World History

The story of Laika (above, in a postage stamp from the Emirate of Ajman, now part of the UAE) lives on today in websites, YouTube videos, poems, and children’s books, at least one of which provides a happy ending for the doomed dog.

The Sad, Sad Story of Laika, the Space Dog, and Her One-Way Trip Into Orbit

A stray Moscow pup traveled into orbit in 1957 with one meal and only a seven-day oxygen supply

Anti-cholera inoculation in Calcutta in 1894.

Science Still Bears the Fingerprints of Colonialism

Western science long relied on the knowledge and exploitation of colonized peoples. In many ways, it still does

Photographer Witnesses Final Moments Before Plane Crash

National Airlines Flight 102 took off from an airfield in northeastern Afghanistan. Minutes later, it would stall in midair before crashing to the ground

AirAsia Flight 8501 Plummets into Java Sea Mid-Flight

On December 28, 2014, 43 minutes into its flight, AirAsia Flight 8501 vanished from radar. With 162 people on board, it would go down

Tokyoites watch Hideo Nomo pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers at Sony Plaza on June 30, 1995.

How Baseball Has Strengthened the Relationship Between the United States and Japan

The effects of war, economic tension and accidental deaths have been mitigated by a sport that both cultures treasure

This Pilot Made an Emergency Landing in a Shallow River

It’s January 16, 2002 and Garuda Indonesia Flight 421 is struggling with a loss of power. The captain decides to perform a maneuver

U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev exchange pens during the signing ceremony for the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in the White House East Room on December 8, 1987.

Why “The Americans” Is Taking a Big Leap Forward to 1987

The beginning of the end of the Soviet Union provides great drama for the show’s final season

Virginia Irwin, in St. Louis in 1939. The Post-Dispatch on the desk next to her typewriter is the edition of Oct. 17, 1939, reporting the German sinking of the British Battleship Royal Oak at Scapa Flow, Scotland.

Women Who Shaped History

Journalist Virginia Irwin Broke Barriers When She Reported From Berlin at the End of WWII

Her exclusive dispatches from the last days of Nazi Germany appeared in newspapers around the country, briefly making her a national celebrity

Donald Sutherland stars as John Paul Getty.

The True Story of “Trust,” Yet Another Interpretation of the Getty Kidnapping

Writers of the FX program have a much different spin than the recent movie on the same subject matter

Did This Co-Pilot Willfully Crash Into the French Alps?

On the morning of March 24, 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525 sets off from Barcelona, on its way to Dusseldorf

This silk velvet ikat robe was made specifically for a woman, as evidenced by the pinched waist. Velvet ikats were considered top-of-the-line, the Freer|Sackler's Massumeh Farhad explains, because two rows of weft were needed instead of the usual one.

How the Technicolor Ikat Designs of Central Asia Thread Into Textile History

A new Smithsonian exhibition sheds light on the rich backstory of an oft-imitated tradition

These Minesweeping Boats Paved the Way for D-Day

Harbor Defense Motor Launches, or HDMLs, were tiny wooden boats built to protect British ports against German submarines

This Inventor Made the Famed D-Day Swimming Tanks

Without Nicholas Straussler, D-Day wouldn't have been possible. He came up with the design for the Duplex Drives tanks - a key part of the initial invasion

Grizzly, a detection dog in training, is learning to sniff out stolen antiquities.

Dogs May Soon Be on the Front Lines in the Fight Against Artifact Smuggling

A project with the University of Pennsylvania is seeking a new tool in an important battle

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute archaeologist Ashley Sharpe contemplates the Ceibal site in Guatemala—one of the oldest Maya sites known.

Dogs Were Transported Across Great Distances for Ancient Maya Rituals

A new paper uses chemistry to shed light on the management of Maya animals

Ahmad Shah (r. 1909–25) and his cabinet by Assadullah al-Husayni naqqash-bashi, 1910

In Persia’s Dynastic Portraiture, Bejeweled Thrones and Lavish Decor Message Authority

Paintings and 19th century photographs offer a rare window into the lives of the royal family

A 1988 Flight From Denver Crashes in Bad Weather

It's January 19, 1988, and Trans-Colorado Flight 2286 is attempting to land at Durango La Plata Airport

How the Battle of Jutland Pushed Britain to the Limit

Going into World War I, the British Navy tasted success for well over a century. By 1916, they finally had an adversary that would test their abilities

The Proliferation of Happiness

A professor of consumer culture tracks the history of positive psychology

Abigail Spencer as Lucy Preston, Malcolm Barrett as Rufus Carlin, and Matt Lanter as Wyatt Logan travel to 1918 in the first episode of season two of "Timeless"

'Timeless' Recapped

Buckle Up, History Nerds — “Timeless” Is Back and As Usual, Gets the Facts Mostly Right

In a new editorial series, we recap the NBC show that puts a new twist on American history

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