1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,480 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right 3 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:16,640 Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. World War two took its 5 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: toll on the lives of soldiers and civilians in many ways, 6 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 1: though not all of them. Violent women became combat nurses, 7 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: air force pilots, and expert welders to support the war effort. 8 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,240 Speaker 1: Men who couldn't fight with volunteer in other ways, helping 9 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 1: to sell war bonds and collect scrap metal. As the 10 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: war progressed, the use of certain materials increased exponentially, including tin, paper, 11 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: and rubber. The military needed tin cans for rations, paper 12 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 1: for packing materials, and rub for things like tires, pontoon, bridges, 13 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:06,320 Speaker 1: and boots. While fighting was going on overseas, folks back 14 00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: home held scrap drives. They encourage people to donate old 15 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:13,759 Speaker 1: pots and pans, tin toys, rubber, boots, and anything else 16 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:16,520 Speaker 1: they had lying around that could be melted down and 17 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: turned into supplies for the troops. Every little bit helped. 18 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: Rubber became especially hard to find as Japan took over 19 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: much of the Pacific rim, including the majority of rubber 20 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: producing countries. Its forces cut off supply access to the 21 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:36,120 Speaker 1: United States, so things like rafts and gas masks couldn't 22 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: be made or repaired. The US government couldn't stand to 23 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,199 Speaker 1: wait around for supply routes to open back up again. 24 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: Rations were running low and something had to be done, 25 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: so they turned to science to pick up the slack. 26 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: Scientists had already begun looking for alternatives to natural rubber. Unfortunately, 27 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: nothing had been invented that came even close to being 28 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: as versatile and resilient as the real thing. James Wright, however, 29 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 1: had already been on the case. He'd been working as 30 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:09,640 Speaker 1: a researcher at General Electric in Connecticut when he was 31 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: tasked with finding a cheap substitute for rubber, both natural 32 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 1: and synthetic. It had to be tough, it had to 33 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 1: be pliable, and it had to do everything real rubber 34 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:25,279 Speaker 1: was capable of doing. After some experimentation with certain chemicals, 35 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:29,679 Speaker 1: he dropped boric acid into silicon oil. The reaction left 36 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:33,079 Speaker 1: him with something new and different, something he thought might 37 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:36,800 Speaker 1: be exactly what the government was looking for. It looked 38 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: like rubber, it smelled like rubber, but it bounced higher 39 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:44,520 Speaker 1: and stretched farther than rubber actually could, but it got better. 40 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: It would never mold and melted only at extremely high temperatures, 41 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: much higher than natural rubber. So he brought his creation 42 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: to his supervisors, who didn't see much of a use 43 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: for it. To them, it was no different than the 44 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:01,959 Speaker 1: synthetic rubbers they had already been using. Dr Wright went 45 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: back to the drawing board, but sadly never came up 46 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: with the alternative everyone had been looking for. After his failure, 47 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: he put his fake rubber concoction on the shelf, where 48 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:17,360 Speaker 1: it sat dormant for years. Then sometime after the war, 49 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: it bounced into the hands of small business owner Ruth 50 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,920 Speaker 1: falgat her She immediately saw plenty of uses for it, 51 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: and so did the marketing executive that she consulted, Peter Hodgson. 52 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: The two of them began selling rights Magical Rubber in 53 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty two very little acclaim after it appeared in 54 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: an article in The New Yorker. Though sales boomed. It 55 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: quickly became a worldwide success, and as more people bought it, 56 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: they found even more ways to incorporate it into their 57 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:51,840 Speaker 1: daily lives. The substance has been known to be a 58 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:55,440 Speaker 1: terrific lint remover as well as a physical therapy tool 59 00:03:55,480 --> 00:04:00,120 Speaker 1: for people recovering from hand injuries. NASA astronauts used did 60 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:03,240 Speaker 1: it so their tools wouldn't float away in zero gravity. 61 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: It seemed like the sky was the limit literally for 62 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:11,880 Speaker 1: the failure. The Army never wanted but people all over 63 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:16,000 Speaker 1: the world certainly wanted it, especially children, and they've been 64 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 1: playing with it for over sixty years, whether squishing it 65 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:22,479 Speaker 1: into a ball and bouncing it off the ceiling or 66 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: pressing it over the Sunday Comics and pulling up their 67 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: own printed copies. Kids everywhere have had a lot of 68 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:34,880 Speaker 1: fun with Dr Wright's failed rubber substitute. They probably helped that. 69 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: Peter Hodgson packaged and marketed it as the perfect Easter 70 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: basket item. He simply placed a dollop of the stuff 71 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:45,279 Speaker 1: into a little plastic egg and then gave it the 72 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: perfect name, if maybe a little silly silly putty. That is. 73 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 1: At the start of the nineteenth century, Napoleon Bonaparte's reign 74 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:11,479 Speaker 1: was just hitting its stride. Within the span of four years, 75 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:15,040 Speaker 1: he would sell Louisiana to the United States avoid an 76 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 1: assassination attempt go to war with Great Britain and declare 77 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:22,159 Speaker 1: himself Emperor of France right in front of the Pope. 78 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:25,360 Speaker 1: Some might say he was a man of action, always 79 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 1: looking for the competitive edge that would help him gain 80 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:31,720 Speaker 1: victory over his opponents. Others would just chock it up 81 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:36,599 Speaker 1: to ego. But despite his ego, Napoleon prided himself on 82 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: being a forward thinker. As his armies moved across Europe 83 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 1: and engaged with hostile forces, he noticed where his strategy 84 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: was lacking. He just didn't quite know how to fix it. 85 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,359 Speaker 1: The problems presented themselves at night, when the candles and 86 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,840 Speaker 1: lamps that his soldiers used to illuminate their maps made 87 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:59,280 Speaker 1: them sitting ducks for enemy snipers. Napoleon knew the best 88 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:01,880 Speaker 1: time to atten hack was during the night, But if 89 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:03,920 Speaker 1: the men couldn't see where they were going or read 90 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:07,320 Speaker 1: their orders, then those plans wouldn't matter. They'd all be 91 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:11,720 Speaker 1: dead before sunrise. So Napoleon posed his predicament to an 92 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 1: officer in his ranks who also happened to be a 93 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 1: former classmate of his growing up. His name was Charles Barbier, 94 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: and he was given a simple mission find a way 95 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:24,039 Speaker 1: for the troops to read in the dark without the 96 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 1: need for any kind of light. Barbier was a bit 97 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:30,719 Speaker 1: of a history buff and knew of a system of 98 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: message transmission invented by the ancient Greeks. The Polybia square 99 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: was a grid of five rows and five columns, with 100 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,719 Speaker 1: a different letter of the Greek alphabet in each square, 101 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 1: the last one left blank. If two people had the 102 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:47,279 Speaker 1: same grid, that could send each other messages using the 103 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:52,480 Speaker 1: row and column location to signify the chosen letter. Unfortunately, 104 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: this system relied on the use of torches held high 105 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 1: in the night. The number of torches raised in a 106 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: particular order indicated which row and column the letter was 107 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:05,919 Speaker 1: located in. Napoleon had told his man no light, but 108 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,279 Speaker 1: it did give Barbier an idea a way to modify 109 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: this system so that light wasn't required. He created his 110 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:18,320 Speaker 1: own grid of letters that soldiers would memorize. Messages would 111 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: be encoded using special symbols that could be read in 112 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: the dark bite simply touching them. Barbie A developed his 113 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 1: system using six rows and six columns to accommodate the 114 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:34,280 Speaker 1: numerous letter combinations the French commonly used. It sounded great 115 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: to Napoleon, who quickly put it to use in the field. 116 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: The soldiers, however, thought differently. The grid was too hard 117 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: to memorize and recall in the heat of battle. Decoding 118 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:48,840 Speaker 1: secret messages proved impossible when no one could figure out 119 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:51,520 Speaker 1: what letter they were touching, nor did they have the 120 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: time to really think about it. Barbier's system was abandoned 121 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: almost as quickly as it was adopted, but it's inventor 122 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 1: wasn't discouraged. Years later, while speaking on behalf of the 123 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:07,560 Speaker 1: French Royal Academy of Sciences, he introduced his grid to 124 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 1: a classroom of children who also happened to struggle with reading. 125 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: The old system the children had been using was far inferior, 126 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 1: as it relied on embossed Latin letters, which were harder 127 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 1: to trace quickly with their fingertips. Among these students was 128 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:25,120 Speaker 1: a young man who took a great interest in Barbier's work. 129 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:28,840 Speaker 1: He gave Barbie a feedback on how to make it better. 130 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:32,640 Speaker 1: One suggested change was to shrink the number of rows 131 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: and symbols to make them easier to distinguish by touch. 132 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:39,719 Speaker 1: Barbie a scoffed, there was no way some child was 133 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:43,520 Speaker 1: going to tell a wealthy educated veteran of Napoleon Bonaparte's 134 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: army how to do his job. So the boy made 135 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:51,480 Speaker 1: the changes himself and introduced the new system to his classmates. 136 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 1: It worked, and as a result, his contribution changed the 137 00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:02,679 Speaker 1: way the blind read forever and this child's aim Louis Braille. 138 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:09,320 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 139 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:13,240 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 140 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:17,839 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 141 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:21,440 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership 142 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 143 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,960 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, 144 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:31,080 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the 145 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:35,960 Speaker 1: World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.