The space race officially began on October 4, 1957, at 7:28 PM Moscow Time. That was when Sputnik was launched into orbit as the first artificial satellite, and from that moment, it was on. But when did the space race end? That is a much trickier question and there is no formal answer. However, I think an excellent case can be made for July 17, 1975. Learn more about the Apollo/Soyuz Test Program and the handshake that ended the space race on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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For thousands of years, food storage was one of humanity’s biggest problems. Even if you could grow or hunt sufficient calories when food was abundant, it was very difficult to store those calories for when food was scarce. One man made a huge advancement in our ability to store foods, which now allows us to enjoy fresh produce all year round. Learn more about Clarence Birdseye, and the invention of frozen foods, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Standards make everything easier. When everyone can agree on a standard way to do things, regardless of how it is done, it can reduce confusion and facilitate progress. You’d think if there was one thing that would be standardized everywhere, it would be the side of the road everyone drives on. I mean, there are only two options. Yet, there is no global standard for what side to drive on.

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In 2002 the BBC did a poll where they named the top 100 Britons in history. It had many people you have probably heard of, including Isaac Newton, Princess Diana, John Lenon, and Queen Victoria. The person who was ranked #2, however, is someone that many people outside of the UK might not have heard of. Yet, he really is one of the most important people when it came to the development of the modern world. Learn more about Isambard Kingdom Brunel on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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László Polgár was born just after World War II in Hungary. His field of study was the nature of human intelligence. After studying the lives of over 400 great intellectuals from throughout human history, he came to a startling conclusion: geniuses weren’t born, they were made. So he set about conducting an experiment on his own children. The results were astonishing. Learn more about Judit, Susan, and Sophia, the incredible Polgar sisters, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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On May 7th, 1824, in Vienna, Austria, the musical world changed forever. The assembled crowd in the Theater am Kärntnertor heard one of the most groundbreaking and revolutionary musical performances in history. However, there was one person in attendance who didn’t hear the performance. The composer, Ludwig van Beethoven. Learn more about Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and how it changed the musical landscape forever, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show and independent media, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate.

A note on notes: We’d much rather you just went into each episode of The Memory Palace cold. And just let the story take you where it well. So, we don’t suggest looking into the show notes first.

Music:

• Flowering Jasmine as performed by Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Batica.

• Kaspburger by Clogs

• 20 (Lichen) by Berndan Eder Ensemble

• Fall Again by Duval Timothy, Lil Silva and Melanie Faye.

• Wurzer by H.Takahashi

• Bone Collector by Julian Lage and Chris Etheridge

• Titan’s Island by Ancient Oceans

Notes:

• My favorite account (among many) of Richard Etheridge and the story of the Pea Island Surfmen is Fire on the Beach by David Wright and David Zoby.

The British House of Commons has been called the Best Club in Town due to the fact that there is a 1,000-gallon vat of Scotch whiskey located in the cellar. However, I prefer to think of it as a roach motel. Because technically, once you are elected to Parliament, you can’t leave. It is actually illegal to resign from the House of Commons. Yet, people seemingly do all the time. Learn more about the convoluted way you can quit the House of Commons on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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