Daily Archives: March 5, 2024

History

On this day March 6

Today in History

  • 1987 193 people die when a ferry capsizes in the North Sea

    The Herald of Free Enterprise sank just minutes after leaving the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

  • 1967 Stalin’s daughter defects to the West

    The Soviet dictator’s daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, caused an international uproar when she approached the United States embassy in New Delhi and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

  • 1957 Ghana becomes the first African country to gain independence from colonial rule

    Ghana emerged as a sovereign state from the former British colonies Gold Coast and Togoland. Kwame Nkrumah was the country’s first leader.

  • 1899 The painkiller Asprin is registered as a trademark

    Acetylsalicylic acid was first isolated in 1897 by German chemist Felix Hoffmann. Today, the medication is sold by Bayer and is on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines.

  • 1869 The first periodic table of chemical elements is presented

    Dmitri Mendeleev presented the system to the Russian Chemical Society on that day.

History

On this day March 5

Today in History

  • 1981 The home computer ZX81 is launched

    The British ZX81 was one of the world’s first home computer and was sold over 1.5 million times.

  • 1970 The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty enters into force

    Nuclear powers China, Russia, U.S., U.K., and France initiated the treaty in 1968. It has since been ratified by 190 nations around the world.

  • 1960 Alberto Korda takes his famous picture of revolutionary Che Guevara

    The iconic photograph, called Guerrillero Heroico, was taken at a memorial service for the victims of the La Coubre explosion.

  • 1872 The air brake is patented

    George Westinghouse is credited with the design of the railway braking system that uses compressed air.

  • 1616 Nicolaus Copernicus’ revolutionary book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium is banned by the Catholic Church

    In the book, Copernicus claimed that the Earth revolves around the sun. The Church maintained Ptolemy’s geocentric system. The book is considered a milestone in the history of astronomy.