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 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: Space is infinite. There is so much we don't know 7 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: about the countless stars and galaxies that surround our tiny 8 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:46,280 Speaker 1: rock of a planet, and yet we continue to explore. 9 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 1: We send rockets and satellites and other technologies out into 10 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: the unknown, hoping for a little insights into the endless 11 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:57,279 Speaker 1: void around us. But in nineteen fifty eight, a Soviet 12 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:01,200 Speaker 1: scientist noticed something peculiar on one specif rock, one we've 13 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,960 Speaker 1: been looking at for millennia, and his alleged discovery, if 14 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 1: proven true, was on track to change the course of 15 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 1: history forever. His name was Nikolai Kosirev, an astrophysicist who 16 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:14,959 Speaker 1: made a name for himself in the nineteen thirties as 17 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 1: one of the co founders of theoretical astrophysics, and it 18 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:21,759 Speaker 1: was early November of nineteen fifty eight when Nikolay observed 19 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: the surface of the Moon, and that's when he spotted 20 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:26,959 Speaker 1: a red cloud of gas pluming from the middle of 21 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 1: the crater Alfonsis. He believed what he had witnessed was 22 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 1: an active volcano on the Moon. Now, Nikolai was hardly 23 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: the first person to spot what he thought were volcanoes 24 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 1: on the Moon, dating all the way back to the 25 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: sixteen hundreds, a British chemist named Robert Hook conducted extensive 26 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: research on space and also deduced that the craters of 27 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: the Moon had been the result of volcanic activity. But 28 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: where Hook only had telescopic observations and rudimentary experiments to 29 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: help him in his research, Nikolai had modern technology on 30 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: his side. He used spectrogram to track the emissions from 31 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 1: the crater and repeated his observations the next few nights, 32 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: hoping to find a pattern or further evidence to support 33 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 1: his claims, and it led him to the conclusion that 34 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: there must be active volcanoes on the Moon's surface, except 35 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:18,359 Speaker 1: the common belief among experts at the time was quite 36 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,160 Speaker 1: the opposite. Even if there had been volcanoes on the 37 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:24,400 Speaker 1: Moon at one point, they'd no longer be active. So 38 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: when another scientist, a Dutch American astronomer named Gerard Kuiper 39 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,440 Speaker 1: got wind of Nikolai's claim, he got to work proving 40 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:34,400 Speaker 1: it false. You see, Kuiper had gone on record as 41 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:38,040 Speaker 1: theorizing that moon volcanoes just weren't a thing anymore. If 42 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: Nicolai's evidence was real, then Kuiper would be out of 43 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 1: a job as a trusted advisor to several government agencies. 44 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: Active volcanoes would also indicate the presence of an atmosphere 45 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:50,840 Speaker 1: on the Moon that would affect the design of future 46 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:54,880 Speaker 1: spaceflight vehicles as the Russians and Americans competed for first 47 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:58,120 Speaker 1: place in the space race. But as Kuiper dug deeper 48 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 1: into Nikolai and his claims, he ran into a few 49 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:04,280 Speaker 1: big problems. The first being the language barrier between the 50 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 1: two men. They couldn't really speak over the phone or 51 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: via written correspondence. There was also the issue of the 52 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: images themselves. Nicolay's photographs were not as definitive as he 53 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: had originally believed, and Kuiper saw no conclusive proof of 54 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: recent volcanic activity on the Moon's surface. It quickly became 55 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 1: clear to Kuyper that in order to judge the veracity 56 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:28,560 Speaker 1: of his rival's claim. He needed to judge the man first, 57 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: so he reached out to a few Soviet astronomers for 58 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: insights into Nickeolay's character, and it didn't take long for 59 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: someone to spill the intergalactic tea on their colleague's true nature. 60 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:43,720 Speaker 1: According to one scientist named v I Krassovski, Nikolay's scientific 61 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: rigor wasn't up to snuff. There were even whispers that 62 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:50,240 Speaker 1: he had fabricated evidence to support his theory. This only 63 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: accelerated Kuiper's descent into Nicolai's history and reputation. It all 64 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: came to head in the early nineteen sixties when both 65 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: Soviets and American astronomers joined together the other at a 66 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: gathering called the International Astronomical Union. What transpired was a 67 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: discussion about lunar theory, with Nikolai defending his claim of 68 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: active moon volcanoes. But it wasn't until two astronomers from 69 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,000 Speaker 1: Leningrad stepped forward with a theory of their own. They 70 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: believe that what their colleague had really witnessed was the 71 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: effect of cold gases escaping, not the hot molten cloud 72 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: of a moon volcano. Kuiper agreed, and after inspecting Nikolai's 73 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,800 Speaker 1: photos again determined that he hadn't made anything up, he 74 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:34,279 Speaker 1: had simply misinterpreted the data. In the end, it was 75 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: clear that there were no active volcanoes on the Moon, 76 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:41,200 Speaker 1: just remnants of inactive ones, although we should still probably 77 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 1: send someone back out for proof that the Moon isn't 78 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:46,920 Speaker 1: made of cheese all those holes. That might be a 79 00:04:47,040 --> 00:05:04,720 Speaker 1: job for Switzerland. When we talk about the French Revolution 80 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:08,039 Speaker 1: were usually referring to the civilian rebellion that ended in 81 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 1: the seventeen nineties. That's the one with the storming of 82 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:14,159 Speaker 1: the Best Deal and the execution of Marie Antoinette, which 83 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,039 Speaker 1: led directly to the reign of Terror and the rise 84 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:20,159 Speaker 1: of Napoleon Bonaparte. But if I can get technical for 85 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: a moment, there were actually several major revolts in French history, 86 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:26,240 Speaker 1: some that led to changes in power and some that 87 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: just failed, like the June Rebellion of eighteen thirty two, 88 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: featured in the popular movie and Broadway show Les Miz 89 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:36,719 Speaker 1: or the February Revolution of eighteen forty eight, in which 90 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: Napoleon's nephew was elected to lead the Second Republic. But 91 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,599 Speaker 1: before any of these rebellions, there was something called the 92 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 1: Fraund a series of civil wars during the mid sixteen hundreds. 93 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: The Frond wasn't led by commoners, but by the wealthy 94 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: aristocrats who wanted to rule alongside the Royalists. Their insurrection 95 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:57,719 Speaker 1: took advantage of a major power vacuum caused by the 96 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:00,680 Speaker 1: fact that King Louis the fourteenth was just a child 97 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:03,520 Speaker 1: and not able to rule on his own. The insurrection 98 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: broke out in Paris when he was just ten. He 99 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:08,359 Speaker 1: had to be snuck out of the city and was 100 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 1: forced to flee the country. Louis spent the rest of 101 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:14,920 Speaker 1: his childhood in exile, while his mother and advisers fought 102 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: and schemed in his place. Finally, though, in sixteen fifty three, 103 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:22,159 Speaker 1: the royalist forces won a series of major victories, allowing 104 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: Louis to return to Paris. For the moment, the fighting 105 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:28,040 Speaker 1: had paused, but there were a lot of open questions. 106 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: No one knew whether the Frond was actually over or 107 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 1: just moving into a new phase. It would be one 108 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: thing if Louis were capable of ruling decisively, but he 109 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:39,680 Speaker 1: was still a teenager, not even fifteen yet, and no 110 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:43,640 Speaker 1: one in France had seen him in years. In his absence, 111 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,080 Speaker 1: the nobles had begun to wonder who exactly was their king. 112 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:50,480 Speaker 1: They got their answer on February twenty third of sixteen 113 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,839 Speaker 1: fifty three. Starting at six o'clock that evening, France was 114 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 1: reintroduced to Louis the fourteenth through one of the most 115 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: spectacular grand entrances in history. He appeared on stage before 116 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 1: an audience of Parisian courtiers, and as the orchestra began 117 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: to play, Louis performed a ballet. A hush fell over 118 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 1: the audience as the young king began to glide across 119 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: the stage, moving with surprising grace and power for such 120 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: a young dancer. His time in exile had been spent 121 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:22,520 Speaker 1: studying court ballet under notable masters, and he'd become an 122 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: impressive athlete. His talent was matched by incredible endurance and versatility. 123 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 1: The show was physically demanding, containing forty three separate mini ballets. 124 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: These were broken up by a variety of performance arts, 125 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:39,560 Speaker 1: all with Louis as the star. He sang, performed poetry 126 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: readings enacted in dramatic scenes brought to life through elaborate 127 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: costumes and groundbreaking special effects. The plot was a clear 128 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 1: allegory for the country's recent upheaval. Featuring witches, werewolves, and goddesses, 129 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:57,440 Speaker 1: Louis performed six different roles, culminating in his performance as 130 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:01,240 Speaker 1: the sun god Apollo. In this final he was elevated 131 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 1: onto the stage by a rising platform adorned in gold 132 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: and glittering gemstones, heavy plumage, and golden sun rays extended 133 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 1: from a tiara to frame his painted face. The king 134 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: cut an unforgettable golden figure dancing across the stage while 135 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: the real sun rose over Paris. The performance had lasted 136 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 1: twelve hours, from dusk to dawn. When it finally concluded, 137 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:27,960 Speaker 1: the audience was left breathless, reeling at what they had 138 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:30,680 Speaker 1: just witnessed. But there were no longer any doubts about 139 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 1: their king. His virility, strength and power had been put 140 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:38,199 Speaker 1: on display for all to see. Soon after his performance, 141 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:41,319 Speaker 1: the nobles who had grasped for power quickly fell in line. 142 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:46,040 Speaker 1: The rebellion was broken, their humiliation complete. In the coming years, 143 00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:50,320 Speaker 1: they would have even less influence than ever before. Meanwhile, 144 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: Louis the fourteenth would reign for seventy two years, making 145 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:57,800 Speaker 1: him the longest ruler in French history. Forever afterwards, he 146 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:00,320 Speaker 1: was known as the Sun King. In reference to his 147 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:04,080 Speaker 1: role as Apollo in that first ballet performance. And while 148 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:07,440 Speaker 1: he wasn't always popular, he maintained an iron grip on 149 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:10,360 Speaker 1: the government for the rest of his life. And that's 150 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 1: how Louis the fourteenth put down a French revolution through 151 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: the power of dance. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided 152 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on 153 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:28,439 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting 154 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 1: Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me 155 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 1: Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make 156 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:40,599 Speaker 1: another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, 157 00:09:40,679 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all 158 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:47,720 Speaker 1: about it over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until 159 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,839 Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.