Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting
Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Speaker 1: George was born in England on July fourth of seventeen ninety,
Speaker 1: fourteen years after America had first declared independence from Great Britain.
Speaker 1: George had five other siblings, two younger and three older,
Speaker 1: and his father was an upstanding member of the community,
Speaker 1: serving as the local Justice of the Peace. George started
Speaker 1: his professional life as a cadet with the East India
Speaker 1: Company in eighteen oh six, and after graduating from the
Speaker 1: Royal Military College in Marlow, he was sent to India itself,
Speaker 1: but we're not exactly sure why. We do know that
Speaker 1: he was made a second lieutenant with the Bengal Army
Speaker 1: and that he was quite gifted in astronomy and mathematics.
Speaker 1: But around eighteen fourteen, George's work begins to come into
Speaker 1: focus more. That year, while on Secundament in Java, off
Speaker 1: the coast of Indonesia, he was given the job of
Speaker 1: surveying the entire island. This led to more survey work
Speaker 1: in India as he mapped a four hundred mile line
Speaker 1: between Calcutta and Banaras. Eventually, George's dedication and work ethic
Speaker 1: was noticed by a man named William Lambton, who had
Speaker 1: been heading up a project called the Great Trigonometrical Survey
Speaker 1: or the GTS. The GTS was a plan to map
Speaker 1: the entirety of India with a kind of detail and
Speaker 1: precision that had never been done before, the kind of
Speaker 1: precision George had come to be known for. Lambton had
Speaker 1: started the survey in eighteen oh two in Madras, but
Speaker 1: it really kicked into gear once he brought George on
Speaker 1: board as his chief assistant. You see, George was assessed
Speaker 1: with accuracy. He didn't just survey the land. He took
Speaker 1: matters into his own hands to verify all the readings
Speaker 1: were as true as possible. He modified the equipment, he
Speaker 1: tweaked the calculations, and he made every effort to reduce
Speaker 1: errors brought on by weather and changes in the landscape. Then,
Speaker 1: in eighteen twenty three, Colonel William Lambton died, leaving George
Speaker 1: in charge of the GTS project going forward. He made
Speaker 1: it his mission to survey a meridian arc or longitudal
Speaker 1: line that his predecessor had been working on. Unfortunately, George
Speaker 1: fell seriously ill, suffering from a fever and rheumatism, which
Speaker 1: partially paralyzed him and prevented him from continuing his work.
Speaker 1: He returned to England in eighteen twenty five and rested
Speaker 1: for the next five years, during which time he pestered
Speaker 1: the East India Company for more advanced equipment. He returned
Speaker 1: to the project in eighteen thirty, at which point he
Speaker 1: was made Surveyor General of India. He then appointed a
Speaker 1: second in command named Andrews Scott Waugh, an officer in
Speaker 1: the British Army. Wild led the survey team over the
Speaker 1: next eleven years to complete the map of the meridian
Speaker 1: arc from Cape Comorin in the south tip of India
Speaker 1: all the way to the Himalayas, a distance of about
Speaker 1: fifteen hundred miles. George didn't do much field work during
Speaker 1: this time as the Surveyor General, his days were spent
Speaker 1: behind a desk. He wound up resigning from his position
Speaker 1: one year later in November of eighteen forty two, but
Speaker 1: George continued on writing about his work in India and
Speaker 1: earning awards from the Royal Astronomical Society. He passed away
Speaker 1: at his home in eighteen sixty six, when he was
Speaker 1: seventy six years old. Now, George had done a lot
Speaker 1: during his time, but his legacy would not be the
Speaker 1: Meridian arc that he had helped map, nor would it
Speaker 1: be his awards from the various societies of which he
Speaker 1: was a member. Instead, his greatest honor came one year
Speaker 1: before his death, in eighteen sixty five. You see, a
Speaker 1: decade earlier, his successor, Andrew Waw had noted a mountain
Speaker 1: in the Himalayas. His heights had been calculated previously by
Speaker 1: an Indian mathematician named Radhanat Sikdar. In eighteen fifty two.
Speaker 1: Wow took this information and wrote a letter to the
Speaker 1: Royal Geographical Society back in England, claiming that this was
Speaker 1: in fact the tallest mountain in the world. It had
Speaker 1: originally been named Peak B, but Wow had a better
Speaker 1: name in mind, one that would honor the man who
Speaker 1: had given him the job of a lifetime mapping India.
Speaker 1: Back in eighteen thirty. The name for the peak was
Speaker 1: debated for years, with different academic and scholarly groups vying
Speaker 1: for the right to christen the mountain with an appropriate moniker,
Speaker 1: but in the end Wow won out, so in eighteen
Speaker 1: sixty five, Peak B was given the name it would
Speaker 1: be known by forever onward. It was named after George
Speaker 1: George Everest, although his last name got butchered over time,
Speaker 1: which is why we know it today as Mount Everest.
Speaker 1: He was as enigmatic as he was brilliant. He is
Speaker 1: remembered as a first rate oddity, an eccentric genius whose
Speaker 1: contributions to electromagnetism shaped how we understand the world today.
Speaker 1: From an early age, he showed a remarkable aptitude for
Speaker 1: mathematics and a deep curiosity about the natural world. He
Speaker 1: was not an ordinary child by any means, often spending
Speaker 1: hours engrossed in books and scientific experiments. Considered a loner,
Speaker 1: he preferred the company of his thoughts and ideas over
Speaker 1: that of his peers. As he grew older, his passions
Speaker 1: for mathematics intensified. He delved into the works of great
Speaker 1: thinkers like James Clerk Maxwell, whose theories on electromagnetism captivated
Speaker 1: his imagination. Inspired by Maxwell's ideas, he embarked on a
Speaker 1: journey to revolutionize the field of electromagnetism and solve the
Speaker 1: complex problems that plague scientists of his time. It could
Speaker 1: be said that his mind was a whirlwind of ideas
Speaker 1: and innovations. He invented many mathematical techniques that are still
Speaker 1: widely used to date, such as an operational calculus and
Speaker 1: a step function that allowed scientists and engineers to tackle
Speaker 1: complex electromagnetic problems with greater ease and precision. It's like
Speaker 1: having a super toolkit for solving complex equations in mathematics.
Speaker 1: If you're wondering who we're talking about, no, it's not
Speaker 1: Tony Stark. Although our historical superhero was a trailblazer, paving
Speaker 1: the way for future breakthroughs in the field, but our
Speaker 1: inventor's brilliance came with a price. He was a prickly character,
Speaker 1: known for his cantankerous nature and his disdain for the conventional.
Speaker 1: He had little patience for social norms and niceties, often
Speaker 1: alienating those around him. Despite his graphic sterior, however, he
Speaker 1: remained deeply dedicated to his work He spent countless hours
Speaker 1: immersed in his studies, rarely leaving his house and sometimes
Speaker 1: forgetting to eat or sleep. Legend has it that he
Speaker 1: would work late into the night, with his room illuminated
Speaker 1: only by flickering candlelights as he pushed on toward morning.
Speaker 1: His desk was piled high with books written by some
Speaker 1: of the world's most prestigious experts in their given fields.
Speaker 1: Papers with wildly scribbled notes and equations littered his desk.
Speaker 1: I guess you could say that he was a true
Speaker 1: embodiment of the saying mad scientist. But mad or not,
Speaker 1: his contributions to electromagnetism were monumental. He developed a new
Speaker 1: form of vector notation, which simplified the mathematical description of
Speaker 1: electromagnetic fields. He also proposed the existence of a layer
Speaker 1: in the Earth's atmosphere known as the ionosphere, which plays
Speaker 1: a crucial role in the long distance communication used by radios.
Speaker 1: And speaking of communications, his work was groundbreaking when it
Speaker 1: came to the telephone. If you're still guessing who our
Speaker 1: inventor is, no, it's not Alexander Grahambell or even Thomas Edison.
Speaker 1: For about nine years he worked on electric charges, velocity
Speaker 1: and elements of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. So if
Speaker 1: you were thinking of that great inventor, sorry, and although
Speaker 1: I half mentioned radio waves, no it is not Marconi either. No,
Speaker 1: our little known inventor's work was met with both admiration
Speaker 1: and skepticism from the scientific community. Some hailed him as
Speaker 1: a visionary, while others dismissed him as an eccentric with
Speaker 1: unconventional ideas. But our visionary soldiered on, undeterred by the
Speaker 1: opinions of others. He knew his ideas were groundbreaking and
Speaker 1: would eventually be recognized for their true worth. We've all
Speaker 1: heard of the genius of Nikola Tesla and Isaac Newton,
Speaker 1: oddly given our inventors breakthroughs, though his name doesn't appear
Speaker 1: among them. In fact, our inventor never stepped inside a college.
Speaker 1: You see, he grew up poor and couldn't afford a
Speaker 1: higher education. He was self taught as a mathematician and
Speaker 1: also as a physicist and electrical engineer. His achievements rivaled
Speaker 1: those who studied at Harvard, Oxford or other prestigious universees.
Speaker 1: The man I have been describing to you, the enigmatic
Speaker 1: genius who defied societal norms and transformed our understanding of electromagnetism.
Speaker 1: Is British born Oliver Heavyside, one of the world's most
Speaker 1: prolific and lesser known inventors whose works will go on
Speaker 1: to infinity and beyond. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided
Speaker 1: tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting
Speaker 1: Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me
Speaker 1: Aaron Mankey in partnership with How Stuff Works. I make
Speaker 1: another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,
Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all
Speaker 1: about it over at the Worldolore dot com. And until
Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.