1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff He Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome 3 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy B. Wilson, 4 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: and today we are talking about a fascinating gent whose 5 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: story I stumbled across while looking for something else. Entirely, 6 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: as is often the case with me, I'm on one 7 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:27,480 Speaker 1: track and then I go, oh, what's that shiny object? 8 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: And then I'm on a whole other track. Uh. He's 9 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:33,159 Speaker 1: very complicated and complex to look at and kind of 10 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,480 Speaker 1: figure out who he was. He's Baron Franz Nopecha, who 11 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 1: lived from eighteen seventy seven to ninety three, and he 12 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:46,880 Speaker 1: was Transylvanian. He identified dinosaurs, He inserted himself into Albanian 13 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: politics and became a scholar on Albania, and he wrote 14 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: volumes and volumes of books and papers. And he was 15 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: one of those people that lad that sort of adventurous 16 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 1: scholarly life that only an aristocrat of his time could managed, 17 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: I mean by passed most formal education. And so he 18 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: was funded in all of these efforts by his family money. 19 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: It wasn't as though he was doing it to make 20 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 1: a living. He was just living and pursuing his interests, 21 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:14,480 Speaker 1: and he was definitely a man clearly who had and 22 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: took advantage of his privilege, although he did ultimately lose it. 23 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 1: I also have to give you a heads up listeners 24 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: that this episode contains gun violence and suicide. I feel 25 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:26,759 Speaker 1: bad because I know I've had to put similar warnings 26 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 1: on several episodes lately. I swear I am not doing 27 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:31,520 Speaker 1: that on purpose. It's always like the thing I find 28 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:34,679 Speaker 1: out late in the game and they go, oh, man um. 29 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: But that is near the end. So if you would 30 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 1: like to listen to most of the show but maybe 31 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: not get that, you can tap out if you just 32 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:45,119 Speaker 1: uh leave after our second ad break, because it comes 33 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 1: after that, so if you just missed that last segment, 34 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:49,760 Speaker 1: you won't get any of that. So. He was born 35 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: on May three, eighty seven in Sechelle, Transylvania, which is 36 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: now the city of Deva, Romania. At the time, this 37 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: was all part of the Austro Hungarian Empire, and, as 38 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: highly noted earlier, his family was wealthy. His mother, Matilde, 39 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 1: was from an aristocratic family. His father, Alexius, was the 40 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: vice director of the Hungarian Royal Opera. Franz was the 41 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,519 Speaker 1: first of three children for the two of them, and 42 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: as children of a pretty wealthy family, he and his 43 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: siblings were well educated. They all spoke multiple languages, and 44 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: the family wasn't just wealthy, but also very well connected. 45 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: His uncle was well known in the court of Austria 46 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:32,679 Speaker 1: and was a favorite of Empress Elizabeth, and that connection 47 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: was pretty helpful, maybe even pivotal, in Franz's life. And 48 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: when Franz was still a teenager, his sister brought him 49 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: something that would shift his life significantly because it sparked 50 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: what has often been called an obsession on Franz's part. Alona, 51 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: the sister, had found some sort of animal skull on 52 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: a river bank while she had been out for a walk, 53 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:54,639 Speaker 1: and she thought her older brother might help her figure 54 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: out what it was. There is an alternate version of 55 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 1: this story that you will sometimes read, which involved local 56 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,960 Speaker 1: peasants bringing his sister Ilana the skull, but regardless of 57 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:06,519 Speaker 1: which of those is accurate, it did pass from her 58 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: to her brother and make him very curious. Indeed, that 59 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 1: was the same year that he was starting some studies 60 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: at the University of Vienna, so he decided to bring 61 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: it to one of his professors there Edwards Seuss for identification. 62 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:22,120 Speaker 1: They didn't get the help that he was looking for, 63 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: though initially seemed kind of intrigued by this whole thing, 64 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: but he lost interest and instead the professor told the 65 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: eighteen year old France that he needed to do his 66 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 1: own leg work to figure out what he had. And 67 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: Noa did exactly that. Yeah, he returned to his family's 68 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: castle and he basically set up his own little research 69 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: center there. There were a lot of books already available 70 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 1: to him in the family library, and from those he 71 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: gave himself a foundational knowledge in geology, physiology, and anatomy. 72 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: And then he started reaching out to various scholars asking 73 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: for more research materials so that he could continue his 74 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 1: self education. And then he started at his own amateur 75 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: excavation site on the river bank where that skull had 76 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: been found. So he was an amateur, but he was 77 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,800 Speaker 1: doing meticulous work. He found a number of other fossils 78 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: as he was digging, and he started applying the things 79 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 1: that he knew about animal physiology to the things that 80 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 1: he found. He was reconstructing the anatomy of what it 81 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:23,240 Speaker 1: turned out were seventy million year old dinosaur bones from 82 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:27,120 Speaker 1: the late Mesozoic era. For the next four years, he 83 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: worked on figuring out not only the anatomy of the 84 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: species that he had accidentally come across, but also its 85 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 1: reproduction and its behavior. And he did this once again 86 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 1: by comparing things he found like nests, to the nests 87 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:43,080 Speaker 1: of existing animals to try to figure out where there 88 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: were parallels and where there were differences. And because of 89 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:50,880 Speaker 1: this work he's considered one of the first paleophysiologists. In 90 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:55,159 Speaker 1: eight Franz Noche was ready to show the scientific world 91 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: what he had been working on, so he went to 92 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:00,840 Speaker 1: the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and, as a twenty two 93 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: year old with no formal scientific training beyond like his 94 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,160 Speaker 1: basically the equivalent of high school, he offered up a 95 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: lecture that both wowed and insulted the scientific community. It 96 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: seems that the combination of youthful confidence and having worked 97 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:19,520 Speaker 1: outside of academia on his project made Nopcha completely comfortable 98 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,560 Speaker 1: telling well known scientists that they were doing it wrong. 99 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: He also doled out some praise along the way, but 100 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: in a really condescending way. So again, he was twenty 101 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:31,360 Speaker 1: two and at one point he mentioned that the Belgian 102 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:36,119 Speaker 1: paleontologist Louis Dolo was really doing quite well for his age. Ah. 103 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 1: It was like, oh, you've contributed so much despite how 104 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: young you are. And this was a man in his forties. 105 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 1: Um So. Dolo, we should also say, had been in 106 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 1: charge of the dig site where one of the most 107 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:51,040 Speaker 1: famous iguanadon fines in history took place at this point, 108 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:54,919 Speaker 1: but it was obvious to everyone present that he was brilliance. 109 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 1: He actually had come to some well founded conclusions. His 110 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: Late Cretaceous dynasty or was called the Talmatosaurus translavannicus. It 111 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: was the first of dozens of species that he would 112 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:10,400 Speaker 1: identify over his career. That first dinosaur he identified was little, 113 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 1: at least in dinosaur terms. It was no bigger than 114 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:15,479 Speaker 1: a crocodile, which I suppose of you came across it 115 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: in the wild, might seem like a big animal compared 116 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:20,799 Speaker 1: to you, for a dinosaur, not so much. Uh. Several 117 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:23,239 Speaker 1: other species he found in that same area were also 118 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:27,680 Speaker 1: relatively small. A theory started to circulate in the scientific 119 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: community that Nopja had somehow found only juvenile specimens, But 120 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:34,119 Speaker 1: he did not agree with that assessment, and he worked 121 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: really hard to disprove it. To that end, he started, 122 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: among other things, microscopic examinations of the bones that he 123 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:44,240 Speaker 1: had in cross section, cutting very thin slices from his 124 00:06:44,279 --> 00:06:47,080 Speaker 1: samples to do his work, and from these he was 125 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:49,720 Speaker 1: able to determine that the dinosaur specimens he had been 126 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 1: working with all along had been adults. His hypothesis was 127 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: that the area near the river had actually been an 128 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,280 Speaker 1: island during the Cretaceous period, and that the limited environment 129 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: had also limited the size of the animals that lived there. 130 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:07,039 Speaker 1: And this was something that he called island theory. The 131 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:10,760 Speaker 1: idea that was that fewer resources meant that smaller animals 132 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 1: were able to survive, while larger ones couldn't sustain their 133 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 1: size with the food sources, so the larger animals would 134 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: die off. Yeah, if that sounds similiar, it is, And 135 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 1: we'll talk about that a little bit at the end 136 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 1: of the episode. But next up, we're going to talk 137 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: about kind of the next phase of Noche's life, which 138 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 1: takes an interesting turn. But first we're going to hear 139 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: from one of the sponsors that keep stuff you missed 140 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: in history class going. In his early twenties, Franz Nocho 141 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: was making waves in paleontology, but he was also shifting 142 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: his scientific curiosity to other subjects during this time. It 143 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 1: wasn't abandoning dinosaurs, but he was just becoming interested in 144 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:57,119 Speaker 1: other things as well. Specifically, he decided that he wanted 145 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: to study the tribes of the Albanian mountains, and this 146 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: was a subject he learned about from a Transylvanian count 147 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:06,200 Speaker 1: named Luis Dreskovic that he was close with, and the 148 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: two men may have been romantically involved, although that's not 149 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 1: entirely clear. With money from his uncle, who was in 150 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: the Austrian court, Franz mounted his first expedition into the 151 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:19,440 Speaker 1: mountains of Albania in H three. Early on in this trip, 152 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 1: he did some bird hunting and he shot several birds, 153 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 1: has earned him a reputation is a good shot, and 154 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:27,960 Speaker 1: that helped him with some of his relationships with the locals. 155 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,000 Speaker 1: Although there was a lot of danger in this undertaking, 156 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: including some attempts on his life, he and his uncle 157 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: both kept this trip a secret from Franz's parents. Yeah, 158 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: eventually after he came back from the trip, they came clean, 159 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,400 Speaker 1: but they didn't really know that he was going off 160 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: to do this and this kind of trip obviously is 161 00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 1: something that he could not have done on his own 162 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:51,200 Speaker 1: had he not been from a wealthy family with an 163 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:54,200 Speaker 1: uncle willing to fund it. But that connection to his uncle, 164 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:57,040 Speaker 1: and then his uncle's connection to the highest levels of 165 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,680 Speaker 1: power in Austria Hungary at the time, actually shifted his 166 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: fortunes in a slightly unexpected way. Franz made numerous trips 167 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:08,960 Speaker 1: into Albania after H three, and the funding for them 168 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: eventually shifted from coming out of his uncle's pocket to 169 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:16,479 Speaker 1: coming from the empire itself because Nopia had been recruited 170 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:19,600 Speaker 1: as a spy. The area where he was conducting his 171 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:22,480 Speaker 1: research trips was right between the Ottoman Empire and the 172 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:26,040 Speaker 1: Austro Hungarian Empire, so it made sense to make his work, 173 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 1: which involved mapping the area and studying the culture, into 174 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 1: an official but secret effort on the part of the government. Yeah. 175 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 1: This was, obviously, we'll talk about it a little bit more, 176 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:39,080 Speaker 1: kind of a time of destabilization in that area, and 177 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: so the Austria Hungary authorities thought like, hey, it would 178 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:45,480 Speaker 1: be really beneficial for us to know exactly what's going 179 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:48,240 Speaker 1: on in this this stretch of land. And he's already 180 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: making the maps. So if we pay for these trips, 181 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:52,560 Speaker 1: maybe he can just share his notes with us. So 182 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: that's what he did, and on one of these trips, 183 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 1: Franz met a man in a mountain village named Bajeside 184 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: Elms Doda, and he hired him to be his personal secretary. 185 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:04,160 Speaker 1: The two men were very close. They were together the 186 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:07,040 Speaker 1: rest of their lives, and they probably were romantically involved. 187 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:10,960 Speaker 1: Uh Noa named one of his discoveries and upper Cretaceous 188 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 1: turtle species that he discovered after Badges, and he once 189 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 1: wrote of Doda that quote, he was the only person 190 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:22,560 Speaker 1: who has truly loved me. We should really not play 191 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:26,880 Speaker 1: down the important role that bad Doda made. He was 192 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:29,880 Speaker 1: a scholar in his own right. And from the time 193 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,840 Speaker 1: they met until they're far too early end, which we 194 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: will get to later, Noa and Doda traveled together, and 195 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,839 Speaker 1: while bad was supporting the aristocrats work, he was also 196 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:44,240 Speaker 1: photographing and documenting the culture of the Muslim people of 197 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:47,240 Speaker 1: the upper raak Of Valley. He wrote several books about 198 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:50,120 Speaker 1: the Albanian people, and this was a time of great 199 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:54,599 Speaker 1: instability in Albania. The Ottomans had ruled Albania off and 200 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:58,200 Speaker 1: on since the fifteenth century, and Doda was capturing in 201 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 1: photographs and in words, the isolation that Albanians felt as 202 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:04,360 Speaker 1: they were cut off from the rest of the world 203 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:09,320 Speaker 1: and this whole geo political maneuvering of the Ottoman Empire. Yeah, 204 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:12,319 Speaker 1: you can find some of his photographs online and they're 205 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: really quite striking. I mean, one, when you consider like 206 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:19,079 Speaker 1: where photography was at at the time, they're already really 207 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:21,560 Speaker 1: really interesting to look at. But he does a really 208 00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:24,760 Speaker 1: nice job of just like capturing these moments in the 209 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:26,559 Speaker 1: lives of these people that are just trying to figure 210 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:28,400 Speaker 1: out their place in a world that is shifting around 211 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:30,560 Speaker 1: them very rapidly, but that they have very little say 212 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:34,480 Speaker 1: in um. And they're quite beautiful, so I recommend them. 213 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:37,520 Speaker 1: During a trip in nineteen o seven, Franz and Bajaesid 214 00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:41,480 Speaker 1: found themselves in a rather precarious situation. They had been 215 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:43,880 Speaker 1: sent to the home of a man named Mustaf Alita 216 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:46,320 Speaker 1: in the mountains of Debra on the advice of an 217 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:49,280 Speaker 1: abbot that they had met. Mustaf Alita was a bandit 218 00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:52,760 Speaker 1: of some renown, described by Nopeche in his memoir as 219 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: quote one of the most dastardly robbers of Debra. In 220 00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:59,280 Speaker 1: all of Turkey at the time, and despite that reputation, 221 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:01,719 Speaker 1: the two men indeed set out to meet him at 222 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:04,920 Speaker 1: his home. They were welcomed and they stayed for several 223 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:07,520 Speaker 1: days as guests, and at first they were sort of 224 00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:10,840 Speaker 1: delayed from leaving because of bad weather, but then as 225 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: the weather cleared up, Mustaf Alita kept coming up with 226 00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:17,960 Speaker 1: other reasons to keep them there. He finally told them 227 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:20,959 Speaker 1: that they were his prisoners. He was demanding ten thousand 228 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:23,960 Speaker 1: Turkish pounds as a ransom for their return, and another 229 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:26,720 Speaker 1: ten thousand if any of the dwellings of his people 230 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:29,760 Speaker 1: were damaged in any kind of a rescue attempt. At 231 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:33,760 Speaker 1: one point, Mustaf Alita attempted to bribe Bases to assist 232 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:35,920 Speaker 1: him in this whole plan by offering him two thousand 233 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:40,199 Speaker 1: pounds to betray his friend, and turned this down. Yeah, 234 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:42,480 Speaker 1: he basically went back and told Franz like you'll never 235 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:45,000 Speaker 1: guess what he just did, told him the whole story 236 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: and there was no there were no secrets between them. 237 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 1: Then Mustaf Alita and the baron Franz Nopcha discussed the 238 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:55,040 Speaker 1: situation and Nocha kind of made a deal and he 239 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:57,920 Speaker 1: was given five days to decide who they should contact 240 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:00,960 Speaker 1: to get the ransom money. In that time, he did 241 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:03,280 Speaker 1: manage to get a message out to the abbot who 242 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:05,080 Speaker 1: had sent him to the robber, and he told the 243 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,920 Speaker 1: abbot to send quote five hundred armed men or opium 244 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:12,760 Speaker 1: and twenty men. Nopea also discussed the matter with one 245 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:16,680 Speaker 1: of Mustaf Alita's attendants, a man named Dlip, who was 246 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 1: displeased that their guests were being betrayed, so he thought 247 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 1: Delippe might be on his side. Uh and Delipe also 248 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:25,240 Speaker 1: wanted to work this situation to his own advantage and benefit. 249 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:29,680 Speaker 1: According to Nopa's memoirs, he and Elipe discussed three possible 250 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:33,000 Speaker 1: ways this whole situation could go. Quote One was that 251 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:36,839 Speaker 1: Mustaf Alita would demand his ten thousand pounds my Albanian 252 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 1: friends and Turkish troops would arrive, Lita's family lineage would 253 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:44,679 Speaker 1: be dishonored, and everyone would do massacred. The second possibility 254 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 1: was that Mustaf Alita would demand a bimbosh lik position 255 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:50,120 Speaker 1: for my release. In this case, I would try to 256 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 1: calm down my friends and would endeavor to keep Turkish 257 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:57,200 Speaker 1: troops out of Kali's and negotiate with the authorities. The 258 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 1: end result in this event was unclear. The third variant 259 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,200 Speaker 1: was that mustaf Alita would take me to prisonon and 260 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,280 Speaker 1: turn me in as a spy. He would thus be 261 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:11,079 Speaker 1: amnestied by the government, and I would support his request 262 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:14,720 Speaker 1: for bambush leak. Yeah. Also for clarity, that first option 263 00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:17,480 Speaker 1: where everyone would be massacred, he was including himself and 264 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:19,400 Speaker 1: Badges in it. He was like, if this goes down, 265 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:21,880 Speaker 1: we're all going to die. But maybe we can work 266 00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:24,560 Speaker 1: out one of these other options. So for a little 267 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:27,600 Speaker 1: bit of additional clarity, a bambush leak is a military 268 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,400 Speaker 1: position roughly akin to that of an army major. Delip 269 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:34,680 Speaker 1: agreed to take these three possible scenarios to mustaf Alita 270 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:38,200 Speaker 1: to consider, and even as they negotiated after this with 271 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:42,000 Speaker 1: mustaf Alita and his men from Nopcha and bajes Doda 272 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:44,800 Speaker 1: were making backup plans in case the talks broke down, 273 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:48,400 Speaker 1: including hiding a razor under a rug with the intention 274 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:50,960 Speaker 1: of killing a guard and escaping out the window using 275 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:53,960 Speaker 1: sheets and carpets to shimmy down from the high floor. 276 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:58,040 Speaker 1: So upon hearing these three options at first, mustaf Alita 277 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: told his captives that he had captured them basically as 278 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:03,720 Speaker 1: a joke to see if they were weak, and he 279 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:06,520 Speaker 1: said that they could go free, but Nopcha thought that 280 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 1: this was a trap, but he did not accept the offer. 281 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 1: The baron once again offered to campaign for the robber 282 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 1: to get his military position if he would turn him 283 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: over to the Turkish government as a spy, and Mustafilita agreed. 284 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:21,120 Speaker 1: So as they rode into the city of preets, m 285 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:25,200 Speaker 1: Mustafilita claimed that he had found Noche in disguise as 286 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:28,120 Speaker 1: a local man along the trail and had captured this 287 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:31,760 Speaker 1: spy to bring him to the proper authorities. Nopcha was 288 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:34,040 Speaker 1: put into a prison cell, which he had been counting 289 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:37,880 Speaker 1: on to separate him from his captor, and meanwhile, Bajazid 290 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 1: was also taken to preets Ran, but was released per 291 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,080 Speaker 1: the terms of their agreement, and he was able to 292 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 1: get a note written by Nocha to the consulate there, 293 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:48,720 Speaker 1: and then the consulate sent help. Before long this whole 294 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:51,600 Speaker 1: affair was over, mustaf Alita realized that he had been 295 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:55,800 Speaker 1: outsmarted and headed back to his own Territory's father had 296 00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:57,920 Speaker 1: gotten word of the kidnapping and had shown up with 297 00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:01,960 Speaker 1: a small army of men planning to kill Mustaflita, but 298 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 1: his son and Noche convinced him that he and his 299 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:08,080 Speaker 1: men could stand down. During their travels, Franz became well 300 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:10,880 Speaker 1: known in the various areas they visited. He built up 301 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:14,320 Speaker 1: connections and friendships there, and he became fluent in several 302 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: different Albanian dialects. He became so invested in the fate 303 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:21,280 Speaker 1: of Albania that he supported the idea of a rebellion 304 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:24,320 Speaker 1: against the young Turks, and he actually saw himself as 305 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,320 Speaker 1: the Albanians potential leader in such a war effort. There 306 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 1: is obviously a little bit of a white savior complex 307 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:31,800 Speaker 1: and play there, but he also felt he knew more 308 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 1: about warfare and the people they might be meeting than 309 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:38,480 Speaker 1: anybody else. In nine thirteen, the Albanian Congress of Trieste 310 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:42,920 Speaker 1: was organized. From February to March. Six delegates from the 311 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:45,920 Speaker 1: various tribes of Albania came to discuss their future as 312 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 1: an independent nation and to petition the great powers to 313 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:53,280 Speaker 1: recognize their status. This event and the politics surrounding it 314 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,560 Speaker 1: could be its whole own subject, but as it relates 315 00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:59,360 Speaker 1: to Baron France Nosha, the great powers of the time, 316 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:02,200 Speaker 1: which were off Trea, Hungary, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, 317 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:05,280 Speaker 1: Russia and Italy all had in mind that they would 318 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:09,760 Speaker 1: install a European as king, and Nopcha suggested himself for 319 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: the job, feeling that he knew more about the area 320 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,520 Speaker 1: and its people than any other aristocrat that might be 321 00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:18,840 Speaker 1: installed in a position of leadership. And indeed he really 322 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:22,720 Speaker 1: was recognized as the most knowledgeable candidate, both by people 323 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:25,960 Speaker 1: in Albania and by the rest of the Assembly. But 324 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:30,080 Speaker 1: instead Germany's Prince Wilhelm A Vid was established as monarch, 325 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:33,840 Speaker 1: and at that point Nopecha declared that his Albania was dead. 326 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:38,160 Speaker 1: After this this appointment, Nopcha faced a whole different hurdle, 327 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:41,399 Speaker 1: and that was the loss of his family fortune. During 328 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:43,840 Speaker 1: World War One, he had resumed his spy work for 329 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:47,400 Speaker 1: Austria Hungary and he had run guns to northern Albanian tribes. 330 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 1: He had even headed up in an Albanian division, but 331 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:52,879 Speaker 1: he was often really frustrated at how the government was 332 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:57,680 Speaker 1: handling things like occupation of Albanian territories. The Austro Hungarian 333 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:01,640 Speaker 1: Empire collapsed in nineteen eighteen and Nopia's homeland became part 334 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:05,000 Speaker 1: of Romania, with that point, his family estate was no 335 00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:07,760 Speaker 1: longer his property. And we're going to talk about the 336 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:10,159 Speaker 1: last part of Franz Nopja's life in a moment. The 337 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:20,399 Speaker 1: first we will take another quick sponsor break. Hey, so 338 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:22,000 Speaker 1: as we come back, I just want to remind you 339 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:25,080 Speaker 1: that if you uh he did our warning at the 340 00:18:25,119 --> 00:18:27,320 Speaker 1: top of the episode about some violence that's coming up 341 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:29,040 Speaker 1: and you do not wish to hear it, this would 342 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:31,080 Speaker 1: be a good time to check out and we bid 343 00:18:31,119 --> 00:18:35,320 Speaker 1: you a jia um. But getting back to Franz Nopcha. 344 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:39,439 Speaker 1: While paleontology was becoming a more established science at this point, 345 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:43,520 Speaker 1: uh as a self taught scientist with a reputation for 346 00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:46,600 Speaker 1: being kind of eccentric and even rude. It was pretty 347 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 1: difficult for the baron, who at this point, you remember, 348 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:51,720 Speaker 1: had lost his fortune to make connections into the field 349 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:54,840 Speaker 1: that he had in some ways helped a pioneer. In April, 350 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:59,440 Speaker 1: was offered the position of director at the Royal Hungarian 351 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:03,760 Speaker 1: Institute of Geology. He worked there until November night. He 352 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 1: reorganized the institute, which was a move that was seen 353 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 1: as a success, but he was never really happy there 354 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:12,320 Speaker 1: and his health was suffering. At one point he was 355 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:16,640 Speaker 1: in bed for an entire year. He wrote extensively in 356 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:20,560 Speaker 1: his three years with the institute, though he covered paleontology, geography, 357 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:24,440 Speaker 1: and ethnology along with other subjects. In total, he wrote 358 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:28,040 Speaker 1: almost two hundred different works, and roughly a quarter of 359 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:30,919 Speaker 1: them were about Albania and its people and no just 360 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:35,320 Speaker 1: health continued to decline in He gave the opening remarks 361 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:38,840 Speaker 1: at a Paleontological Society conference that he had invited to 362 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:41,359 Speaker 1: come to Budapest, but he was so weak at that 363 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:43,840 Speaker 1: point that he had to give his lecture from a wheelchair, 364 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:46,679 Speaker 1: and in his mind he believed that his career was 365 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:49,280 Speaker 1: basically over and that his lecture would likely be his 366 00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:52,119 Speaker 1: last work. It was not. He continued to write a 367 00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:54,960 Speaker 1: great deal in the next several years, but he resigned 368 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:57,199 Speaker 1: from his job just a few months later, and he 369 00:19:57,240 --> 00:20:00,199 Speaker 1: and Bajasid first took a motorcycle tour of your up 370 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:02,720 Speaker 1: starting in Italy until they ran out of money, and 371 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 1: then they moved to Vienna. On April three, Franz Nope 372 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,320 Speaker 1: Shaw was living in an apartment in Vienna with Doda, 373 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: and they had been living there together since he retired 374 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:17,120 Speaker 1: from his job at the Geological Institute and that day, 375 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:20,600 Speaker 1: while Bo was asleep, Nope just sent the housekeeper away 376 00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:23,520 Speaker 1: on an errand, and then he shot his sleeping companion 377 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:28,679 Speaker 1: and then himself, killing both of them. And nopeja uh. 378 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:30,919 Speaker 1: This was clearly something he had been planning to do, 379 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,920 Speaker 1: because he left behind a lot of envelopes for people 380 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:37,240 Speaker 1: like lawyers and whatnot. But he also left behind a 381 00:20:37,359 --> 00:20:40,159 Speaker 1: note for the police and it read quote, the motive 382 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:43,439 Speaker 1: for my suicide is a nervous breakdown. The reason that 383 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,920 Speaker 1: I shot my longtime friend and secretary Mr bajes Elma's 384 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:50,119 Speaker 1: Doda in his sleep without his suspecting is that I 385 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:52,640 Speaker 1: do not wish to leave him behind, sick in misery 386 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:55,520 Speaker 1: and without a penny, because he would have suffered too much. 387 00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:59,920 Speaker 1: I wish to be cremated. This entire incident was to 388 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:02,960 Speaker 1: scribed in detail in Vienna's new Free Press, all the 389 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,720 Speaker 1: way down to autopsy details and Nopesa's note, and it 390 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:11,119 Speaker 1: ran under the unfortunate and sensational headline quote bloody drama 391 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:15,120 Speaker 1: in the singer Strauss scholar commits murder and suicide. Quickly, 392 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 1: a lot of the scholarly work that Nopcha and Doda 393 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:21,399 Speaker 1: had done was eclipsed by the dramatic story of their death, 394 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:24,119 Speaker 1: and the two men were actually buried across the street 395 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:28,520 Speaker 1: from one another. Doda was buried in a Muslim section 396 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:31,880 Speaker 1: of one of Vienna's cemeteries, and Noa's cremated remains were 397 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:35,080 Speaker 1: interred in a vault, and their burials were coordinated so 398 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: that the two were placed in their final resting places 399 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:41,240 Speaker 1: at exactly the same time. While Nopha had left a 400 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,959 Speaker 1: list of his unpublished work with a colleague named Norbert Yokel, 401 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:48,600 Speaker 1: along with instructions about who to contact to have them published, 402 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:53,080 Speaker 1: that publication didn't happen initially. There were financial issues, and 403 00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 1: Jokol held onto the works but was killed by Nazis 404 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:59,480 Speaker 1: in the early nineteen forties. The remaining manuscripts are in 405 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:03,439 Speaker 1: the aust In National Library, but some of what's believed 406 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:06,440 Speaker 1: to have been his most comprehensive writing on Albania has 407 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:09,320 Speaker 1: been lost. Yeah, a lot of his fossil work was 408 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:13,359 Speaker 1: actually retained because before his death he had sold a 409 00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 1: lot of it too, I think the British Museum, so 410 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:18,600 Speaker 1: it's still intact most of that research, but a lot 411 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:21,240 Speaker 1: of his Albanian work that people think is probably some 412 00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:24,119 Speaker 1: of the most important is completely am i A. We 413 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:27,440 Speaker 1: have no idea where it ended up. Throughout his life, 414 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:31,200 Speaker 1: the passionate and obsessive Franz Noche had dealt with health 415 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:33,719 Speaker 1: issues which are a little bit nebulous in terms of 416 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,639 Speaker 1: what we actually know about them. He was prolific in 417 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,320 Speaker 1: his work, but his efforts were often interrupted throughout his 418 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:42,640 Speaker 1: life by what he called shattered nerves. And his mother 419 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:45,480 Speaker 1: told people at various times, even when he was an adult, 420 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:47,560 Speaker 1: like she would kind of write notes to excuse him 421 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:50,359 Speaker 1: from things, saying that he had a recurring illness, but 422 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,359 Speaker 1: she never really gave details about them. Even in his 423 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 1: own memoirs um he doesn't really detail his personal thoughts 424 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: or feelings. It's all kind of like, here the things 425 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:03,600 Speaker 1: that happened, but he doesn't really discuss the personal aspects 426 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,879 Speaker 1: of those those experiences at all. That's a consequence. It's 427 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:09,360 Speaker 1: still something of a struggle for historians to really get 428 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:11,359 Speaker 1: a sense of what no Show was like as a person. 429 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 1: Even his colleagues at the time described him as enigmatic 430 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:19,280 Speaker 1: and hard to read. He was really passionate about his work, 431 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:22,160 Speaker 1: and he could be generous with his research. He didn't 432 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:25,160 Speaker 1: seem like he was seeking fame, but he did think 433 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:27,760 Speaker 1: he was way ahead of most other people, and he 434 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:30,560 Speaker 1: was prone to mood swings which could make him very 435 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:33,280 Speaker 1: unkind to the people around him. Yeah, there have been 436 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:36,320 Speaker 1: a lot of theories put forth about what exactly was 437 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:39,520 Speaker 1: was his problem in terms of mental health, but those 438 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:42,120 Speaker 1: are always tricky, as we've discussed many times on the show, 439 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:45,440 Speaker 1: like to diagnose somebody postmortem is a whole messy thing, 440 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:49,040 Speaker 1: particularly for someone who's just um, you know, doing a 441 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 1: casual assessment from a historical standpoint, rather than someone who's 442 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: actually trained in psychology. Um. But in a paper on 443 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:58,960 Speaker 1: Noes's work written by David B. Whit Shample and Wolf 444 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:01,920 Speaker 1: ernst Rife, the writers make a really nice point about 445 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:05,080 Speaker 1: how privilege and a lack of formal education kind of 446 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:08,320 Speaker 1: robbed Nopcha of his ability to turn a critical eye 447 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,200 Speaker 1: to his own work and perhaps consequently learned to moderate 448 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:15,080 Speaker 1: his behavior. They wrote, quote, yet, to characterize Nopche as 449 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,439 Speaker 1: arrogant is to overlook the obvious problem of combining in 450 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:22,479 Speaker 1: one person a high level of intelligence and creativity not 451 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:27,440 Speaker 1: often tempered with the ability of self criticism. Nopcha studies 452 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 1: in tectonic geology evolutionary biology, paleo biogeography, and sexual dimorphism 453 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:37,840 Speaker 1: prove his ability to intelligently discover problems and solve them 454 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:42,000 Speaker 1: in remarkable ways. The inability to criticize his own work 455 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:46,400 Speaker 1: acted both against and for Nopcha. Against because of outlandish 456 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:50,239 Speaker 1: and easily falsified ideas which he presented on paper, and 457 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:54,840 Speaker 1: four because he excelled at assembling disparate ideas into new frameworks. 458 00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:57,879 Speaker 1: A lot of his ideas that were met with skepticism 459 00:24:57,920 --> 00:24:59,960 Speaker 1: while he was living have come to be pretty wide 460 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:02,879 Speaker 1: we accepted in the years since his death. For example, 461 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:05,959 Speaker 1: his idea that the area known as Hotzig had been 462 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,199 Speaker 1: an island during the Cretaceous period has been supported by 463 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:13,600 Speaker 1: additional research over the years. His island theory about limited 464 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:16,719 Speaker 1: resources causing dwarfism and species is now known as the 465 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:20,640 Speaker 1: Island rule, although it's credited and it's more formally detailed 466 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:24,200 Speaker 1: form as Foster's rule, which is named for a biologist J. 467 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,280 Speaker 1: Bristol Foster, who wrote a paper establishing the idea in 468 00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:31,680 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four. And Social Castle, the family home of Franzinopsha, 469 00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:35,760 Speaker 1: has fallen into ruin, and it has through historical conservation 470 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 1: efforts been placed on a list of cultural heritage sites 471 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:41,959 Speaker 1: in Romania with the intent that the government will provide 472 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,679 Speaker 1: financial support for restoration and upkeep, although those funds have 473 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:48,159 Speaker 1: actually been slow to materialize, so it is still in 474 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:52,080 Speaker 1: a pretty sad state of disrepair at this point. Do 475 00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:54,359 Speaker 1: you have some listener mail to take us out today? 476 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:59,240 Speaker 1: I do, um, and it is not sad or scary 477 00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 1: at all. It is from our listener, David, and I 478 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:04,960 Speaker 1: thought it would be fun to do a fun email 479 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:06,960 Speaker 1: after what it's kind of a sad end to an 480 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:09,919 Speaker 1: interesting life, he writes, High ladies, I finally had to 481 00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 1: email you, not because I have some great moment to 482 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:14,800 Speaker 1: share or some additional point to add to one of 483 00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:17,600 Speaker 1: your great episodes, though someday I hope I get that chance. 484 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:19,960 Speaker 1: I am now one of your listeners who have listened 485 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,520 Speaker 1: to the entire library. Is there a club for this? 486 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:25,720 Speaker 1: The sad thing about doing that is now I have 487 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:28,000 Speaker 1: to wait for the next episode. I spent the last 488 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:30,720 Speaker 1: two years listening to your podcast only. I guess I 489 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:32,960 Speaker 1: can now add some more. The others will be happy. 490 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:35,199 Speaker 1: I look forward to maybe seeing one of your live 491 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:37,600 Speaker 1: shows when the opportunity arises. I hope you to do. 492 00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:40,360 Speaker 1: I wanted to share a few points about your podcast 493 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:42,719 Speaker 1: that maybe you already know, but I thought they were interesting, 494 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,879 Speaker 1: at least to me. One, it is amazing how close 495 00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:48,240 Speaker 1: we may have come to the history stories you've told. 496 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:50,840 Speaker 1: Being born in nineteen sixty three, I may have been 497 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,440 Speaker 1: alive just after a person died, or just before an 498 00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:57,080 Speaker 1: event or some similar time issue. Two. I saw the 499 00:26:57,119 --> 00:27:00,480 Speaker 1: growth changes length of your whole show. Very nice. Three. 500 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:02,840 Speaker 1: I am always amazed at your research skill. I envy 501 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,960 Speaker 1: you in that ability. I will laugh and interject my 502 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:07,960 Speaker 1: own thing of like. I don't know, I feel sloppy 503 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,920 Speaker 1: about it sometimes. For I love your effort to show 504 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:14,639 Speaker 1: people the history of some political issues, especially after this 505 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:18,760 Speaker 1: past presidential election. It's amazing as to how similar some 506 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:23,520 Speaker 1: issues have been throughout history racism, religion, sexism, etcetera. I 507 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:26,000 Speaker 1: really hope your podcast open some eyes. But either way, 508 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:29,560 Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Uh. And then he gives us a 509 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:32,800 Speaker 1: little request, a couple of requests actually, and he says, 510 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:34,879 Speaker 1: thanks again for a wonderful podcast in the many hours 511 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:37,359 Speaker 1: of enjoyment you provide. Okay, so um, I did not 512 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:39,960 Speaker 1: read this for self aggrandizement, even though it is all lovely, 513 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,840 Speaker 1: lovely compliments. But his thing about a club gave me 514 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,160 Speaker 1: an idea which we will get to work on, which 515 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:47,960 Speaker 1: is that we should have a T shirt for me 516 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:51,159 Speaker 1: people that people can get in our our tea public 517 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:53,520 Speaker 1: store that says like I listened to them all or something. 518 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:55,720 Speaker 1: So we'll work with designers and get that figured out. 519 00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:58,280 Speaker 1: But it seems like such an obvious thing and I 520 00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: hadn't thought about it, So thank you David are giving 521 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:02,399 Speaker 1: us that idea. If you would like to write to us, 522 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:04,520 Speaker 1: you can do so at History podcast at how stuff 523 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:07,119 Speaker 1: works dot com. You can also find us everywhere on 524 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:10,399 Speaker 1: social media as Missed in History, and you can go 525 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:12,960 Speaker 1: to our website missed in History dot com, where you 526 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: will find every episode of the show that's ever existed. 527 00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:20,159 Speaker 1: It's very exciting times. YouTube like David can listen to 528 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:23,960 Speaker 1: every single one. Uh. If you would like to subscribe 529 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,040 Speaker 1: to the podcast we support you in this plan, you 530 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:29,479 Speaker 1: can do that on the I Heart Radio app, at 531 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:37,800 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Stuff you 532 00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:40,000 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class is a production of I Heart 533 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:43,400 Speaker 1: Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, 534 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:46,479 Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever 535 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:47,960 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.