Who synthesized the first wholly artificial gene?

In 1849 Honest Abe invented a method to aid ships that got stuck on sandbars. He called it A Device for Buoying Vessels Over Shoals. It was never used.

Joseph F. Glidden was born in New York on Jan. 18, 1812. He invented barbed wire in 1873 and was granted the patent on Nov. 24, 1874. After a three year battle over the patent, which he eventually won, Gidden became known as the "Father of Barbed Wire".

King Louis XIV was very short and didn't like looking up at people he spoke to, so he had a tall pair of shoes made for him.

Invented in 1942.

It was originally called 'Tom Thumb Golf'.

The first wireless remote control for television was called Flashmatic. (Remember when you had to get up to change the channel?)

The cherry-flavored cola made its debut at Morrison's Old Corner Drugstore.

Groovy, baby! Lava lamps, which were a fixture in every hip pad in the 1960s and 70s, featured a mixture of water and colored oil that created swirl patterns when heated by a light bulb.

Milk Tray was introduced in 1915 in open boxes arranged on wooden trays. Today, with its distinctive purple and gold cartons and popularised by the "Man in Black" television adverts, its one of the most popular chocolate assortments.