1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. 3 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 2: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:20,599 Speaker 2: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right 5 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 2: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome 6 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 2: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Ada Lovelace had always been 7 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 2: someone who threw herself into her hobbies. As an aristocratic 8 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:45,479 Speaker 2: young woman in seventeenth century England, it was all she 9 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 2: really could do. Many of her friends found passion in 10 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:53,519 Speaker 2: the few pastimes deemed ladylike enough for them, like embroidery, music, 11 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 2: and writing poetry. But Aida had a significantly different pastime, 12 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 2: advanced mathematics. She came by it honestly. Her mother, Annabella, 13 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 2: was an amateur mathematician herself, and her father, Lord Byron, 14 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 2: was one of the most famous poets and intellectuals of 15 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 2: his time. Just as famous was his reputation for debauchery, 16 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 2: thrill seeking, and his strong will, which led Annabella to 17 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 2: separate from him when Ada was just a year old. 18 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:24,320 Speaker 2: Fearing her daughter would inherit what she called Lord Byron's madness, 19 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 2: Annabella insisted Ada fill her brain instead with languages, classic literature, science, 20 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:34,040 Speaker 2: and mathematics, and these latter subjects were always Ada's favorite. 21 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 2: She would doodle designs for flying machines and her workbooks, 22 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:40,960 Speaker 2: and ask insightful questions about the science of everyday phenomena 23 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,880 Speaker 2: like rainbows. AIDA's interest in math took a turn from 24 00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 2: hobbyist to professional when she attended a party in eighteen 25 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 2: thirty two, at the age of seventeen. The host, a 26 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 2: man named Charles, showed Ada and her mother his latest invention, 27 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:59,040 Speaker 2: a steam powered math machine. Now, at the time, to 28 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 2: solve any sort of complex calculations, you would have to 29 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 2: write them out by hand or use a rudimentary tool 30 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 2: like an apicus. The Thinking Machine, as Ada called it, 31 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:11,640 Speaker 2: was impressive. It was able to raise numbers to the 32 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 2: second and third power and add and subtract numbers quickly. 33 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 2: Ada was fascinated, and she and Charles became instant friends. 34 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 2: For the next decade, the two exchanged hundreds of letters 35 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,520 Speaker 2: debating mathematic principles. Charles quickly took to bouncing ideas off 36 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 2: of Ada for his newest invention, an even more complicated calculator. 37 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:34,960 Speaker 2: Charles envision the machine would use a series of punched 38 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 2: cards to represent different mathematical values, which a person would 39 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 2: input manually. This machine would be able to solve formulas, 40 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,399 Speaker 2: find square roots, and perform even more complex calculations. 41 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:49,840 Speaker 1: Aida had been keeping busy for several years in the 42 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:53,240 Speaker 1: eighteen thirties by marrying and giving birth to her three children, 43 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:55,839 Speaker 1: but by eighteen forty she wanted to put her mind 44 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: back to work helping her old friend Charles. The British 45 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 1: Scientific communit Unity had turned its nose up at his 46 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: new calculating machine, so he had gone to the continent 47 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: to raise funds for its development. In Europe, a fan 48 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,240 Speaker 1: of Charles had published Charles's lecture notes in French, and 49 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:15,360 Speaker 1: this Ada realized was her opportunity. She would translate the 50 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: notes to English and publish them in Britain. Charles agreed 51 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: on one condition that Ada would publish her annotations alongside. 52 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: The ideas in Ada's notes stretched beyond the bounds of 53 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 1: what Charles had created. Charles had originally envisioned his machine 54 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:34,400 Speaker 1: as merely a mathematical tool. It was Ada who realized 55 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: that they could use it for other data. The most 56 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: logical use was for algebraic formulas, not just arithmetic, as 57 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: charles first machine did. In her notes, she also mused 58 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: about replacing the numbers for symbols and notes, envisioning a 59 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: future where his machine could write music or even generate images. 60 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: In her final note, titled Note g Ada described how 61 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 1: in detail to perform a specific calculation, invited step by 62 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 1: step instructions for how to arrange the cards in the 63 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: machine for it to produce the Bernoulli numbers, a specific 64 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 1: sequence of rational numbers. When AIDA's final translation was published 65 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty three, that work was sixty six pages long, 66 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:19,520 Speaker 1: forty one of which were AIDA's notes. All told, Charles 67 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: machine was never created in real life. It remained theoretical. Therefore, 68 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: it wasn't until nearly one hundred years later that the 69 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: scientific community realized the full impact of what he and 70 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:33,720 Speaker 1: Ada had done. You see, AIDA's friend Charles was none 71 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 1: other than Charles Babbage, the celebrated English polymath. His invention, 72 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 1: the Analytical Engine is considered today to be the first 73 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: general purpose computer, which is impressive, but almost pales in 74 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:49,480 Speaker 1: comparison to what Aida did. You see, if the Analytical 75 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:53,279 Speaker 1: Engine was a computer, that means that Ada Lovelace's detailed 76 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 1: instructions for calculating Bernoulli numbers, was the world's first computer program, 77 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:03,479 Speaker 1: written almost a hundred years before the term computer ever existed. 78 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: Outside of George Washington, baseball games, and apple pie, there 79 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 1: are very few things more American than a good old 80 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,840 Speaker 1: fashioned UFO sighting. The United States leads the world in 81 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:31,360 Speaker 1: flying saucer encounters, with over one hundred and five thousand 82 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,479 Speaker 1: reported sightings since nineteen forty seven. That's, of course, is 83 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:38,480 Speaker 1: the year that a mysterious aircraft crashed near an army 84 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 1: airfield in Roswell, New Mexico. The government rushed to collect 85 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:46,159 Speaker 1: the debris and cover up the incident, sparking conspiracy theories 86 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: that the downed aircraft was extraterrestrial in nature. We now 87 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:52,919 Speaker 1: know that it wasn't the case if you believe the 88 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,200 Speaker 1: official story. The aircraft was actually part of Project Mogul, 89 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:00,240 Speaker 1: a top secret balloon project designed by the military toy 90 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:03,840 Speaker 1: on Soviet nuclear tests, but that wasn't revealed until nineteen 91 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:08,159 Speaker 1: ninety four, and in the decades between, UFO sightings really 92 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: took off. 93 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:10,360 Speaker 2: But while Roswell is. 94 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:14,160 Speaker 1: Often cited as the start of America's infatuation with UFOs, 95 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:17,280 Speaker 1: it's not actually the first sighting on record. There are 96 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:20,159 Speaker 1: at least two others that precede it. One occurred in 97 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:23,159 Speaker 1: the same year as the Roswell crash. In June of 98 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 1: that year, an amateur pilot named Kenneth Arnold was flying 99 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:29,839 Speaker 1: near Mount Rainier in Washington when he saw nine crescent 100 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:33,279 Speaker 1: shaped objects darting through the sky. He told journalists that 101 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: the craft were incredibly fast, moving hundreds of thousands of 102 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:40,400 Speaker 1: miles per hour. They moved like saucers skipping on water. 103 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:43,640 Speaker 1: The other sighting is a bit older, and in some 104 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: ways even stranger. It happened to a man named James 105 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:49,719 Speaker 1: Everell and two of his friends. The trio were rowing 106 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: across the Charles River one night when they saw an 107 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:56,479 Speaker 1: incredible light zipping across the sky. Their description is eerily 108 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:00,159 Speaker 1: similar to what Arnold's experienced in nineteen forty seven. For 109 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: close to three hours, the light darted back and forth 110 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:06,839 Speaker 1: between the river and nearby Charleston. At times, it would 111 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: stand completely still in the sky, pulsing vibrantly before it 112 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,960 Speaker 1: started to move again. When the light finally faded away, 113 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 1: Everell and his friends were startled to discover that they 114 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:19,640 Speaker 1: had traveled a mile up river. They had no memory 115 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:22,600 Speaker 1: of how they'd gotten there, which is especially strange since 116 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:25,360 Speaker 1: they moved against the tide, meaning that they couldn't have 117 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: just drifted. It was like the lights had transported them 118 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:31,680 Speaker 1: in an instant, or like they'd briefly blacked out and 119 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:35,520 Speaker 1: forgotten part of their experience. If that's what happens, it 120 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: aligns with countless other alien abduction stories from later years. 121 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: The most famous is probably the case of Betty and 122 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: Barney Hill. The couple was driving through New Hampshire's White 123 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 1: Mountains in nineteen sixty one when they saw a strange 124 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: light in the sky that seemed to be following them. 125 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 1: The next thing they knew, it was dawn and they 126 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 1: were pulling up in front of their house. They couldn't 127 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,040 Speaker 1: remember what had happened with the lights, but their clothes 128 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 1: were torn and dirty. It was only through hypnosis that 129 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:04,560 Speaker 1: they eventually recovered traumatic memories of what had happened. For 130 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:07,400 Speaker 1: the rest of their lives, the Hills maintained that they 131 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: had been abducted and forcibly examined by aliens. James Everell 132 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 1: never underwent hypnosis treatment, so we have no way of 133 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 1: knowing what happened during the time that he lost. He 134 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:20,960 Speaker 1: never claimed to have been abducted, nor did he identify 135 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,240 Speaker 1: the lights he saw over the Charles River as a UFO. 136 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: But it's an interesting case for a few reasons. The 137 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 1: lights were verified by several other witnesses in Charleston, and 138 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: the local governor, John Winthrop personally recorded James Everel's account. 139 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:38,839 Speaker 1: Unlike the Roswell incident, it's highly unlikely that the lights 140 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: he saw that night were from a military aircraft or 141 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:45,640 Speaker 1: balloon because this sighting occurred well before planes or weather balloons, 142 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:49,520 Speaker 1: or even the US government existed. It happened on March 143 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:53,520 Speaker 1: first of sixteen thirty nine, less than twenty years after 144 00:08:53,559 --> 00:08:57,600 Speaker 1: the First Thanksgiving. James Everell and his companions were Puritan 145 00:08:57,679 --> 00:09:02,200 Speaker 1: settlers in the Massachusetts Bay colin, which means that whatever's 146 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:04,920 Speaker 1: causing all those lights in the sky, they've been here 147 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 1: for a very long time. We've been seeing them since 148 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 1: the Pilgrims stepped off of the Mayflower. I hope you've 149 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:20,160 Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe 150 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the 151 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was 152 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. 153 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:35,080 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 154 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:38,560 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show and you can 155 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:42,520 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the Worldoflore dot com. 156 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:46,520 Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.