Charles Babbage, the mathematician who designed the first programmable mechanical computer, asked that his brain be donated to science after his death in 1871. His son Henry agreed, and the brain was divided between two London institutions: half is kept at the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and the other half is on display at the Science Museum. In 1909 the anatomist V. Horsley published a detailed Royal Society description of it, illustrated with photographs. The paper is full of technical anatomy, but it shows how scientists of the period hoped the physical brain might reveal the source of genius.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.