1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:08,000 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 4 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: Welcome to the cabinet of curiosities. As children were taught 5 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 1: to respect our elders, they've earned the wisdom that comes 6 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:34,840 Speaker 1: from a long life filled with experience. And yet when 7 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 1: we reach a certain age, we sometimes forget where we 8 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 1: came from and who helped shape us into the people 9 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: we are today. As we grow up, we grow apart 10 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:47,839 Speaker 1: from our parents. New careers, new relationships, and new generations 11 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:52,479 Speaker 1: only widened that gap, but not for Kailash Geary Brahmachari 12 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 1: of India. He and his mother are close. In fact, 13 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: Kailash takes her everywhere and anywhere she wants to go. 14 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: When he was eight years old, Kailash fell from a 15 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: tree he was climbing and broke one of his bones. 16 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: His family didn't have money for treatment, so his mother 17 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: did the only thing she could do. She prayed. If 18 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: he recovered, his mother would travel to the most religious 19 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: locations in India and pray and give thanks. Her prayer 20 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:21,680 Speaker 1: seemed to work, as Kailash fracture healed without medical intervention 21 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: of any kind. His mother had hoped to honor her 22 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:27,560 Speaker 1: promise immediately, but wasn't able to make the journey on 23 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 1: her own. Kai Lash's father had died when he was 24 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: only ten years old. It wasn't until her son turned 25 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 1: twenty four when she could repay her debt and begin 26 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 1: her pilgrimage. One day, Kailash packed up all their belongings 27 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:41,679 Speaker 1: and set out into the world with the goal of 28 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: visiting the most sacred sites in India before his mother died. 29 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: They've been traveling for over twenty years and have covered 30 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: almost twenty four thousand miles together. His mother is in 31 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:54,760 Speaker 1: her mid nineties now. They have no money and no 32 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 1: means of transportation, So how do they get around? On foot? 33 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 1: Of course, well, Kailash travels on foot. His mother, however, 34 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: has more comfortable accommodations. She sits in a basket which 35 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: hangs from a wooden planks slung over her son's shoulder. 36 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: It's counterbalanced on the opposite side. Using their clothes and 37 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,760 Speaker 1: the few belongings that they own, Kailash has carried his 38 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:20,519 Speaker 1: mother this way for half his life. He begins the 39 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: trek each day at six thirty a m. And travels 40 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: until the early afternoon. At that time, they eat and 41 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 1: rest before resuming their journey. When the sun isn't so overbearing, 42 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: they walk until dark, covering about three to four miles 43 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: per day, sleeping in local temples. People who meet them 44 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,640 Speaker 1: along the way offer them food and other donations to 45 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: aid in their travels. They referred to Kailash as a 46 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: real life Schravin Kumar. According to the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana, 47 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 1: Schravin was a mythological character who was very devoted to 48 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: his parents. His mother and father were blind and almost 49 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,240 Speaker 1: never left their home. As they got older, however, they 50 00:02:57,240 --> 00:02:59,680 Speaker 1: decided they wanted to take a pilgrimage to the forty 51 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: Whole sites they believed would purify their souls before they died. 52 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: Much like Kailash, Travin's family didn't have a lot of money, 53 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 1: so he placed his mother in one basket and his 54 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: father in another, and suspended each from the end of 55 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,480 Speaker 1: a long bamboo pole, which he supported across his shoulders. 56 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 1: The story is well known, and Kailash his own journey 57 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: with his mother has made people wonder if Chavan has 58 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: somehow come to life before their eyes. But Kailash isn't 59 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 1: doing this for the fame or the glory. He's doing 60 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 1: it to help the woman who prayed for his health 61 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: and took care of him when he got hurt. Together, 62 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: they visited a long list of religious sites in India, 63 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 1: but they have several more to go. With twenty four 64 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: thousand miles behind them and many more ahead, it's not 65 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: clear when their pilgrimage will ever come to an end. 66 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: All that matters, though, is that they've got each other 67 00:03:50,600 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: for support every step of the way. People are never 68 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: just one thing. They can have numerous passions and interests 69 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: across different areas of their lives. In other words, people 70 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: are complex. Try to put them in a little box, 71 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 1: and they'll do their best to break out of it, 72 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: showing you that there's more to them than meets the eye. 73 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: Eva didn't fit into any kind of box, no matter 74 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:27,920 Speaker 1: how hard the people around her tried to squash her 75 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 1: into one. Born in Vienna in nineteen fourteen, she worked 76 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: various jobs in the nineteen twenties and early thirties, trying 77 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: to make a name for herself. In the early thirties, 78 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 1: she fell in love with a man named Friedrich, who 79 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:44,560 Speaker 1: despite being half Jewish, was involved with fascist Italian leader 80 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: Benito Mussolini and eventually Adolf Hitler. Friedrich married Eva in 81 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty three, and immediately trying to curb her ambitions. 82 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:55,279 Speaker 1: He kept her locked up in their castle on the 83 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,359 Speaker 1: check border, only letting her out to accompany him on 84 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 1: business deals. Friedrich, you see, was an arms dealer, and 85 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 1: he supplied fascist governments with weapons. He also assisted their 86 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:11,839 Speaker 1: scientists with developing new military technologies. Those consultations were where 87 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 1: his wife found out about a new passion applied science. 88 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,719 Speaker 1: The trouble was Eva wouldn't have been able to pursue 89 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:21,040 Speaker 1: any kind of future in the field with her husband 90 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 1: keeping tabs on her night and day, so she planned 91 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:27,160 Speaker 1: an elaborate escape. One night, she and her husband had 92 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,640 Speaker 1: been invited to a dinner party, one of the few 93 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:31,839 Speaker 1: events where she would be allowed out of their home. 94 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,120 Speaker 1: She convinced Fredrich to let her wear all the jewelry 95 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: she owned to the party. Afterwards, still wearing every necklace, 96 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:41,920 Speaker 1: bracelet and ring in her possession, she dressed up as 97 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: the maid and left in the dead of night. She 98 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: chose Paris to start her new life. The fascist governments 99 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:51,800 Speaker 1: in Italy and Germany kept growing, and even knew that 100 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 1: if she didn't get her mother out of Vienna soon, 101 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: she would also be taken away. So in ninety eight, 102 00:05:57,320 --> 00:05:59,920 Speaker 1: she helped her mother escaped to the United States right 103 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:04,160 Speaker 1: after the Nazis annexed Austria, and Eva was resourceful too. 104 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 1: Now living full time in the United States, she learned 105 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:09,280 Speaker 1: how to speak perfect English and got a job to 106 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: sustain both herself and her mother, But she wanted to 107 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:15,599 Speaker 1: do more, specifically for the war effort. She talked to 108 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: a member of the newly formed National Inventors Council about 109 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: joining their organization. It seemed that her fascination with science 110 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:25,479 Speaker 1: and technology had not waned in the years since she 111 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:29,600 Speaker 1: had married Friedrich. However, he turned her away, encouraging her 112 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:32,520 Speaker 1: to do other things to help the boys oversea, like 113 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:37,039 Speaker 1: selling war bonds. Undeterred, she turned to another inventor, a 114 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: man named Howard Hughes, and Hughes put her to work 115 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: in modifying his aircraft designs, which he felt were too 116 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:47,599 Speaker 1: boxy and slow. He gave her whatever resources she required, 117 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: including his own team of engineers and scientists. Eva purchased 118 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:54,360 Speaker 1: books on the fastest birds and fish in the world. 119 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:58,680 Speaker 1: She borrowed Nature's eye for aerodynamics, using it to streamline 120 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: a new wing shape for us as airplanes. She also 121 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: used her time with Hughes to develop a tablet that 122 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:06,719 Speaker 1: could be dropped into a glass of water to carbonate it. 123 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:10,080 Speaker 1: The taste was something akin to alka seltzer, which couldn't 124 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: be avoided even with Hughes's own chemists working on the project. 125 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 1: As the war raged on, though, she got word of 126 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: an evacuee ship that had been carrying ninety children from 127 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: Britain to Canada. A German sub in the area had 128 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:24,640 Speaker 1: fired two torpedoes at it, sending it to the bottom 129 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 1: of the ocean. Within thirty minutes. Seventy seven of the 130 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:31,880 Speaker 1: ninety children on board were lost. Eva saw that selling 131 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 1: war bonds wouldn't be enough to end the war and 132 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:37,480 Speaker 1: remembered what she learned on those business meetings she attended 133 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: with her husband. She knew the radio signals that controlled 134 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:44,000 Speaker 1: torpedoes could be jammed by an enemy, sending the missiles 135 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,160 Speaker 1: off course. In order for those signals to avoid detection, 136 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:50,160 Speaker 1: they would need to jump from frequency to frequency over 137 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 1: a wide spectrum. Eva even illustrated this concept by partnering 138 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:58,000 Speaker 1: with a pianist who used sixteen player pianos controlled by 139 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 1: one transmitter. There developed MINT came to be known as 140 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: frequency hopping spread spectrum or f h s S, and 141 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: would have given the United States a huge advantage at 142 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: sea by making their torpedoes almost impossible to jam. She 143 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: and the musician filed the patent for the technology, which 144 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: was granted in ninete. The military, however, had no interest 145 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:22,119 Speaker 1: in adopting it. She was simply ahead of her time, 146 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: way ahead. It seems as her design has gone on 147 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: to influence such widespread technologies as Bluetooth, GPS, and WiFi. 148 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 1: During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Navy ships were installed with 149 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:37,079 Speaker 1: f h s S systems based on Eva's research as well. 150 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: Even after the war, she never stopped inventing. She went 151 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: on to develop all sorts of new things, like updates 152 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:45,960 Speaker 1: to the traffic light and a glow in the dark 153 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 1: dog color. She also helped streamline the design of the 154 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:53,200 Speaker 1: Concord supersonic jetliner, and yet she's not typically known for 155 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:56,440 Speaker 1: her scientific work. In fact, she wasn't recognized for it 156 00:08:56,520 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: until the end of the twentieth century. People knew her 157 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:02,680 Speaker 1: better for her beauty than her brains. After all, while 158 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 1: Disney used her face as the model for snow White, 159 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:08,600 Speaker 1: but she was more than that. In fact, she was 160 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: a star of the silver screen and often called the 161 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:15,400 Speaker 1: most beautiful actress in the world, which explains why Hedwig 162 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:19,120 Speaker 1: Eva Maria Kisler, one of the greatest scientific minds of 163 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: the century, spent decades known only by her stage name 164 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:30,680 Speaker 1: hetty Lamar. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of 165 00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:34,640 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, 166 00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:38,280 Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast 167 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:42,520 Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky 168 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:46,080 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award 169 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:49,640 Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, 170 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:52,320 Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it 171 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:55,960 Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until 172 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:57,959 Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.