History Channel: Man, Moment, Machine: Al Capone & the Machine Gun Massacre

Legendary gangster Al Capone will forever be linked to the "tommy gun," his automatic weapon of choice and the brutal tool he employed in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. This episode of MAN, MOMENT, MACHINE profiles the dual rise of the machine gun and its infamous enthusiast.

From the earliest times, but especially in the Middle Ages, men labored over furnaces and vats of molten metal hoping to discover a path to riches or everlasting life. And while modern society rightfully dismisses the Holy Grail of alchemy the transformation of lead or another base metal to gold the ancient art helped lay the groundwork for much of modern science. The modern image of alchemy is intertwined with the magic and superstition that dominated its practice in the Middle Ages, but there is much more to this mysterious discipline. Journey back to Ancient Egypt the birthplace of alchemy for a fascinating story of science, discovery and failure. Find out how Aristotle's doctrine that all things tended toward perfection was the foundation for alchemy, and see how the fantastical, magical elements grew as time went on, since the underlying science did not work. Historians reveal the many essential contributions that these misguided experiments led to, and fascinating ancient accounts and artwork detail the incredible lengths that alchemists went to in pursuit of their unreachable goal.

American History | Crime