Napoleon's engine, the javelin that was too good, and the retired terrorists

Napoleon's engine, the javelin that was too good, and the retired terrorists

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Episode description

Napoleon’s engine, the javelin that was too good, and the retired terrorists

On 20 July 1807, Napoleon Bonaparte signed a patent for the world’s first internal combustion engine, the Pyréolophore, built by Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude. The small, moss-fuelled engine successfully powered a boat upstream on the River Saône in Burgundy. Niépce would later go on to invent photography, creating the oldest surviving photograph in the 1820s. On the same date in 1984, East German athlete Uwe Hohn threw a javelin 104.8 metres, a distance so extraordinary that it prompted athletics authorities to redesign the javelin itself two years later. Hohn’s record stands permanently under the old specification. And in 1999, fourteen months after the Red Army Faction announced it was dissolving, two of its members attacked an armoured vehicle in Duisburg with a rocket launcher. One of them, Daniela Klette, evaded arrest until 2024, when facial recognition software identified her through capoeira class videos posted online. Three stories of human ingenuity, absurdity, and the gap between intention and outcome.

Chapters

  • Intro Napoleon Bonaparte signs a patent in 1807, not for a weapon but for a small engine powered by moss and Lycopodium powder. The inventor, Nicéphore Niépce, would later also invent photography.
  • The Pyréolophore: Napoleon’s Most Unexpected Patent Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude build the Pyréolophore, the world’s first internal combustion engine, and successfully test it on the River Saône in 1807. Napoleon grants them a patent on 20 July. The engine never becomes commercial, but Niépce goes on to create the first photograph in the 1820s.
  • The Javelin That Broke the Olympics On 20 July 1984, Uwe Hohn throws a javelin 104.8 metres, beyond the length of a standard athletics track. The IAAF responds by redesigning the javelin in 1986, making Hohn’s record unbreakable under current rules.
  • The Bank Robbery That Wasn’t Supposed to Happen Fourteen months after the Red Army Faction announces its dissolution, two members attack an armoured vehicle in Duisburg with a rocket launcher on 20 July 1999. Daniela Klette evades capture until 2024, identified through online capoeira videos.
  • Outro A recap of the day’s events: an inventor who changed two industries, a javelin throw that rewrote the rules, and retired revolutionaries who weren’t quite retired.

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