Fr8monkey
Deity
1) Einstein got bad grades in school.
Generations of children have been heartened by the thought that this Nobel Prize winner did badly at school, but theyre sadly mistaken. In fact, he did very well at school, especially in science and maths (unsurprisingly).
2) Cinco De Mayo is Mexicos independence day.
The truth is, Cinco de Mayo is only a regional celebration in Puebla and commemorates the Mexican victory over France in the Battle of Puebla in 1862. While interesting, Cinco de Mayo is not as important as the bars make it out to be is it?
3) Napoleon was short.
He was actually around 5ft 7, completely average for the 18th/19th century. An explanation is that Napoleon was often seen with his Imperial Guard, which contributed to the perception of him being short because his Imperial Guards were above average height.
4) Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.
Edison invented a lot of things in fact hes one of the most famous inventors of all time but the light bulb wasnt one of them. What he did was develop a light bulb at the same time as the British man, Joseph Swan, who came up with it originally.
5) Lemmings throw themselves over cliffs to commit suicide
The misconception is due largely to the Disney film White Wilderness, which shot many of the migration scenes (also staged by using multiple shots of different groups of lemmings) on a large, snow-covered turntable in a studio. Photographers later pushed the lemmings off a cliff.
6) Water flushes differently in different hemispheres
The Coriolis effect does not determine the direction that water rotates in a bathtub drain or a flushing toilet. Generally speaking, the Coriolis effect is only significant at large scales, such as in weather systems or oceanic currents.
7) Humans evolved from apes
Darwin didnt actually say this, but hes been misreported ever since. What he did say was that we, and apes, and chimpanzees for that matter, had a common ancestor, once, a long, long time ago.
8) Vikings had horns/helmets with horns.
Vikings may have been buried with their helmets and with drinking horns. When they were dug up by the Victorians, they assumed that the helmets had horns.
9) Columbus believed the earth was flat
If the Americas did not exist, and had Columbus continued to India (even putting aside the threat of mutiny he was under), he would have run out of supplies before reaching it at the rate he was traveling. He may not have known how big the world was, but he wasnt worrying about falling off the edge of it.
10) John F. Kennedy Was the Youngest President.
Its true, Kennedy was the youngest elected president. However, Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest president ever. He ascended to the office shortly after McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist. Kennedy was 43 when elected; Roosevelt was just shy of his 43 rd birthday when he took the Oath of Office, giving him a slight edge in the youngest president competition.
11) Washington Was the First President.
He was the first president under the United States Constitution. However, lets not forget about the Articles of Confederation. The title then was President of the Continental Congress, and the position held very little power. It was held by people such as famous politician John Hancock, future Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay, and Speaker of the House of Burgesses Peyton Randolph. Okay, so the last one you may not know, but he held the position twice. The position was abolished when the Constitution came into effect in 1789 and George Washing assumed the title of President of the United States.
12.) Teddy Roosevelt Was Leader of the Rough Riders.
Roosevelt was offered command of the legendary Spanish-American War unit, but turned it down due to his own lack of direct military experience. Roosevelt left his position as Assistant Secretary of the Navy to join the unit, but was never its commanding officer. That position was held Colonel Leonard Wood, a Medal of Honor recipient.
13) America Won the War of 1812.
This one is an extreme misconception. This war was, at best, a draw for America. In fact, the only real reason for the end of this war was the bigger concern of finishing off Napoleon in France.
14) Samuel F. B. Morse invented the telegraph.
What actually happened was that he was working with an American physicist named Joseph Henry. It was actually Henry that designed the telegraph. Morse denied that Henry ever worked with him. However, after a lengthy court battle, Henry was able to prove that Morse obtained the design from Henry. Morse did however, invent the Morse Code.
15) Ben Franklin Discovered Electricity.
Benjamin Franklin did not discover electricity when his kite was struck by lightning in 1752. In fact, electricity was already well known at the time. Instead, Franklin was trying to prove the electrical nature of lightning.
16) The Great Wall of China Is Visible from the Moon.
You can see a lot of things while standing on the moon, but the Great Wall of China isn't one of them. In his 1938 publication, Second Book of Marvels, Richard Halliburton stated that the Great Wall was the only human-made object visible from the moon. However, the Great Wall is only a maximum of 30 feet wide and is about the same color as its surroundings, so it's barely visible to the naked eye while orbiting Earth under ideal conditions, much less from the moon, which is about 239,000 miles away.
17) Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned.
According to Tacitus, a historian of the time, Nero was 30 miles away, at his villa in Antium, when the fire broke out. Many historians believe that the fire was set by Nero's political enemies, who were right in thinking that it would be blamed on him. Actually, Nero was a hero, attempting to extinguish the blaze, finding food and shelter for the homeless, and overseeing the design of the new city.
18) The Egyptian pyramids were built by slaves.
We are all too familiar of those many images and graphic illustrations that we see in the movies and reading materials that we assume that indeed slaves built these great wonders of human feat. However, excavation results show that these super structures were actually built by Egyptians who were permanently working for the pharaoh.
19) Starvation was prevalent during the Great Depression
We usually conjure images of families suffering from starvation due to lack of food and money during the Great Depression. This is far from truth. While there was scarcity of money during this financial upheaval, people were able to pull it through by their ingenuity, resourcefulness and support for each other.
20) The Autobahn was created by Adolf Hitler.
Contrary to popular belief, the Autobahn was not created by Adolf Hitler. The concept of the Autobahn was developed by Konrad Adenauer who was the Cologne mayor in 1931 a full 2 years before Hitler assumed the Chancellorship of Germany.
Generations of children have been heartened by the thought that this Nobel Prize winner did badly at school, but theyre sadly mistaken. In fact, he did very well at school, especially in science and maths (unsurprisingly).
2) Cinco De Mayo is Mexicos independence day.
The truth is, Cinco de Mayo is only a regional celebration in Puebla and commemorates the Mexican victory over France in the Battle of Puebla in 1862. While interesting, Cinco de Mayo is not as important as the bars make it out to be is it?
3) Napoleon was short.
He was actually around 5ft 7, completely average for the 18th/19th century. An explanation is that Napoleon was often seen with his Imperial Guard, which contributed to the perception of him being short because his Imperial Guards were above average height.
4) Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.
Edison invented a lot of things in fact hes one of the most famous inventors of all time but the light bulb wasnt one of them. What he did was develop a light bulb at the same time as the British man, Joseph Swan, who came up with it originally.
5) Lemmings throw themselves over cliffs to commit suicide
The misconception is due largely to the Disney film White Wilderness, which shot many of the migration scenes (also staged by using multiple shots of different groups of lemmings) on a large, snow-covered turntable in a studio. Photographers later pushed the lemmings off a cliff.
6) Water flushes differently in different hemispheres
The Coriolis effect does not determine the direction that water rotates in a bathtub drain or a flushing toilet. Generally speaking, the Coriolis effect is only significant at large scales, such as in weather systems or oceanic currents.
7) Humans evolved from apes
Darwin didnt actually say this, but hes been misreported ever since. What he did say was that we, and apes, and chimpanzees for that matter, had a common ancestor, once, a long, long time ago.
8) Vikings had horns/helmets with horns.
Vikings may have been buried with their helmets and with drinking horns. When they were dug up by the Victorians, they assumed that the helmets had horns.
9) Columbus believed the earth was flat
If the Americas did not exist, and had Columbus continued to India (even putting aside the threat of mutiny he was under), he would have run out of supplies before reaching it at the rate he was traveling. He may not have known how big the world was, but he wasnt worrying about falling off the edge of it.
10) John F. Kennedy Was the Youngest President.
Its true, Kennedy was the youngest elected president. However, Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest president ever. He ascended to the office shortly after McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist. Kennedy was 43 when elected; Roosevelt was just shy of his 43 rd birthday when he took the Oath of Office, giving him a slight edge in the youngest president competition.
11) Washington Was the First President.
He was the first president under the United States Constitution. However, lets not forget about the Articles of Confederation. The title then was President of the Continental Congress, and the position held very little power. It was held by people such as famous politician John Hancock, future Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay, and Speaker of the House of Burgesses Peyton Randolph. Okay, so the last one you may not know, but he held the position twice. The position was abolished when the Constitution came into effect in 1789 and George Washing assumed the title of President of the United States.
12.) Teddy Roosevelt Was Leader of the Rough Riders.
Roosevelt was offered command of the legendary Spanish-American War unit, but turned it down due to his own lack of direct military experience. Roosevelt left his position as Assistant Secretary of the Navy to join the unit, but was never its commanding officer. That position was held Colonel Leonard Wood, a Medal of Honor recipient.
13) America Won the War of 1812.
This one is an extreme misconception. This war was, at best, a draw for America. In fact, the only real reason for the end of this war was the bigger concern of finishing off Napoleon in France.
14) Samuel F. B. Morse invented the telegraph.
What actually happened was that he was working with an American physicist named Joseph Henry. It was actually Henry that designed the telegraph. Morse denied that Henry ever worked with him. However, after a lengthy court battle, Henry was able to prove that Morse obtained the design from Henry. Morse did however, invent the Morse Code.
15) Ben Franklin Discovered Electricity.
Benjamin Franklin did not discover electricity when his kite was struck by lightning in 1752. In fact, electricity was already well known at the time. Instead, Franklin was trying to prove the electrical nature of lightning.
16) The Great Wall of China Is Visible from the Moon.
You can see a lot of things while standing on the moon, but the Great Wall of China isn't one of them. In his 1938 publication, Second Book of Marvels, Richard Halliburton stated that the Great Wall was the only human-made object visible from the moon. However, the Great Wall is only a maximum of 30 feet wide and is about the same color as its surroundings, so it's barely visible to the naked eye while orbiting Earth under ideal conditions, much less from the moon, which is about 239,000 miles away.
17) Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned.
According to Tacitus, a historian of the time, Nero was 30 miles away, at his villa in Antium, when the fire broke out. Many historians believe that the fire was set by Nero's political enemies, who were right in thinking that it would be blamed on him. Actually, Nero was a hero, attempting to extinguish the blaze, finding food and shelter for the homeless, and overseeing the design of the new city.
18) The Egyptian pyramids were built by slaves.
We are all too familiar of those many images and graphic illustrations that we see in the movies and reading materials that we assume that indeed slaves built these great wonders of human feat. However, excavation results show that these super structures were actually built by Egyptians who were permanently working for the pharaoh.
19) Starvation was prevalent during the Great Depression
We usually conjure images of families suffering from starvation due to lack of food and money during the Great Depression. This is far from truth. While there was scarcity of money during this financial upheaval, people were able to pull it through by their ingenuity, resourcefulness and support for each other.
20) The Autobahn was created by Adolf Hitler.
Contrary to popular belief, the Autobahn was not created by Adolf Hitler. The concept of the Autobahn was developed by Konrad Adenauer who was the Cologne mayor in 1931 a full 2 years before Hitler assumed the Chancellorship of Germany.
Minor nitpick:
