When Louis Réard unveiled his now-infamous creation in the sultry summer of 1946, it wasn’t just a bathing suit he introduced to the world—it was a cultural grenade. The bikini, barely 30 square inches of fabric, wasn’t just meant to shock. It was meant to signify a change. And while the garment itself would go …
On a warm July day in 1885, a nine-year-old boy named Joseph Meister stood at the threshold between life and death. He had been mauled by a rabid dog in his hometown of Meissengott, Alsace. At the time, a rabies infection was essentially a death sentence—a terrifying plunge into fever, hallucinations, paralysis, and finally, death. …
