Michelangelo's David, First Computer Bug & Star-Spangled Banner | Sep 8–13 cover art

Michelangelo's David, First Computer Bug & Star-Spangled Banner | Sep 8–13

Michelangelo's David, First Computer Bug & Star-Spangled Banner | Sep 8–13

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This week in history delivers nine extraordinary stories drawn from across twenty-five centuries — all connected by the days of September 8 through 13. From a marble giant in Renaissance Florence to a moth in a Harvard computer, the week that shaped the world is stranger and richer than any textbook lets on.

In 1504, Michelangelo's David was unveiled in Florence's Piazza della Signoria — not just a sculpture but a declaration of an entire civilisation's ambitions. Eighteen years later, the battered ship Victoria limped into Seville, completing the first circumnavigation of the globe. In 9 AD, the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest saw three Roman legions wiped out by Arminius, halting Rome's expansion into Germania forever. And in 490 BC, a outnumbered Athenian force turned back the Persian empire at Marathon.

The twentieth century brings its own wonders: Elvis Presley's seismic debut on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956, Jack Kilby's invention of the integrated circuit at Texas Instruments in 1958, and JFK's moon speech at Rice University in 1962. We also revisit the night Francis Scott Key watched Fort McHenry survive a British bombardment and wrote the words that became the US national anthem — and the astonishing survival of Phineas Gage, whose brain injury in 1848 changed neuroscience forever.

Each episode of This Week in History brings you the most remarkable turning points, forgotten stories, and world-changing moments connected by the week you're living in right now.

This episode includes AI-generated content.
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