97 Fun Facts About Famous Rivalries

Which two heavyweight boxers' rivalry included three iconic fights in the 1970s?

Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier's Manila fight ended when Frazier's trainer Eddie Futch stopped it after the 14th round; Ali took the series 2-1 but said it was the closest he had come to dying.

What name covers the three wars Rome fought against Carthage between 264 and 146 BC?

Punic Wars take their name from Punicus, the Latin word for the Phoenician-descended Carthaginians; the three wars added up to 43 years of fighting.

Which two inventors were the central figures in the 'War of the Currents'?

Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla: Edison's DC faced Westinghouse's AC from 1886, Westinghouse licensed Tesla's motor patents in 1888, and Edison's camp electrocuted animals to argue AC was deadlier.

Who is often depicted as the intellectual arch-nemesis of detective Sherlock Holmes?

Professor Moriarty appears in only two of Doyle's stories; the 'Napoleon of crime' tag was borrowed from a Scotland Yard inspector describing the real thief Adam Worth.

In Greek mythology, which Titan was overthrown by his son Zeus?

Cronus swallowed each of his children at birth after a warning that one would overthrow him, but Rhea hid Zeus on Crete and fed him a stone instead; Zeus grew up and forced him to disgorge the others.

Which Coca-Cola product was the company's answer to losing blind taste tests to Pepsi?

New Coke replaced the original formula in April 1985 after blind taste tests kept favoring Pepsi's sweeter cola; after an outcry the original was back within three months as Coca-Cola Classic.

Which two rivals' 2008 Wimbledon final, finished in near darkness, is often called tennis's greatest match?

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal's rain-interrupted final ended at 9.15 pm, when Nadal took the fifth set 9–7 and ended Federer's five-year reign as Wimbledon champion.

Whom did sitting Vice President Aaron Burr fatally wound in an 1804 duel at Weehawken, New Jersey?

Alexander Hamilton died the next day; Burr was indicted for murder in New York and New Jersey but never stood trial, and went back to the capital to finish his term presiding over the Senate.

Which rivals, the NHL's two oldest clubs, never met in the 1980–2020 playoffs?

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, founded in 1917 and 1909, met in 15 playoff series up to 1979; a 1981 realignment then put them in opposite conferences until 1998, and they next met in 2021.

Which NHL rivalry began with a hit on Kris Draper in the 1996 playoffs?

The Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings feud began when Claude Lemieux's hit from behind left Draper with a broken jaw and shattered cheekbone; it boiled over the next March in a brawl-filled game.

Which McLaren teammates won seven of the nine Formula 1 drivers' titles from 1985 to 1993?

Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost won 25 of 32 races as teammates in 1988 and 1989; collisions between them at Suzuka then settled the title two years running, for Prost in 1989 and for Senna in 1990.

Which reigning world chess champion was famously defeated by IBM's Deep Blue computer in a 1997 rematch?

Garry Kasparov had beaten Deep Blue in 1996, then lost the 1997 rematch 3½–2½, accused IBM of cheating and demanded another match, which IBM refused.

Which two mathematicians fought a bitter priority dispute over who first invented calculus?

Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz both got there, but Leibniz published first and his notation is the one still used; the 1712 Royal Society report siding with Newton was largely written by Newton himself.

Which two 16th-century royal cousins never met face to face?

Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots were first cousins once removed; Mary fled to England in 1568 and was held captive there for nearly nineteen years before her beheading at Fotheringhay in 1587.

Which two tennis players contested three consecutive Wimbledon men's singles finals from 1988 to 1990?

Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg split those finals, Edberg winning in 1988 and 1990 and Becker in 1989; over their careers Becker won 25 of their 35 meetings, yet Edberg took three of the four at Grand Slams.

Which long-time rival invested $150 million in a struggling Apple in August 1997, to boos from the Macworld crowd?

Microsoft's $150 million bought non-voting shares and came with a five-year pledge to keep making Office for the Mac; Bill Gates appeared by satellite on a giant screen above Steve Jobs, and Apple dropped a long-running lawsuit.

In 1957, which rival's distribution arm became the only route to newsstands for Marvel's forerunner, Atlas?

DC Comics, then called National, owned Independent News, which took on Martin Goodman's Atlas line when he had no other distributor but held it to about eight titles a month.

In the Trojan War, which Greek warrior killed the Trojan prince Hector and dragged his body behind a chariot?

Achilles, in the Iliad, chases Hector three times around Troy to avenge his friend Patroclus, then mistreats the body for twelve days until King Priam comes to ransom it.

Larry Bird led which school to the 1979 NCAA final against Magic Johnson?

Larry Bird's Indiana State went into the 1979 final unbeaten at 33-0 but lost 75-64 to Magic Johnson's Michigan State; the two men later met in three NBA Finals.

In which city did Ali and George Foreman fight the 1974 'Rumble in the Jungle'?

Kinshasa's 20th of May Stadium hosted the October 30, 1974 fight in what was then Zaire; Ali knocked out Foreman in the eighth round after soaking up punches on the ropes.

Celtic and Rangers, the 'Old Firm' of Scottish football, are both based in which city?

Celtic and Rangers are both Glasgow clubs; Celtic was founded in 1887 by a Marist brother to feed the East End's poor Irish, and its first match, in May 1888, was a 5–2 'friendly' win over Rangers.

The Superclásico between Boca Juniors and River Plate is played in which city?

Both clubs were founded in La Boca, Buenos Aires's dockland barrio; River Plate later moved north to Núñez, while Boca Juniors stayed put at La Bombonera.

The Derby della Madonnina, Inter's city derby, is named for a statue on top of what?

Milan Cathedral's highest spire carries the Madonnina, a gilded statue of the Virgin; by tradition no building in the city may stand above her, so the taller Pirelli Tower got a replica on its roof.

Which city, roughly midway between West Point and Annapolis, has hosted most Army–Navy football games?

Philadelphia took over in 1899, when the series resumed on neutral ground after a five-year suspension; the first meeting, at West Point in 1890, was a 24–0 Navy win.

The annual Oxford–Cambridge Boat Race is rowed on which river?

The River Thames course runs 4.2 miles from Putney to Mortlake in west London, over three times an Olympic race; in 1912 the weather was so rough that both crews sank.

In 2000, ESPN ranked which college football rivalry the greatest North American sports rivalry ever?

Michigan–Ohio State, known simply as 'The Game', topped ESPN's 2000 ranking; it has often decided the Big Ten title and Rose Bowl berth, and in 2006 pitted No. 1 against No. 2.

What nickname is given to the annual Alabama–Auburn college football game?

The Iron Bowl is named for Birmingham's iron and steel industry; the game was played at the city's Legion Field for decades, and Auburn first hosted it on campus in 1989.

Which university, about eight miles from Duke, is its fiercest basketball rival?

North Carolina first played Duke in 1920, yet the two never met in the NCAA tournament until the 2022 Final Four, where the Tar Heels' win ended Mike Krzyzewski's coaching career.

Which rival did Chris Evert face 80 times between 1973 and 1988?

Martina Navratilova won 43 of the 80, yet the two were friends who teamed up to win two Grand Slam doubles titles, at the 1975 French Open and at Wimbledon in 1976.

Which champion lost an 18–16 tiebreak to John McEnroe yet still won the 1980 Wimbledon final?

Björn Borg let five championship points slip in that fourth-set tiebreak, then took the fifth set 8–6 for his fifth straight Wimbledon title; McEnroe ended the run in the following year's final.

Nicklaus beat Palmer in an 18-hole playoff to launch their rivalry at which 1962 major?

The 1962 U.S. Open at Oakmont, in Palmer's home state of Pennsylvania, was Nicklaus's first professional win; the 22-year-old beat him in a playoff held the day after they tied over 72 holes.

James Hunt won the 1976 German Grand Prix, where rival Niki Lauda crashed, at which circuit?

The Nürburgring's 14-mile Nordschleife hosted its last Formula 1 race that day; Lauda's Ferrari crashed and burned just before the Bergwerk corner, yet he was racing again six weeks later at Monza.

Which Mercedes driver retired five days after beating teammate Lewis Hamilton to the 2016 Formula 1 title?

Nico Rosberg clinched the title in Abu Dhabi on November 27, 2016 and announced he was quitting at the FIA prize-giving in Vienna on December 2, saying he had reached the pinnacle and wanted time with his family.

In which city was Nancy Kerrigan attacked in January 1994, sparking the Tonya Harding saga?

Detroit's Cobo Arena was hosting the U.S. championships when Shane Stant clubbed Kerrigan's right thigh with a baton; seven weeks later she won Olympic silver, while Harding finished eighth and was later banned for life.

Which champion quit his 1980 rematch with Sugar Ray Leonard, reportedly saying 'No más'?

Roberto Durán had outpointed Leonard in Montreal five months earlier, then turned his back and quit in the eighth round in New Orleans; he blames stomach cramps and insists he never said the famous words.

Which middleweight champion stopped Thomas Hearns in the third round of their 1985 fight, 'The War'?

Marvin Hagler fought on with blood running from a cut on his forehead and knocked Hearns out in the third; The Ring called it 'the most electrifying eight minutes ever'.

Crosby's great rival Alexander Ovechkin went first overall in the 2004 NHL draft to which team?

The Washington Capitals took Ovechkin a year before Pittsburgh drafted Sidney Crosby first overall; the two met in four playoff series from 2009 to 2018, and each time the winner went on to lift the Stanley Cup.

Which quarterback won three of his four AFC title games against Tom Brady?

Peyton Manning went 6–11 against Brady from 2001 to 2015, with the Colts and then the Broncos, but after losing their first two playoff meetings he won the last three.

Whose 2018 Ballon d'Or ended ten straight years of wins by Messi and Ronaldo?

Luka Modrić won it after captaining Croatia to the 2018 World Cup final, where he was named the tournament's best player; Messi and Ronaldo had taken five awards each since 2008.

Schumacher and Damon Hill collided to decide the 1994 F1 title at which Grand Prix?

At the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide both cars retired after the clash, handing Schumacher his first world title by a single point, 92 to 91.

Richard Petty and David Pearson famously crashed on the last lap of which 1976 race?

On the last lap of the 1976 Daytona 500 the two collided and spun into the infield grass yards from the finish; Petty's car stalled, while Pearson got his wrecked car moving again and crossed the line to win.

Seabiscuit beat Triple Crown winner War Admiral in a 1938 match race at which Maryland track?

Pimlico staged the two-horse race in Baltimore; trainer Tom Smith had drilled Seabiscuit to break at a starting bell, so he beat the quick-starting War Admiral off the line and won by four lengths.

Which horse finished second to Affirmed in all three 1978 Triple Crown races?

Alydar went off as the Kentucky Derby favourite yet ran second to Affirmed in all three races, the last two by a neck or less; no other horse has finished second in every leg.

Fischer and Spassky's 1972 'Match of the Century' was played in which city?

Reykjavík's Laugardalshöll sports hall hosted the match from July to September 1972; Fischer only flew in after Henry Kissinger phoned him and British financier Jim Slater doubled the prize fund.

Which world chess champion's 1984–85 title defence was halted after 48 games?

Anatoly Karpov led 5–3 with 40 draws when FIDE's president stopped the five-month match, saying it had exhausted the players; Karpov lost the title when it was replayed later in 1985.

The 'Bone Wars' was a fossil-hunting feud between Othniel Marsh and which paleontologist?

Edward Drinker Cope of Philadelphia and Yale's Marsh spent the 1870s and 1880s bribing, spying and racing each other across the American West; between them they named more than 130 dinosaur species.

Whose polio vaccine, the rival to Jonas Salk's injected shot, was given by mouth?

Albert Sabin's live-virus vaccine, given as drops on a sugar cube, was proved in mass trials in the Soviet Union in the late 1950s, at the height of the Cold War, before the United States licensed it in 1961.

Which explorer reached the South Pole about five weeks before Robert Falcon Scott's party?

Roald Amundsen's five-man team got there with skis and sled dogs in December 1911; Scott's party arrived to find his tent and a letter for Norway's king, and all five died on the way back.

The seven Lincoln–Douglas debates of 1858 were part of a contest for which office?

The prize was Douglas's U.S. Senate seat; senators were then chosen by state legislatures, and Illinois's Democratic majority re-elected Douglas, but the published debates made Lincoln a national figure before 1860.

Which rival-turned-friend of Thomas Jefferson died on the very same day as him, July 4, 1826?

John Adams died on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; his last words reportedly included 'Thomas Jefferson survives', though Jefferson had died a few hours earlier.

Where was Stalin's exiled rival Leon Trotsky assassinated in 1940?

Trotsky had lived in Coyoacán, Mexico City since 1937; NKVD agent Ramón Mercader attacked him in his study with an ice axe on August 20, 1940, and he died the next day.

After losing to Julius Caesar at Pharsalus, which rival fled to Egypt and was murdered there?

Pompey had once been Caesar's ally and son-in-law, married to his daughter Julia; courtiers of the boy-king Ptolemy XIII had him stabbed as he came ashore.

The rivalry between Octavian and Mark Antony climaxed at which naval battle in 31 BC?

At Actium, off western Greece, on September 2, 31 BC, Agrippa's fleet routed Antony and Cleopatra's ships; Octavian had already turned Rome against Antony by publishing his will, which favored Cleopatra's children.

Which foreign power's gold financed Sparta's fleet late in the Peloponnesian War?

Persia, first through the satrap Tissaphernes and then the prince Cyrus the Younger, paid for the Spartan fleet that under Lysander destroyed Athens's navy at Aegospotami in 405 BC.

In the Wars of the Roses, which 1485 battle killed Richard III and put Henry Tudor on the throne?

At Bosworth Field the Stanleys held their private army back as the fighting began, then came in on Henry Tudor's side; Henry later married Elizabeth of York to unite the two houses.

The Hatfields lived mainly in which state, across the Tug Fork river from the Kentucky McCoys?

Devil Anse Hatfield's clan lived on the West Virginia side of the Tug Fork, in what became Mingo County; the feud ran roughly from 1863 to 1891, with an 1878 lawsuit over a hog among its early flashpoints.

In medieval Italy, the Ghibellines backed which power against the pro-papal Guelphs?

The Ghibellines, whose name probably comes from Waiblingen, a Hohenstaufen estate in Germany, backed the Holy Roman Emperor; the split grew out of the Investiture Controversy over whether pope or emperor could appoint bishops.

Who won the Best Actor Oscar for playing Mozart's jealous rival Salieri in Amadeus (1984)?

F. Murray Abraham won for Salieri while co-star Tom Hulce was only nominated for Mozart, so the jealous rival beat the genius at last; Peter Shaffer's play drew on Pushkin's 1830 drama Mozart and Salieri.

In the 1995 'Battle of Britpop', which Blur single beat Oasis's 'Roll with It' to number one?

'Country House' sold 274,000 copies to 'Roll with It's 216,000 in the chart week of 20 August 1995; Oasis's (What's the Story) Morning Glory? then far outsold Blur's The Great Escape.

During the East Coast–West Coast hip-hop feud, Tupac Shakur was signed to which label?

Death Row Records boss Suge Knight posted Tupac's $1.4 million bail in October 1995 in return for his signature; All Eyez on Me followed four months later, while the Notorious B.I.G. recorded for New York's Bad Boy.

Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMAs to say which singer had 'one of the best videos of all time'?

Beyoncé's 'Single Ladies' had lost Best Female Video to Swift's 'You Belong with Me'; it won Video of the Year later that night, and she called Swift back onstage to finish her speech.

Which rival of Leonardo da Vinci was hired to paint a battle scene in the same Florentine council hall?

Michelangelo finished only a full-size drawing of his Battle of Cascina before the pope called him to Rome, and Leonardo abandoned his Battle of Anghiari, so neither mural survives in the Palazzo Vecchio.

Which sculptor of Rome's Fountain of the Four Rivers was architect Borromini's great rival?

Gian Lorenzo Bernini's river gods are said to recoil from Borromini's church across the piazza, but the legend can't be true: the fountain was finished in 1651, before Borromini began work there.

Which 1962 film paired feuding screen legends Bette Davis and Joan Crawford?

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? earned Davis an Oscar nomination but not Crawford; on the night Crawford arranged to collect the Best Actress award herself, on behalf of the absent winner Anne Bancroft.

Rudolf Dassler founded which sportswear brand after splitting from his brother Adi, the founder of Adidas?

Puma and Adidas were born when the brothers split their shared shoe factory in Herzogenaurach in 1948; the town divided so sharply that locals were said to check a stranger's shoes before speaking.

Which Ford model scored its first Le Mans win in 1966, finishing 1-2-3 ahead of Ferrari?

The GT40 was Henry Ford II's answer after Enzo Ferrari backed out of selling his company to Ford in 1963; its 1-2-3 in 1966 was the first Le Mans win for an American constructor, and Ford won the next three too.

The first 'browser war' of 1995–2001 pitted Internet Explorer against which browser?

Netscape Navigator ruled the early web until Internet Explorer, built on licensed Spyglass Mosaic code, was bundled free with Windows; in 1998 Netscape opened up its code to all, and it grew into the Mozilla project and Firefox.

Which company's console-war slogan was 'Genesis does what Nintendon't'?

Sega of America boss Michael Katz also paid celebrities such as Joe Montana and Arnold Palmer to put their names on games.

Which company's Betamax format lost the videotape war to JVC's VHS?

Sony had shown a 'Beta' prototype to other manufacturers in 1974, expecting them to rally behind a single format.

Which paper did Joseph Pulitzer own during his 1890s circulation war with Hearst's Journal?

Pulitzer bought the New York World from Jay Gould in 1883 and filled it with pictures, games and contests; the 'Yellow Kid' comic the two papers fought over gave 'yellow journalism' its name.

Which Italian sports-car maker was founded by a tractor manufacturer who had quarrelled with Enzo Ferrari?

Lamborghini's founder Ferruccio had built tractors since 1948; by his own account he complained to Enzo Ferrari about his car's weak clutch, was brushed off, and decided to build a better car himself.

Wile E. Coyote mail-orders most of his Road Runner traps from which company?

Chuck Jones's rules for the series said only his own ineptitude or the failure of Acme products could ever harm the Coyote; 'Acme' was a common business name because it sorted to the top of directories.

Captain Ahab hunts his nemesis, the white whale Moby Dick, aboard which ship?

The Pequod, which Ishmael joins at Nantucket, is owned by Quakers Bildad and Peleg; a stranger named Elijah prophesies doom for the voyage, and Ahab only appears once the ship is at sea.

Inspector Javert relentlessly pursues Jean Valjean in which 1862 novel?

Les Misérables never gives Javert a first name; after Valjean spares his life, the inspector lets him go and, unable to live with having bent the law, drowns himself in the Seine.

Who played Apollo Creed, Rocky Balboa's rival and later friend, in the Rocky films?

Carl Weathers, a former Oakland Raiders linebacker, won the part after heavyweight Ken Norton pulled out; Stallone had written the original script in about three days.

'I am Lord Voldemort' is revealed to be an anagram of which birth name?

Tom Marvolo Riddle rearranges into 'I am Lord Voldemort'; translators alter the name so the anagram survives, which is why he is Tom Elvis Jedusor in French.

Which actor returned as Khan in Star Trek II, fifteen years after playing him in the TV episode 'Space Seed'?

Ricardo Montalbán took a break from Fantasy Island for the role, yet he and William Shatner never shared a scene: Kirk and Khan confront each other only over viewscreens.

Who played Newman, Jerry's mail-carrier nemesis on Seinfeld?

Wayne Knight played Newman from 1992 to the 1998 finale, and re-dubbed the character's unseen lines in the 1991 episode 'The Revenge', originally voiced by Larry David, for syndication.

Hulk Hogan's 1987 title defence against André the Giant at WrestleMania III was held where?

The Pontiac Silverdome outside Detroit drew an announced 93,173 on March 29, 1987; the feud began when André turned on his friend on Piper's Pit after Hogan was honoured for three years as champion.

The Ashes urn, prize of the England–Australia cricket rivalry, reputedly holds the ashes of what?

A wooden bail is the usual story, though a rival account says a lady's veil; the urn was a private gift to England captain Ivo Bligh on the 1882–83 tour, after a mock obituary declared English cricket dead.

Which golf contest between the United States and Europe began in 1927 as a match against Great Britain?

The Ryder Cup is named for seed merchant Samuel Ryder, who donated the gold trophy; after decades of American dominance, players from continental Europe joined the British and Irish side in 1979.

Whom did Serena beat in all four finals of her 2002–03 'Serena Slam'?

Venus Williams had beaten her younger sister in their first major final, at the 2001 US Open, the first women's final there shown in American prime time; Serena went on to win seven of their nine.

Wilt Chamberlain finally got past the Boston Celtics to win the 1967 NBA title with which team?

The 1967 Philadelphia 76ers went 68-13 and beat Boston 4-1 in the Eastern Division finals, ending the Celtics' run of eight straight titles, then beat the San Francisco Warriors for the championship.

Which Celtics center won 11 NBA titles in 13 seasons?

Bill Russell's great rival Wilt Chamberlain put up far bigger scoring numbers, yet it was Russell's Celtics who kept winning; in 1966 he also became the NBA's first Black head coach.

Which former champion fell to Muhammad Ali's 'phantom punch' in the first round of their 1965 rematch?

Sonny Liston went down to a short right that many at ringside never saw; the fight had been moved from Boston to a junior hockey rink in Lewiston, Maine, and the photo of Ali standing over him became a sporting icon.

Which British runner won the 1980 Olympic 1500 m after losing the 800 m to Steve Ovett?

Sebastian Coe held the 800 m world record and Ovett had won 45 straight races at 1500 m and the mile, yet each took gold in the other's best event, six days apart.

The 'Battle of the Brians' between Orser and Boitano peaked at which Winter Olympics?

At Calgary 1988 Boitano skated cleanly, while Orser, on home ice, stepped out of one jump and cut a planned triple Axel to a double, losing the gold on a 5–4 split of the judges.

Paul Henderson's goal with 34 seconds left won the 1972 Summit Series for Canada against which country?

The Soviet Union stunned Canada's NHL professionals 7–3 in the opener and led the series until Canada won the last three games in Moscow, Henderson scoring the winner each time.

Which company did a US jury order in 2012 to pay Apple about $1 billion for copying the iPhone?

Samsung was hit with a $1.05 billion verdict by a San Jose jury in August 2012; the award was cut on appeal, the case reached the Supreme Court, and the two settled in 2018 after seven years of litigation.

Who played the Mac opposite John Hodgman's PC in Apple's 'Get a Mac' ads?

Justin Long played the Mac from 2006 to 2009; in 2021 chipmaker Intel hired him to make the opposite case, promoting PCs over Macs.

The Wright brothers fought a years-long patent war against which fellow aviation pioneer?

Glenn Curtiss refused to pay royalties on the Wrights' 1906 wing-warping patent; in 1914 he rebuilt and flew Langley's 1903 Aerodrome for the Smithsonian to argue it had been capable of flight first.

The deadly 1849 Astor Place Riot in Manhattan grew from a feud between two men in which profession?

Shakespearean actors Edwin Forrest, an American star, and William Macready, an English one, even staged rival Macbeths on the same night; when a mob besieged Macready's theatre, between 22 and 31 rioters died.

Whose theory of 'animal electricity' did Alessandro Volta set out to disprove, inventing the first battery in 1800?

Luigi Galvani had seen frogs' legs twitch when touched by two metals and credited a force in the animal; Volta showed the metals made the current, and stacked discs of zinc and copper or silver to prove it.

Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the 1973 'Battle of the Sexes' at which venue?

The Houston Astrodome drew 30,472, then a record crowd for a tennis match, on September 20, 1973; King, 29, beat the 55-year-old Riggs in straight sets four months after he had routed Margaret Court.

In the 'War of the Romantics', Brahms's camp opposed Franz Liszt and which opera composer?

Richard Wagner and Liszt led the progressive 'New German School'; in 1860 Brahms and the violinist Joseph Joachim signed a manifesto against it, which leaked early with only four signatures and was parodied in print.

Which designer dismissed surrealist rival Elsa Schiaparelli as 'that Italian artist who makes clothes'?

Coco Chanel reopened her couture house in 1954, the very year Schiaparelli, famed for 'shocking pink' and her designs with Salvador Dalí, closed her heavily indebted one.

Tartaglia's bitter feud with Cardano was over the solution to which type of equation?

Tartaglia revealed his method for the cubic in verse in 1539 on a promise of secrecy; Cardano printed it in Ars Magna in 1545 after finding del Ferro's earlier solution in Bologna.