Highest death toll from a volcanic eruption
When the Tambora volcano in Sumbawa, Indonesia (then Dutch East Indies) erupted from the 5-10 April 1815, 92,000 people were killed.
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Highest defence spending ever
World military spending in 2010 was estimated at 1,630 billion US dollars (then approximately £1,053 billion), equivalent to 2.6 % of world GDP. Spending by the US military accounts for 43% of the total.
Highest defence budget
The world total for defence spending in 2009, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, is US $1,531 billion and the nation that spends the most is the United States of America with a defence budget in the order of US$ 661 billion (with for 2010 a projected outturn of US$719 billion) just under half the world total. For 2011, the US defence budget is expected to rise to some US$739 billion.
Highest death toll from wars
By far the most costly war in terms of human life was World War II (1939–45), in which the total number of fatalities, including battle deaths and civilians of all countries, is estimated to have been 56.4 million, assuming 26.6 million Soviet fatalities and 7.8 million Chinese civilians were killed. The country that suffered most in proportion to its population was Poland, with 6,028,000 or 17.2 per cent of its population of 35,100,000 killed. In the Paraguayan war of 1864–70 against Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, Continue reading →
Highest downhill speed on a bicycle on soil
The fastest ever speed attained cycling downhill on soil is 172 km/h (107 mph), by Eric Barone (France) descending the Cerro Negro volcano in Nicaragua on 12 May 2002.
Highest divorce rate
According to the UN, the country with the highest divorce rate in the world is the Maldives with 10.97 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants per year. This is followed by the Belarus with 4.63 and the United States wih 4.34. Rank Country Divorces per 1,000 inhabitants per year 1 Maldives 10.97 2 Belarus 4.63 3 United States 4.34 4 Cuba 3.72 5 Estonia 3.65 6 Panama 3.61 – Puerto Rico 3.61 8 Ukraine 3.56 9 Russia 3.42 10 Antigua and Barbuda 3.40
Highest dinner party
The greatest altitude at which a formal meal has been held is 6,805 m (22,326 ft) by Henry Shelford, Thomas Shelford, Nakul Misra Pathak, Robert Aitken, Robert Sully (all UK), Caio Buzzolini (Australia) and appointed butler Joshua Heming (UK), who dined on Lhakpa Ri, Tibet on 3 May 2004. The expedition team named “Henry Shelford’s 30th birthday party” were set to dine on the summit of the 7,054 m (23,113 ft) mountain but hurricanes forced them to descend to a more sheltered spot. The team Continue reading →
Highest energy particle detected in nature
On 15 November 1991 the ‘Fly’s Eye’ cosmic ray experiment in Utah, USA, detected an interstellar subatomic particle with an energy of 3.2×10**20 eV (roughly 50 joules or 12 calories). This is roughly the same energy as a fast-pitched baseball. The Fly’s Eye experiment was built and operated by the University of Utah, USA.
Highest earning adult fiction author
In terms of book sales and earnings, James Patterson (USA) is the most successful author of adult fiction. He has sold more than 200 million books since 1992 and in the 12 months to 1 June 2010 alone earned $70 million (£46.5 million).
Highest energy particles in a particle accelerator
The proton beams of the Large Hadron Collider are capable of being accelerated by magnets up to within around a millionth of a percent of the speed of light. This means each proton will have around 7 TeV of energy (7 tera electron volts), equivalent to the energy used by 7 flying mosquitoes. Combined, all the protons in the active beams have the energy equivalent to 900 cars travelling at 100 kph.