Strange Science

Image of Parkes Radio Telescope located in Parkes, Australia
Parkes, Australia

Parkes Radio Telescope

Giant dish located in a sheep paddock was primary receiver of Apollo 11 TV transmissions

When Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969, over 600 million people tuned in to watch the broadcast. The television signals were sent from an antenna on top of the Lunar Module and were received on... »

Strange Science, Instruments of Science | Edited by Trevor and Nicholas Jackson

Image of Tempio Voltiano located in Como, Italy
Como, Italy

Tempio Voltiano

Old batteries and frog skeletons reside in this lakeside monument to Allesandro Volta

Tempio Voltiano, or the Voltian Temple, is a neoclassical monument and museum dedicated to the life and work of the Italian physicist and inventor of the modern battery, Allesandro Volta. In the... »

Strange Science, Instruments of Science, Electrical Oddities, Retro-Tech | Edited by Trevor and wythe

Image of Lake Vostok located in Vostok Station, Antarctica | Side view of Lake Vostok.
Vostok Station, Antarctica

Lake Vostok

Largest sub-glacial lake ever discovered

In 1996, Russian scientists were drilling ice core samples at Vostok Station in Antarctica. When they reached 3,623 meters (11,886 feet), they stopped because they couldn't figure out why the ice... »

Natural Wonders, Watery Wonders, Martian Landscapes, Geological Oddities, Strange Science, Intriguing Environs | Edited by Lockeblade, Tre and 3 others

Image of Marconi National Historic Site located in Cape Breton Island, Canada | A model of the Marconi's original Table Head station at Glace Bay.
Cape Breton Island, Canada

Marconi National Historic Site

Site of the first official transatlantic wireless communications

The beginnings of the wireless age can be traced back to Canada's eastern seaboard. There, at the turn of twentieth century, the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi carried out the first... »

Strange Science, Instruments of Science, Electrical Oddities, Retro-Tech, Incredible Ruins | Edited by Trevor

Image of Pic du Midi Observatory located in Pic du Midi de Bigorre, France
Pic du Midi de Bigorre, France

Pic du Midi Observatory

Futuristic observatory at the top of the Pyrénées offers unrivaled views

The scene at Pic du Midi is one out of a sci-fi movie: A fortified concrete-and-stone complex, packed full of metal domes, sprawls across the top of a precipitous peak above the clouds. At an... »

Strange Science, Instruments of Science | Edited by Trevor, Dylan and others

Image of Baikonur Cosmodrome located in Kosmodrom Baykonur, Kazakhstan | Rollout of the Soyuz rocket for the Expedition 21 mission, September 28, 2009.
Kosmodrom Baykonur, Kazakhstan

Baikonur Cosmodrome

World's oldest and largest space launch facility, once a secret missile testing site

"Dear friends, known and unknown to me, my dear compatriots and all people of the world! Within minutes from now, a mighty Soviet rocket will boost my ship into the vastness of outer space. What I... »

Strange Science, Instruments of Science, Retro-Tech | Edited by Trevor and Dylan

Image of Kaali Meteorite Crater Field located in Kaali, Estonia
Kaali, Estonia

Kaali Meteorite Crater Field

Mysterious craters may have been home to an ancient cult

Kaali, on the Estonian island of Saaremaa, is the site of the last giant meteorite impact to occur in a densely populated region. The landscape that the collision left in its aftermath has been... »

Strange Science, Disaster Areas, Odd Accommodations, Curious Places of Worship, Incredible Ruins | Edited by Trevor, Dylan and others

Image of Belgrade Tesla Museum located in Belgrade, Serbia | Nikola Tesla Museum, Belgrade
Belgrade, Serbia

Belgrade Tesla Museum

Nikola Tesla's ashes are held in a golden sphere, surrounded by his works

In the center of Belgrade, a villa holds the world's largest collection dedicated to the life and work of scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla. Famous for his rivalry with Thomas Edison—and for... »

Strange Science, Relics and Reliquaries, Instruments of Science, Electrical Oddities, Obscura Day Location | Edited by Annetta and wythe

Image of Museo del Manicomio San Servolo - Insane Asylum Museum located in Venice, Italy | Island of San Servolo
Venice, Italy

Museo del Manicomio San Servolo - Insane Asylum Museum

Or why "Are you from San Servolo?" is not a polite question

Known as the "Island of the Mad," for 250 years the Island of San Servolo was the official mental asylum of Venice. Run by the religious order San Giovanni di Dio, the asylum opened in 1725 with... »

Strange Science, Medical Museums, Horticultural Marvels, Repositories of Knowledge | Edited by Annetta and Dylan

Image of Wellcome Collection & Library located in London, United Kingdom
London, United Kingdom

Wellcome Collection & Library

Curios of Pharmacist and Collector Henry Wellcome

Born in Wisconsin in 1853 (five years after the state had been incorporated in the Union), Henry Wellcome studied medicine first hand at a young age, helping his uncle. At 17, he apprenticed... »

Museums and Collections, Wonder Cabinets, Strange Science, Pharmacy Museums, Medical Museums, Unique Collections | Edited by M Rebekah Otto, Annetta and others

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