Everyone knows the smile of the Mona Lisa and the composition of The Last Supper, but how much do we really know about the man holding the brush? In this episode of Historical Insights, we peel back the layers of history’s greatest polymath: Leonardo da Vinci.

Beyond the canvas, we explore the restless mind of an inventor, an anatomist, and a visionary who was centuries ahead of his time. From his chaotic notebooks to his unfinished masterpieces, join us as we discover what it actually took to be the ultimate "Renaissance Man."

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A Southern belle takes on New York and changes the world with a notebook and a sharp mind.

Before the age of electronics, there was the age of mechanical ingenuity—and Beulah Louise Henry was its queen. Born in the post-Reconstruction South, Henry defied expectations placed on women of her era to become one of America's most prolific inventors, earning the nickname "Lady Edison."

This episode traces Henry's extraordinary journey, from a curious child dismantling dolls in Raleigh to a savvy businesswoman licensing dozens of patents in 1920s and 30s New York. Discover the elegant simplicity behind her inventions—like the vacuum ice cream freezer, the Protograph typewriter attachment, and the revolutionary Miss Illusion doll—and learn how she pioneered the business of invention by focusing on licensing and royalties.

The story is one of grace and grit, detailing how Henry navigated a male-dominated world, survived the Great Depression, and strategically leveraged media attention to prove that imagination has no gender. She was more than an inventor; she was a quiet revolutionary whose work still influences the daily objects we use today.

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A man born in a storm, destined to command the currents that would power the modern world. This is the story of Nikola Tesla: visionary, genius, and tragic icon.

In this episode, we journey from the quiet hills of Smiljan, where a strange child obsessed with light and machines first saw the vision of Alternating Current, to the chaotic workshops of Gilded Age New York. We uncover Tesla's fiery but ultimately broken partnership with the reigning titan, Thomas Edison, which sparked the legendary War of the Currents.

It's a clash fought not just with inventions, but with propaganda, betrayal, and a battle for the soul of the 20th century. We explore how Tesla's AC system achieved ultimate triumph at Niagara Falls and the Chicago World's Fair, making him a celebrated hero.

But fame was fleeting. Driven by an audacious obsession to give the world free wireless power, we follow Tesla to the colossal, ill-fated Wardenclyffe Tower. His final years were marked by solitude, financial ruin, and eccentric visions of "death rays" and mechanical oscillators.

Tesla gave the world light, but died in darkness. We examine his dual legacy: the unseen architect of the electric age, and the mythic, misunderstood genius whose work is finally being fully realized today.

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