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Status Quo · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
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  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild.
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  Speaker 2: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
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  Speaker 2: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
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  Speaker 2: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
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  Speaker 2: to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: Even now, in our modern world, the idea of a
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  Speaker 1: monarch is appealing to some people. Elections are messy and
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  Speaker 1: they can lead to corrupt politicians taking power, But many
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  Speaker 1: times throughout history, the biological air to a throne didn't
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  Speaker 1: want the throne itself or refused to do the work
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  Speaker 1: to be prepared for it. And such was the case
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  Speaker 1: in the thirteenth century in the Indian kingdom of Delhi,
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  Speaker 1: where the sultan's sons all paled in comparison to his
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  Speaker 1: highly capable daughter. Razia spent her days running all over Delhi,
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  Speaker 1: meeting with dozens of people who needed her to solve
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  Speaker 1: their problems, and one morning alone, she arbitrated a dispute
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  Speaker 1: between two merchants, inspected a rickety horse stable, and ordered
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  Speaker 1: new armor for the guards. Meanwhile, her oldest brother, Firos
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  Speaker 1: spent his days lounging by the river, drinking wine and
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  Speaker 1: betting his concubines. Their father, the Sultan, was away at war,
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  Speaker 1: and so it fell to Rozia to run things. It
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  Speaker 1: was a difficult situation, but she rose to the occasion.
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  Speaker 1: She worked hard as a young woman to learn everything
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  Speaker 1: she could about administration and warfare should she ever need
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  Speaker 1: to assist her father. And now that time had come
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  Speaker 1: soon the people grew to love her. The city was cleaner, safer,
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  Speaker 1: and more efficient with Rozia in charge. When her father
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  Speaker 1: returned from his military campaign in the year twelve thirty one,
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  Speaker 1: he was greatly impressed by all her work. It astonished
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  Speaker 1: Razia when he invited her and the heads of the
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  Speaker 1: noble families to his throne room, or he named Razia
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  Speaker 1: his heir. I have to mention that it was unheard
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  Speaker 1: of to have a female ruler in the Kingdom of Delhi.
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  Speaker 1: The kingdom had converted to Islam just a few decades prior,
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  Speaker 1: and female rulers were forbidden. But the Sultan had always
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  Speaker 1: been unconventional. He was born a slave, and he fought
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  Speaker 1: his way to power, and he knew that his sons
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  Speaker 1: just weren't the ones to continue his empire. Now it
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  Speaker 1: had to be Razia, and this controversial decree was immediately
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  Speaker 1: put to the test in twelve thirty six when the
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  Speaker 1: sultan died from an illness, and it should have been
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  Speaker 1: Razia's turn to rule, but the nobles immediately turned against her,
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  Speaker 1: instead putting her brother Firose on the throne. But over
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  Speaker 1: the next few months he proved to be a selfish
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  Speaker 1: and cruel leader. He did nothing to help his people
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  Speaker 1: and instead spent all his time hunting down and executing
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  Speaker 1: any potential rivals, including one of his own brother. Razia
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  Speaker 1: was only spared because Firoza's arrogance kept him from seeing
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  Speaker 1: a woman as a threat to his power, but Razia
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  Speaker 1: should have been his chief concern. Only a few months
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  Speaker 1: into Firoz's harsh rule, Razia went out into Delhi and
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  Speaker 1: gave an impassioned speech to the people. She told them
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  Speaker 1: that her brother was ruining all of her and her
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  Speaker 1: father's hard work in building up the kingdom. He would
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  Speaker 1: bring war on all of them if he continued to rule,
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  Speaker 1: and the people agreed. Following Razia, they stormed the palace
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  Speaker 1: and captured Firos. Razia had no sympathy for him, she
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  Speaker 1: ordered his execution, getting justice for the brother that Phiro's
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  Speaker 1: had killed. For now, the nobles had no choice but
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  Speaker 1: to accept Razia as their sultan. She once again set
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  Speaker 1: about improving the kingdom, establishing universities and libraries, and sending
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  Speaker 1: the army out across the empire to keep the peace.
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  Speaker 1: But having a female ruler still didn't sit right with
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  Speaker 1: the Muslim nobles. The final straw came when Razia took
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  Speaker 1: a lover, a formerly in slaved African named Yakut. An
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  Speaker 1: unmarried female ruler with a black lover would be controversial
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  Speaker 1: in India today. In medieval times, it sent the country
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  Speaker 1: into a frenzy. In the year twelve forty, just three
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  Speaker 1: and a half years into Razia's rule, the nobles attacked
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  Speaker 1: her army and took her prisoner. They executed Yakut and
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  Speaker 1: planned to do the same to Razia, but the nobles
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  Speaker 1: soon started squabbling amongst one another about who would rule
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  Speaker 1: after she was dead. And that's when the noble who
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  Speaker 1: had captured Razia, a man named Altuonia, had an unlikely
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  Speaker 1: change of heart. He realized that Razia was the only
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  Speaker 1: one fit to rule, and he pledged his loyalty to her,
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  Speaker 1: and Razia knew that her affair with Yakuts had been controversial,
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  Speaker 1: and so she made the decision to marry Altunia with
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  Speaker 1: the hopes that it would help the other nobles accept her,
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  Speaker 1: but unfortunately their hearts were dead set against the idea
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  Speaker 1: of a female sultan. Razia and Altunia's army went up
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  Speaker 1: against the combined army of the other nobles in one
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  Speaker 1: final climactic battle, and ultimately Razia's men were defeated. She
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  Speaker 1: and her husband were forced to flee the kingdom in
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  Speaker 1: the end, with no one left to protect them. Razia
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  Speaker 1: and Altonia were captured by soldiers from a neighboring Hindu kingdom,
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  Speaker 1: and these were political and religious rivals that had no
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  Speaker 1: sympathy for her. They put her to death in October
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  Speaker 1: of twelve forty. It's incredibly curious that the Kingdom of
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  Speaker 1: Delhi preferred to go to war rather than accept the
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  Speaker 1: most qualified ruler simply because she was a woman. To
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  Speaker 1: this day, she remains one of the very few queens
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  Speaker 1: in Islamic history. It goes to show that monarchies are
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  Speaker 1: rarely about merit and all about preserving the status quo
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  Speaker 1: If you've ever looked up at the night sky, you
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  Speaker 1: have probably noticed that some stars seem to twinkle. There brightness, ebbs,
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  Speaker 1: and flows. Some nights they blaze overhead, while other nights
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  Speaker 1: they look so faint as to almost disappear. Almost a
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  Speaker 1: century ago, a curious young woman looked up at those
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  Speaker 1: same stars and asked a vital question, why why do
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  Speaker 1: some stars flicker while others burn steady? The question would
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  Speaker 1: launch a year's long investigation and reveal one of the
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  Speaker 1: most important scientific discoveries ever made. When Cecilia died in
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  Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine at the age of seventy nine, her
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  Speaker 1: official obituary celebrated the life of a curious and whip
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  Speaker 1: smart astronomer, a Harvard professor, a loving wife, and a
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  Speaker 1: doting mother. It was a wonderful tribute to a brilliant
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  Speaker 1: and dedicated astrophysicist, But the obituary failed to mention Cecilia's
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  Speaker 1: most stunning achievement, one that should cement her name alongside
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  Speaker 1: scientists like Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: Cecilia Paine may be one of the greatest scientists to
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  Speaker 1: have ever lived. Cecilia was born in Wendover, England, in
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  Speaker 1: nineteen hundred and from a young age she was an
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  Speaker 1: avid reader with a curious mind. She loved school and
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  Speaker 1: wanted to pursue a college degree, which was highly unusual
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  Speaker 1: for women at the time. That might be why her
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  Speaker 1: mother refused to cough up money for tuition, so Cecilia
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  Speaker 1: found another way to go to college. She won a
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  Speaker 1: full scholarship to Cambridge University. She knew that she wanted
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  Speaker 1: to study science, but wasn't sure which field. On a whim,
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  Speaker 1: she decided to attend a public lecture from astronomer Arthur Eddington.
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  Speaker 1: He talked about a recent expedition to view a solar
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  Speaker 1: eclipse and how his observations proved Einstein's theory of general relativity.
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  Speaker 1: Cecilia was wrapped. From that moment on she knew she
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  Speaker 1: wanted to study physics. She spent the next few years
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  Speaker 1: taking classes and devouring countless textbooks on astronomy, but because
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  Speaker 1: she was a woman, Cambridge refused to give her a
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  Speaker 1: science degree, and so in response, Cecilia said fine, and
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty three she moved to the United States,
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  Speaker 1: where she met the director of the Harvard College Observatory.
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  Speaker 1: He was so taken with Cecilia that he offered her
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  Speaker 1: a graduate fellowship at Harvard. By the time Cecilia started
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  Speaker 1: that fellowship, the Harvard Observatory was deep into a study
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  Speaker 1: on stellar spectra, which was essentially photographs of starlight, except
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  Speaker 1: these photos spread starlight out into its full rainbow of colors,
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  Speaker 1: like when light catches in a prism. Basically, they were
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  Speaker 1: trying to catch the full light spectrum for thousands of stars.
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  Speaker 1: It was arduous work, but Cecilia was intrigued, so she
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  Speaker 1: dedicated herself to the project. Now, about sixty years before
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  Speaker 1: Cecilia arrived at Harvard, another astrophysicist conducted a similar experiment.
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  Speaker 1: He heated up various chemical elements and observed the spectrum
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  Speaker 1: of light given off when these elements turn into gas.
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  Speaker 1: What he learned was that each element had its own
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  Speaker 1: unique light spectrum, almost like a fingerprint. And Cecilia was
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  Speaker 1: aware of this study. In fact, she was ruminating on it.
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  Speaker 1: One night while stargazing, she found herself wondering why certain
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  Speaker 1: stars seemed to flicker. She called these variable stars and
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  Speaker 1: hypothesized that they were made of different elements than the stars.
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  Speaker 1: That held steady, and so she came up with a
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  Speaker 1: brilliant way to test out her theory. She compared starlight
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  Speaker 1: spectra to elemental gas spectra, which allowed her to measure
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  Speaker 1: the surface temperature of stars. Once she could see the
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  Speaker 1: spectra of each star, she could piece together which elements
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  Speaker 1: were involved in its composition. Two years after starting the project,
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty five, Cecilia presented her findings as part
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  Speaker 1: of her doctoral thesis, and her results were surprising. Even
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  Speaker 1: though stars were huge and impossibly dense, they were almost
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  Speaker 1: entirely made of hydrogen and helium, the two lightest elements
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  Speaker 1: in the universe. But that's not all. She also revealed
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  Speaker 1: a true surprise through her observations. She also learned that
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  Speaker 1: the majority of the visible universe is made of hydrogen.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, she discovered what the fabric of our
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  Speaker 1: universe is made of. Her professor was so proud of
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  Speaker 1: her that he sent her thesis to a colleague at Princeton,
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  Speaker 1: a guy named Professor Henry Russell. But Russell tossed her
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  Speaker 1: thesis aside, calling her results impossible, and of course that stung.
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  Speaker 1: Cecilia knew she had done solid research, and yet she
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  Speaker 1: didn't know how to argue with a tenured professor. Luckily,
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  Speaker 1: her peers found her thesis brilliant. It inspired colleagues to
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  Speaker 1: check her work, and within a few years, supplemental research
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  Speaker 1: showed that Yes, Cecilia had been correct all along. It
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  Speaker 1: was incredible, at just twenty five years old, she had
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  Speaker 1: successfully figured out the anatomical makeup of the universe. After that,
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  Speaker 1: Cecilia Payne became the first person to ever earn a
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  Speaker 1: PhD in astronomy from Harvard. But despite being one of
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  Speaker 1: the most brilliant astronomers of our time, her work was
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  Speaker 1: often brushed aside or credited to men who proved similar
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  Speaker 1: theories years later. She received some recognition throughout her career,
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  Speaker 1: but a pales in comparison to the prestige given to
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  Speaker 1: her male colleagues. Although the American Astronomical Society did give
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  Speaker 1: Cecilia much deserve recognition, in nineteen seventy six, they awarded
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  Speaker 1: her the prestigious Henry Norris Russell Prize. The award named
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  Speaker 1: yes for Professor Russell, the Princeton astronomer who told her
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  Speaker 1: that her research was impossible. It's fair to say that
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  Speaker 1: she proved him wrong. Simply by keeping her goals sky high.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
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  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
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  Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
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  Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
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  Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
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  Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
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  Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the
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  Speaker 1: worldolore dot com.
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  Speaker 2: And until next time, stay curious.