The very first iteration of Ronald McDonald was created by Willard Scott in 1963:
The two people depicted in Grant Wood's "American Gothic" actually exist. This is what they looked like:
This is Margaret Gorman, the woman who won the very first Miss America competition in 1921:
This is Conrad Veidt, the man whose performance in the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs inspired the look of the iconic villain the Joker:
This is Selma Burke, the woman who designed the portrait of Franklin Roosevelt that's still on the dime to this day:
This is Franz Reichelt sporting a homemade parachute suit that he was confident would save him if he jumped off the Eiffel Tower:
On Feb. 4, 1912, he gave it a go. It did not deploy.
In 1964, Randy Gardner, pictured here, set the world record for the longest time without sleeping after staying awake 264 hours:
This is Maurice Tillet, a wrestler who some say the beloved character Shrek was based on:
This is Albert Woolson, the last surviving Civil War veteran:
Albert fought for the Union army and died in 1956 at the age of 106.
This is Ham the chimpanzee, the first ape launched into space:
He was sent up to test cognitive function in space as well as the safety of the rocket and capsule being sent up. Ham's mission was successful, and he returned to Earth unharmed and a true American hero.
This is Ahmet Ali Çelikten, a man who is generally considered to be one of the first Black pilots — and perhaps the very first:
This is Emma Lilian Todd, the first woman to design an airplane:
This is Lonnie Johnson, inventor of the Super Soaker, enjoying his invention:
This is 455 pound Piet van der Zwaard AKA the "fattest man in Europe" in 1955:
This is Charles Ponzi, the infamous scammer ponzi schemes got their name from:
This picture, taken by Robert Cornelius in 1839, is generally accepted as the first "selfie":
This is a picture of 107-year-old Civil War veteran Bill Lundy posing with a fighter jet in 1955:
This is astronaut Joseph P. Allen IV doing maintenance on a satellite in the middle of the cold, dark void of space:
This is beautician Max Factor with his invention, the beauty calibrator, a device designed to show which parts of a woman's face needed more or less make-up:
"This Is Judith Love Cohen, She Helped Create The Abort-Guidance System Which Rescued The Apollo 13 Astronauts. Judith Went Into Labour And Took A Printout Of The Problem She Was Working On To The Hospital, Solved The Problem, Called Her Boss, And Then Gave Birth To Jack Black"
• Don't insult other visitors. Offensive comments will be deleted without warning.
• Comments are accepted in English only.
• No swearing words in comments, otherwise such comments will be censored.
• Your nickname and avatar are randomly selected. If you don't post comments for 7 days, they both are reset.
• To choose another avatar, click the ‘Random avatar’ link.
Doesn't add up!
#7 He suffered from insomnia and depressive psychosis for the rest of his life. Others who have performed similar stunts fared even worse, including at least one suicide about 6 months later. Moral of the story: don't underestimate how serious insomnia and sleep deprivation are.