The universe is full of mysteries that challenge science. In this article, we will talk about various phenomena that are often beyond the understanding of modern science.
Unfortunately, the secrets of many useful inventions made thousands of years ago and widely used in the early periods of human development are now lost and are still confusing engineers and inventors with the level of technology development. Modern analogues of some of these inventions have appeared quite recently.
1. Greek fire: a mysterious chemical weapon
Image from illuminated (decorated with colorful miniatures and ornaments) Madrid manuscript of John Skylitz, which depicts Greek fire used against the fleet of Thomas the Slav (leader of one of the largest popular antifeudal uprisings in Byzantium). The inscription above the left ship reads: "The Romans set fire to the enemy fleet"
In the VII-XII centuries, the Byzantines used a mysterious substance in sea battles to set fire to their enemies. This liquid, splashed onto the enemy with the help of pipes or siphons, burned even in water. The fire could only be extinguished with vinegar, sand, or urine. This chemical weapon was known as Greek fire. We still don't know what that substance was. The Byzantines kept its recipe in the strictest confidence, knew only a few initiates, and ultimately it was lost.
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2. Flexible glass: too expensive a substance
Three ancient sources that have survived to this day contain references to flexible glass. However, they are not detailed enough to unequivocally state that such a substance really existed. The story of his invention was first told by Petronius (d. 63 AD).
He wrote about a glassblower who presented a glass vessel to Emperor Tiberius (who ruled AD 14-37). The glassblower asked the emperor to return the vessel to him and, when he received it, threw it on the floor. The vessel did not break, but only deformed, and the glassblower quickly returned it to its original shape. Fearing a decrease in the value of precious metals, Tiberius ordered the beheading of the inventor so that his secret would die with him.
Marble statue of Emperor Tiberius, 37 AD
One version of this story is contained in the writings of Pliny the Elder (d. 79 AD), and another was told a couple of hundred years later by Dion Cassius: the main character in it is not a glassblower, but a magician. When the vessel was thrown to the floor, it broke and the master returned it to its original state with his bare hands.
In 2012, the glass company Corning introduced flexible "willow glass", a material that is heat resistant and flexible enough to be rolled into rolls. This invention has found wide application for the production of solar cells.
If the unfortunate Roman glassblower really did invent flexible glass, he was thousands of years ahead of his time.
3. An antidote for all poisons
The development of the so-called "universal antidote" was attributed to King Mithridates VI of Pontus (who ruled 120-63 BC). And its improvement - to the personal physician of the Emperor Nero. The original formula of the poison has been lost, but information about the ingredients has been preserved. Among them were opium, chopped vipers, and a combination of small doses of poisons and their antidotes. This is recounted by Adrien Mayor, folklorist and science historian at Stanford University, in his 2008 work, Greek Fire, Poison Arrows and Scorpion Bombs: Chemical and Biological Weapons in the Ancient World.
King Mithridates VI of Pontus
This substance was known as Mithridatium, after King Mithridates VI.
Mayor also says that Sergei Popov, a former Soviet lead biological weapons developer who fled to the United States in 1992, was trying to make a modern mithridatium.
4. Heat ray weapon
Archimedes sets fire to Roman ships near Syracuse with parabolic mirrors
The Greek mathematician Archimedes (d. 212 BC) developed a ray weapon, which the authors of the Discovery Channel's Mythbusters program tried to recreate in 2004. Adrien Mayor described these weapons as "rows of polished bronze shields reflecting the sun's rays on enemy ships."
The Mythbusters failed to replicate this ancient weapon, and they believed it to be a myth, but MIT students in 2005 were able to burn a boat in San Francisco Harbor with this weapon, invented 2,200 years ago.
Mayor also described a state of the art microwave heat ray weapon that acts on "the victim's skin, heating it to 55 ° C and making it feel like it is on fire," which was presented in 2001 by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
5. Roman concrete
Concrete for almost 2000 years in Rome
Numerous Roman buildings that have stood for thousands of years are direct evidence of the higher quality of Roman concrete compared to modern ones, from which buildings begin to decay and decay already 50 years after construction.
The secret to the durability of this ancient concrete was recently discovered. The secret ingredient turned out to be volcanic ash.
A 2013 article by the University of California, Berkeley News Center reported that researchers were the first to describe the mechanism by which an ultra-stable calcium-aluminum-silicate-hydrate compound binds material. In the process of its production, less carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere than in the production of any modern concrete. Its disadvantages include a longer drying time and lower strength than modern concrete, despite its greater durability.
6. Damascus steel
Damascus Sword
In the Middle Ages in the Middle East, swords were forged from Damascus steel. The starting material was damask steel, an alloy of Asian origin. Damascus steel is a very durable metal. Until the beginning of the industrial revolution, it remained the most durable metal known to man.
The secret of making Middle Eastern Damascus steel has only been recovered in modern laboratories using scanning electron microscopy. Man mastered this technology around 300 BC. and lost it in the middle of the 18th century.
