1693

Today in History 01/11/17

Illustration of the lottery being drawn in Guildhall, London, in 1763 (© The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)(1569) England draws its first lottery
Chartered by Queen Elizabeth I, the first lottery is drawn in England for benefit of “publique good workes.” Later, ticketing rights will be sold to brokers, the precursor to what will one day be called stockbrokers.
Copper engraving showing damage of an earthquake in Sicily, Italy, in 1693 (© The Kozak Collection via The National Information Service for Earthquake Engineering (NISEE) at UC, Berkeley)(1693) A devastating earthquake rocks Sicily
A foreshock two days previously did little to prepare Sicilians for the fierce quake that strikes close to the island’s eastern coast, spawning devastating tsunamis, destroying at least 70 towns and cities and killing 60,000 people. It will later be estimated as the most powerful in Italy’s history.
The 1693 Sicily earthquake struck parts of southern Italy near Sicily, Calabria and Malta on January 11 at around 9 p.m. local time. This earthquake was preceded by a damaging foreshock on January 9. It had an estimated magnitude of 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, the most powerful in Italian history, and a maximum intensity of XI on the Mercalli intensity scale, destroying at least 70 towns and cities, seriously affecting an area of 5,600 square kilometres and causing the death of about 60,000 people. The earthquake was followed by tsunamis that devastated the coastal villages on the Ionian Sea and in the Straits of Messina. Almost two thirds of the entire population of Catania were killed. The epicentre of the disaster was probably close to the coast, possibly offshore, although the exact position remains unknown. The extent and degree of destruction caused by the earthquake resulted in extensive rebuilding of the towns and cities of southeastern Sicily, particularly the Val di Noto, in a homogeneous late Baroque style, described as “the culmination and final flowering of Baroque art in Europe”.
According to a contemporary account of the earthquake by Vincentius Bonajutus, published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, “It was in this country impossible to keep upon our legs, or in one place on the dancing Earth; nay, those that lay along on the ground, were tossed from side to side, as if on a rolling billow.”
Date: Jan 11, 1693

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Toroweap Overlook at sunset in the Grand Canyon, Arizona (© Dan Ballard/Aurora Creative/Getty Images)(1908) Roosevelt declares Grand Canyon a national monument
Arizona’s astounding 277-mile gorge is given the honor of national monument status by noted wilderness supporter President Teddy Roosevelt, thus insuring the Grand Canyon’s future protection. It will be made a national park in 1919, soon after the establishment of the National Park Service.
Grand Canyon National Park is the United States’ 15th oldest national park. Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, the park is located in northwestern Arizona. The park’s central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The park covers 1,217,262 acres of unincorporated area in Coconino and Mohave counties. As of 2015, the park received more than five and a half million recreational visitors, which is the second highest count of all U.S. national parks after Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Website: www.nps.gov/grca
Address: 20 South Entrance Road, Grand Canyon Village, AZ 86023
Phone: (928) 638-7888
Established: Feb 26, 1919
Area: 1,902 sq miles (4,926 km²)
Annual visitors: 5.52 million (2015)
Travel tip: The Grand Canyon is on almost every traveler’s bucket list. Indeed, Theodore Roosevelt called it “the one great sight which every American should see.” The Bright Angel and … @tripadvisor

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US Surgeon General Luther Terry holds a copy of the report on the relationship of smoking to health on Jan. 11, 1964 (© hwg/AP)(1964) Surgeon General reports risks of cigarette smoking
In a publication that will spur the first major anti-smoking campaign in US history, Dr. Luther Terry reports that smoking tobacco is implicated in hazardous health outcomes, including cancer.
The 1964 report on smoking and health had an impact on public attitudes and policy. A Gallup Survey conducted in 1958 found that only 44 percent of Americans believed smoking caused cancer, while 78 percent believed so by 1968. In the course of a decade, it had become common knowledge that smoking damaged health, and mounting evidence of health risks gave Terry’s 1964 report public resonance. Yet, while the report proclaimed that “cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action,” it remained silent on concrete remedies. That challenge fell to politicians. In 1965, Congress required all cigarette packages distributed in the United States to carry a health warning, and since 1970 this warning is made in the name of the Surgeon General. In 1969, cigarette advertising on television and radio was banned, effective September 1970.
The Reports of the Surgeon General: The 1964 Report on Smoking and Health
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