| (4977 BCE) Universe allegedly comes into being
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German astronomer Johannes Kepler pegs the year everything started. Although a pioneer in his field, and responsible for great leaps of learning during the 17th-century’s scientific revolution, his calculations won’t stand the test of time. . |
| (1865) Steamboat Sultana explodes on the Mississippi
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| Burdened with six times the passengers considered safe to carry, and routine maintenance overdue, tragedy inevitably finds the steamship Sultana when a boiler blows. The vessel catches fire and sinks, killing 1,800 Union vets newly freed from Andersonville Prison.. |
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| (1934) Peterson’s ‘Guide to the Birds’ first published
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26-year-old ornithologist, illustrator, and writer Roger Tory Peterson sees his field guide to the birds of North America published. It will be an immediate sensation, and its author will go on to be a pioneer in the US environmental movement. . |
| (1961) Sierra Leone gains independence
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| A century and a half after Britain took Sierra Leone as its own, the West African nation becomes an independent country under Prime Minister Milton Margai. The transfer of power is peaceful, and the sun sets earlier on the once globe-spanning British Colonial Empire.. |
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