1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke'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 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting 5 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,319 Speaker 1: It was just another day for Clara. She was at 7 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:41,560 Speaker 1: her desk when the assignment came in with the most 8 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:45,279 Speaker 1: basic instructions. For a while, she stared at the objects 9 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 1: before her. Working with a model of molecules, she twirled 10 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:52,599 Speaker 1: the pieces in her hand. She connected and disconnected them, 11 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: going over the chemistry project again and again. Those who 12 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: knew her often said that when she set her mind 13 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: to something, she was deterred to see it through to 14 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 1: the end. It took a little time, but then everything 15 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: just sort of clicked into place. Clara put the model 16 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,120 Speaker 1: together and reviewed her work. Not only had she finished 17 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:13,119 Speaker 1: her assignment, but she felt pretty sure that she might 18 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 1: have just discovered something new. To verify her results, she 19 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:19,759 Speaker 1: handed the model over to Kenneth Bonner, an employee ad 20 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:23,400 Speaker 1: Border Star in Kansas City, Missouri, and waited patiently for 21 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 1: his opinion had she come up with a new scientific discovery. 22 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: Although he'd given her the assignment, he wasn't a chemistry expert. 23 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:34,000 Speaker 1: Kenneth snap some photos on his cell phone and sent 24 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:36,839 Speaker 1: them to Professor Robert Zohner, a friend of his working 25 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:40,520 Speaker 1: at humbold State University in California, and then Clara and 26 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: Kenneth waited. Robert stared at the photos on his phone. 27 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: Usually he could tell right away if a new molecule 28 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: was the real deal or not, but this time he 29 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 1: had to take another look. He had never seen anything 30 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 1: quite like it. Intrigued, he ran one of the photos 31 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:59,360 Speaker 1: through an online chemistry database. After an exhaustive search through 32 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: literature dating back to nineteen oh four, the software came 33 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 1: back with something he never expected. Although Clara's molecule that 34 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,800 Speaker 1: contained carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen didn't exist in nature, it 35 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:13,600 Speaker 1: was something very real. It shared a formula with another finding, 36 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:17,760 Speaker 1: except the Adams had a different arrangement. The reports showed 37 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: that adams between the two discoveries had similarities, namely nitroglycerin. Essentially, 38 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: Clara had created a molecule capable of creating an explosion, 39 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: and while that sounds simple enough, it also showed promise 40 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 1: for storing energy in theory, it could do both. No 41 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:36,920 Speaker 1: one at the university was sure of which and to 42 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: what degree. Robert published a paper in Computational and Theoretical 43 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: Chemistry on the breakthrough, with Clara and Kenneth as his 44 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: co authors. They called the molecule tetra nitra toxicarbon, and 45 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: if you think that's a mouthful, my friend, that is 46 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: the short name for it. The trio is still unsure 47 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:58,280 Speaker 1: of how the scientific community will respond or what the 48 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:00,800 Speaker 1: discovery might be used for in the fuel future, but 49 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: Clara was a static and kitted that she had never 50 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:05,919 Speaker 1: expected to be published as an author at that point 51 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:09,839 Speaker 1: in her life. Given the circumstances, the press couldn't wait 52 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:13,000 Speaker 1: to interview Clara. The attention didn't seem to face her, though. 53 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:15,919 Speaker 1: She suggested to the journalist that maybe she could sell 54 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:18,800 Speaker 1: the ideas to the military. Outside of the government, it 55 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: also might be of interest to scientists searching for new 56 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 1: ways to store energy. Meanwhile, Clara has a renewed love 57 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:29,079 Speaker 1: of chemistry and biology. Even her peers seem more interested. 58 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: Back at the university, Robert hopes that his co author 59 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: will inspire young girls to become scientists. He admits that 60 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: he's never co authored with anyone like Clara before, and 61 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:43,000 Speaker 1: to Kenneth, nothing makes him happier. It's unclear if the 62 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:46,240 Speaker 1: interviewer asked what was next for the talented inventor, but 63 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: I can imagine her response. Graduation, not college or high school. 64 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: We're talking middle school here. You see. Kenneth is a 65 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: teacher at the Border Star Montissori School in Kansas, and 66 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: at the time of her explosive discovery, his student, Clara Lasin, 67 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: was just ten years old. Mind blown. I guess you 68 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: could say that when it comes to science, Clara is 69 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: in her element. In the eleven seventies BCE, the world 70 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 1: was ending. The Late Bronze Age was a great moment 71 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,919 Speaker 1: for humanity, with an explosion of trade, agriculture, technology, and 72 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: in less than a century it was all gone. It 73 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: was like something out of an apocalypse movie. Cities left 74 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: totally abandoned and crumbling, farmlands burned to ash, and the 75 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: remnants of battles between the inhabitants and some mysterious foe. 76 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:53,640 Speaker 1: For years, historians have debated the cause of such a 77 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: massive and widespread collapse of civilization. Some believe that there 78 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: were natural explanations earthquakes or climate change, which could have 79 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,920 Speaker 1: caused drought and famine. Natural disasters would of course lead 80 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 1: to internal instability that could spread far and wide. Maybe 81 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 1: that's what happened to the near mythical Sea Peoples. We 82 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:15,760 Speaker 1: have no idea where they came from or why they 83 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:18,839 Speaker 1: took up rating. Maybe it was a grudge, maybe it 84 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: was sheer desperation, or maybe it was jealousy that brought 85 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:25,159 Speaker 1: the Sea People to egypt shores time and time again. 86 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: When the collapse began in the eleven seventies, heralded by 87 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 1: a solar eclipse if you can believe it, Plenty of 88 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: civilizations crumbled, yet Egypt endured. It was hardly a comfortable 89 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:39,600 Speaker 1: position to be in, especially given the frequent raids by 90 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: the Sea Peoples. Ramsey the third has gone down in 91 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:45,279 Speaker 1: history as the last good pharaoh of the New Kingdom, 92 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 1: and a lot of that was likely due to his 93 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 1: defeat of the Sea Peoples and an end to their 94 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: reign of terror. Still, casualties were heavy on both sides. 95 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: This loss of life, combined with a diminished harvest and 96 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:02,159 Speaker 1: fewer viable trade routes, was steadily tanking their economy. This 97 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: was hardly the time for a grand tour, but Ramsey's 98 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: the Third was determined to raise Egypt back up to 99 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:11,560 Speaker 1: their former glory. That kind of ambition took money and resources, 100 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:14,719 Speaker 1: and Egypt was kind of flacking in both at the moment. 101 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: Ramsey's attempts to raise those funds were unsuccessful. The country 102 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:21,560 Speaker 1: was in a deep pit following the wars with the 103 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:25,239 Speaker 1: sea people's and corrupt officials Siphoning the money away couldn't 104 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: have helped. The coffers remained relatively bare. When in eleven 105 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:33,800 Speaker 1: fifty nine BCE, wages for tomb builders and artisans, Egypt's 106 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: most important laborers arrived a month late and a time 107 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,040 Speaker 1: when money and food were stretched thin. He would think 108 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 1: that officials would have been falling all over themselves to 109 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:45,200 Speaker 1: correct the problem. And to be fair, there was a 110 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:48,719 Speaker 1: distribution of grain, but nothing was fixed. Essentially, what the 111 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: officials gave them amounted to a modern office pizza party. 112 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: Officials had bigger things on their mind at the time, 113 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:58,359 Speaker 1: namely a huge celebration that was being thrown in honor 114 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:01,359 Speaker 1: of Ramsey's the Third's thirty years on the throne. The 115 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 1: Grand Festival was eating up labor, time and money, and 116 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:08,880 Speaker 1: once again, a month later, wages were delayed. The workers 117 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: waited eighteen days for their pay to be delivered, and 118 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: when the officials weren't forthcoming with coin or information, they 119 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: threw down their tools and marched towards the city, shouting, 120 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:22,040 Speaker 1: we are hungry. It was the first recorded strike in history. 121 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: They assembled at Ramsey's, the third Mortuary Temple, agitated and 122 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 1: calling for their wages. The officials were flabbergasted. According to 123 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:34,080 Speaker 1: their religious beliefs, anyone from the pharaoh to a peasant 124 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: had a place in the universe that they could never 125 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: rise or fall from. A strike totally violated those principles, 126 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,440 Speaker 1: and they didn't know what to do. After deliberating for 127 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 1: some time, officials had an airtight plan pastries, which were 128 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:53,680 Speaker 1: delivered to the furious workers. After all, they were hungry. Unsurprisingly, 129 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: the workers weren't persuaded and marched on to the grain 130 00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:00,320 Speaker 1: storehouses in Thebes the When they broke in, pol police 131 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:02,640 Speaker 1: were summoned and the chief demanded the workers returned to 132 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 1: their posts. The laborers, though refused. The chief baffled, shrugged 133 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:10,360 Speaker 1: over the lack of results, and abandoned the officials to 134 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 1: handle the situation. Negotiations were about to begin. Officials forked 135 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: over the back pay to the workers, who then dispersed, 136 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 1: But no sooner had they reached their village than word 137 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,280 Speaker 1: arrived that their next wages were not coming. Once again, 138 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: they went on strike, but this time they took it 139 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:29,240 Speaker 1: a step further and blockaded access to the valley of 140 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:32,959 Speaker 1: the King's In a culture that so revered death, offerings 141 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:37,080 Speaker 1: were incredibly important, so this was a devastating measure. They 142 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 1: meant business and stood their ground when officials arrived with 143 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: armed guards. When threatened, the strikers threatened to damage the 144 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 1: royal tombs. Both sides had reached an impasse. This strike 145 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:51,839 Speaker 1: could have brought down the pharaoh himself. According to their 146 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:54,199 Speaker 1: order of the universe, the pharaoh was supposed to take 147 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 1: care of their people, and if he wasn't, then what 148 00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 1: good was he. The strike lasted for three years, off 149 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 1: and on. Finally, though officials reached out to a vizier 150 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:05,439 Speaker 1: for help, but they might not have told them the 151 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: whole story. The strike didn't really reflect well on them, 152 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 1: and there was a possibility that they could be executed 153 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:15,760 Speaker 1: for failing to do their duty. Negotiations began, pay was distributed, 154 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: the laborers abandoned their strike camps and returned home, and 155 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:21,880 Speaker 1: the jubilee went off without a hitch. In eleven fifty 156 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:26,040 Speaker 1: six BCE, a party would help anyone forget their daily woes, 157 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:28,760 Speaker 1: But the shadow of the strike lingered, and it was 158 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:32,040 Speaker 1: only the first one big event in the deep mists 159 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:35,800 Speaker 1: of time, reminding all of us that were stronger together. 160 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:43,120 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 161 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 162 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:51,400 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 163 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership 164 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,559 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 165 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:02,720 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is podcast, book series, and television show, 166 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:05,719 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at Theworldoflore 167 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.