Category Archives: History

History

On this day October 14

 

Today in History

  • 1994 Two Israelis and a Palestinian Share the Nobel Peace Prize

    The Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres shared the Nobel Peace Prize, which is annually awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee based in Oslo, with the President of the Palestinian National Authority, Yasser Arafat. The Award was given out to the two parties for their efforts and work on the Oslo Accords, a series of agreements between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel. The Accords created the Palestinian Authority and made it the official governing body to interact with Israel on issues that effect the lives of Palestinians in Israel.

  • 1984 Joseph Kittinger Starts on his Solo Gas Balloon Flight Across the Atlantic

    4 days later, on September 18, Kittinger became the first person to traverse the Atlantic in a balloon called the Balloon of Peace. As a member of the US Armed Forces, Kittinger jumped from a height of 102,800 feet on August 16, 1960, becoming the first person in ever to jump from that height.

  • 1947 First Human to Fly Faster than the Speed of Sound

    American Air Force test pilot, Chuck Yeager, flew the Bell X-1, an experiment aircraft at Mach 1.07 at an altitude of 45,000 ft. In doing so, he became the first person to break the sound barrier.

  • 1926 Winnie-the-Pooh Makes his Literary Debut

    The popular children’s book character was created by British author A.A. Milne and first appeared in a collection of short stories called Winnie-the-Pooh. Winnie, a teddy bear, lives in Ashdown Forest, Sussex, England. The book followed his adventures in the forest with his friends Piglet, Owl, Rabbit, and Eeyore.

  • 1913 Senghenydd Colliery Disaster

    In what is considered to be one of the worst mine disasters in recorded history, 440 people were killed when an explosion ripped through the Senghenydd coal mine in Wales.

 

 

History

On this day October 13

Today in History

  • 2012 Mauritanian President injured

    Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was shot at and injured. Oficial reports suggest that he was mistakenly shot by the military.

  • 2010 Chilean Miners Rescued

    The last of the miners trapped in the San José copper–gold mine in Copiapó, Chile, were rescued after 69 days. The ordeal began on August 5, 2010, when the walls of the 121-year old mine collapsed and trapped 33 miners. All of the miners were rescued safely by the Chilean government with the help of the international community.

  • 1958 Paddington Bear Makes His Debut

    The popular children’s literature character first appeared in English author Michael Bond’s illustrated book, A Bear Called Paddington. Paddington is a polite Peruvian spectacle bear with a special fondness for marmalade. The success of the first book was followed by 20 more books featuring the lovable bear and a successful toy franchise.

  • 1792 Construction of the White House Begins

    The office and residence of the President of the United States was designed by Irish architect James Hoban. It took 8 years for it to become livable and President John Adams became the first president to occupy the building on November 1, 1800.

  • 1773 First Spiral Galaxy Discovered

    French astronomer, Charles Messier, discovered the Whirlpool Galaxy. Also known as Messier 51a, the galaxy is about 30 million light-years from Earth. A spiral galaxy is a type of galaxy where stars, gasses, and other cosmic dust particles rotate or revolve in a spiral around a central bulge. Astronomers think that the bulge consists of a black hole.

History

On this day October 12

Today in History

  • 1979 Douglas Adam’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Hits the Bookstores

    The first in a “trilogy of five”, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, or H2G2, is a popular comedy science fiction novel that was first created as a radio show in 1978 for BBC Radio 4. The show and the book follow the intergalactic adventures of Arthur Dent, who escapes the Earth’s destruction. He is accompanied by several other characters including an alien called Ford Prefect, Marvin the depressed robot, and the Vogons who are responsible for destroying the Earth.

  • 1968 Equatorial Guinea Gains Independence

    The African republic was part of the Spanish Empire since the late 1700s. Known as Spanish Guinea, the country became independent and changed its name to Equatorial Guinea under the leadership of President Francisco Macías Nguema. In 1972, Nguema proclaimed himself president for life.

  • 1964 First Multi Person Space Flight

    Soviet spacecraft Voskhod 1 carried 3 cosmonauts for the first time to space. It was also the first time the crew did not wear any space suits for the duration of the flight.

  • 1960 Nikita Khrushchev’s Famous Shoe Pounding Incident

    The First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union removed his shoe and pounded it on the table during a UN General Assembly meeting in New York. The incident was thought to be a response to comments about freedoms in Eastern Europe made by the Filipino delegate, Lorenzo Sumulong.

  • 1492 Christopher Columbus Steps Foot on the New World

    Two months after he had set sail from Spain with crews on 3 ships – the Santa María, the Pinta, and the Santa Clara, Columbus spotted land that he believed was Japan. He had, in fact, stepped foot on what is now the Bahamas. Claiming that he was the first one to set sight on the lands, he declared the lands as being owned by the Spanish empire.

History

On this day October 10

Today in History

  • 2010 The Country of Netherlands Antilles is Dissolved

    The Caribbean Dutch dependency, also sometimes known as the Dutch Antilles, was formed in 1954. The dissolution came after a series of referendums to become independent states within the Kingdom of the Netherlands were passed on the Islands of Curaçao, St Maarten, Bonaire, and Saba.

  • 1970 Fijian independence

    The South Pacific Ocean island country had been ruled by the British since 1874. Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara became the first prime minister of independent Fiji.

  • 1967 Outer Space Treaty is Enforced

    Also known as the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, it regulated the exploration and use of outer space and created the field of international space law. The treaty declared that outer space and all celestial bodies were the common heritage of mankind and could not be claimed by any one nation.

  • 1964 The Tokyo Summer Olympics Begin

    93 countries participated in the first Olympics to be held in Asia. As a tribute to the horrors of the Second World War, Yoshinori Sakai, who was born in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the day an atomic bomb destroyed the city, was chosen as the torchbearer to light the Olympic flame during the opening. The Tokyo Olympics was also the first Olympic Games that used satellites – Syncom 3 in the United States and Relay 1 in Europe – to telecast the games. Some of the games were also broadcasted in color for the first time.

  • 1933 United Airlines Boeing 247 explosion

    In one of the oldest unsolved cases in aviation history, the airplane which was flying from Newark, New Jersey to Oakland California exploded mid-air and crashed near Chesterton, Indiana. All 7 passengers and crew members died in the incident. To this day, it is not known what and who caused the explosion.