Countries of the World

Between the 1590s and 1660s, the optical microscope was developed by Zacharias, Hans Jensen and Anton van Leeuwenhowek, among others. Anton van Leeuwenhoek used the simple compound microscope to observe bacteria in droplets of water!

St Louis’s Gateway Arch is a 630-foot-tall monument that required an incredible level of exactitude. The monument’s two legs were erected separately, and if their measurements were off by as little as 1/64th of an inch, they would not have been able to join at the top. Many people suspected the structure would fail when the last piece was put in place, but fortunately, it didn’t.

Zimbabwe House in London’s strand district caused upset when they decorated with stone phalluses. The Zimbabwean Embassy allowed sculptor Jacob Epstein to display his naked sculptured representing the ‘Ages of man’ upon their building. This irked a local priest, Father Bernhard Vaughn, who complained: “As a Christian living in a Christian City, I claim the right to say that I object most emphatically to such indecent statuary being thrust upon my view.” The problem was compounded when one phallus dislodged and hit a pedestrian!