Curated playlist
Ig Nobel laureates
- Donald TrumpDonald Trump was a millionaire in inflation-adjusted terms by age eight.
- Boris JohnsonBoris Johnson's earliest recorded ambition was to be "world king". He was born on the 19th of June 1964 on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He is one of only two British prime ministers to have been an American citizen. Supporters praise…
- BPBP began in May 1908 when British geologists struck oil in southwestern Persia.
- Atal Bihari VajpayeeAtal Bihari Vajpayee ordered nuclear tests, then rode a bus to Lahore.
- L. Ron HubbardL. Ron Hubbard, the American writer who founded Scientology, once told his wife exactly what he wanted from life. In a letter, he declared: "I have high hopes of smashing my name into history so violently that it will take a legendary form…
- Narendra ModiNarendra Modi became prime minister of India in 2014, and he was the first person to hold that office who was born after independence from the British Empire in 1947. He was born on the 17th of September 1950. Today he is the…
- Vladimir PutinVladimir Putin's grandfather cooked personal meals for both Lenin and Stalin. Putin later joined the KGB in 1975.
- Edward TellerEdward Teller stood and watched the Trinity test while nearly everyone else lay face-down.
- Recep Tayyip ErdoğanRecep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has governed Turkey first as prime minister and then as president, once compared democracy to a train. In 1994, newly elected as mayor of Istanbul, he said: "Democracy is like a train: when we reach our…
- B. F. SkinnerB. F. Skinner proposed steering missiles with pigeons. The birds pecked at a screen showing the target.
- Deepak ChopraDeepak Chopra sold 137,000 copies of one book within 24 hours of appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in July 1993. That figure comes from the physician and author Paul Offit, who adds that sales reached 400,000 by the end of the week.…
- Royal NavyIn 1216, a French prince landed in England unopposed. King John had no navy to stop him, which led to the Royal Navy.