, leapt frantically from edge to edge inside. They moved to rescue the animal, only to discover, to their astonishment, an infant sleeping peacefully beneath it. Later, they realized the cat's movements had kept the cradle balanced, preventing it from capsizing.

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A life-sized sculptural composition of sumo wrestlers from 1890. On display at the Museum of Modern Art in Kumamoto, Japan.

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