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Today in History 04/16/17

Storerooms in the Jewish fort of Masada, scene of a siege and mass-suicide during the first Jewish revolt against the Romans, 1st century CE (© CM Dixon/Print Collector/Getty Images)(73 CE) Roman troops end siege of Jewish rebel stronghold Masada
Having spent months building a giant ramp to reach Masada, a mountaintop fortress defended by just 967 Jewish rebels, a massive Roman force uses a battering ram to breach the walls. Inside, according to a Jewish chronicler of the events, the Romans find the rebels dead, having committed mass suicide.
The siege of Masada was one of the final events in the First Jewish–Roman War, occurring from 73 to 74 CE on a large hilltop in current-day Israel. The siege was chronicled by Flavius Josephus, a Jewish rebel leader captured by the Romans, in whose service he became a historian. According to Josephus the long siege by the troops of the Roman Empire led to the mass suicide of the Sicarii rebels and resident Jewish families of the Masada fortress. Masada has become a controversial event in Jewish history, with some regarding it as a place of reverence, commemorating fallen ancestors and their heroic struggle against oppression, and others regarding it as a warning against extremism and the refusal to compromise.
Israel 2013 - Masada Aerial

wiki/Siege_of_Masada
Painting depicting the Battle of Culloden on April 16, 1746 (© Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)(1746) The Battle of Culloden is Scottish Jacobites’ last stand
A pitched battle near Inverness between Scottish Highlanders and British Loyalists results in thousands of casualties for the Scots, and a victory for the Brits that will lead to a cracking down on the Scottish clan system and a depopulating of the Highlands.
The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745 and part of a religious civil war in Britain. On 16 April 1746, the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart were decisively defeated by loyalist troops commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.
Phone: 0844 493 2159
Date: Apr 16, 1746

wiki/Battle_of_Culloden
Undated file photo of Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, discoverer of the mind-altering drug LSD and former head of the research department of Swiss chemical company Sandoz, at his home in Burg, Switzerland (© Reto Gisin/Keystone/AP)(1943) Scientist Albert Hofmann takes history’s first LSD trip
During research into compounds synthesized in part from a grain fungus, Swiss scientist Dr. Albert Hofmann accidentally touches and absorbs a small amount of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and experiences a 2-hour-long hallucinogenic journey.
Albert Hofmann was a Swiss scientist known best for being the first person to synthesize, ingest, and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide. Hofmann was also the first person to isolate, synthesize, and name the principal psychedelic mushroom compounds psilocybin and psilocin. He authored more than 100 scientific articles and numerous books, including LSD: Mein Sorgenkind. In 2007, he shared first place, alongside Tim Berners-Lee, in a list of the 100 greatest living geniuses, published by The Telegraph newspaper.
Born: Jan 11, 1906 · Baden, Switzerland
Died: Apr 29, 2008 · Burg im Leimental, Switzerland
Inventions: Lysergic acid diethylamide
Education: University of Zurich
Parents: Adolf Hofmann
Highlights
  • 1938: While researching lysergic acid derivatives, Hofmann first synthesized LSD on 16 November 1938.

  • 1958: He first synthesized 4-AcO-DET in 1958 in the Sandoz lab.

  • 1969: The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) honored him with the title D.Sc. (honoris causa) in 1969 together with Gustav Guanella, his brother-in-law.

  • 1971: After retiring from Sandoz in 1971, Hofmann was allowed to take his papers and research home.

  • 1971: In 1971 the Swedish Pharmaceutical Association (Sveriges Farmacevtförbund) granted him the Scheele Award, which commemorates the skills and achievements of the Swedish Pomeranian chemist and pharmacist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.

  • 2008: Hofmann died of a heart attack on 29 April 2008, surrounded by several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

wiki/Albert_Hofmann
In this April 16, 1947 photo, refineries and oil storage tanks at the Monsanto Chemical Company burn in the waterfront area in Texas City, Texas (© AP)(1947) A freighter’s payload explodes and wipes out Texas City
Ammonium nitrate fertilizer catches fire on a vessel in Galveston Bay and explodes, flattening much of the town of Texas City, Texas. The disaster will kill nearly 600 and wound over 3,000, becoming the worst industrial accident in US history.
The Texas City disaster was an industrial accident that occurred April 16, 1947, in the Port of Texas City. It was the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history, and one of the largest non-nuclear explosions. Originating with a mid-morning fire on board the French-registered vessel SS Grandcamp, her cargo of approximately 2,200 tons of ammonium nitrate detonated, with the initial blast and subsequent chain-reaction of further fires and explosions in other ships and nearby oil-storage facilities. It killed at least 581 people, including all but one member of the Texas City fire department. The disaster triggered the first ever class action lawsuit against the United States government, under the then-recently enacted Federal Tort Claims Act, on behalf of 8,485 victims.
Date: Apr 16, 1947

wiki/Texas_City_disaster
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Today in History

Today in History
(1746) Bonnie Prince Charlie escapes Scotland after failed uprising
1746 As the second Jacobite claimant to Britain’s throne, Charles Edward Stuart has spent a year in Scotland struggling to do what his father, ‘The Old Pretender,’ could not. This ‘Young Pretender’ has no better luck, and breaks for France as the dream of a Catholic British king dies out. .
Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart, commonly known in Britain during his lifetime as The Young Pretender and The Young Chevalier, and often known in retrospective accounts as Bonnie Prince Charlie, was the second Jacobite pretender to the thrones of England, Scotland, France and Ireland from the death of his father in 1766. This claim was as the eldest son of James Francis Edward Stuart, himself the son of James VII and II. Charles is perhaps best known as the instigator of the unsuccessful Jacobite uprising of 1745, in which he led an insurrection to restore his family to the throne of Great Britain, which ended in defeat at the Battle of Culloden that effectively ended the Jacobite cause. Jacobites supported the Stuart claim due to hopes for religious toleration for Roman Catholics and a belief in the divine right of kings. Charles’s flight from Scotland after the uprising has rendered him a romantic figure of heroic failure in some later representations. In 1759 he was involved in a French plan to invade Britain which was abandoned following British naval victories.

Lived: Dec 31, 1720 – Jan 31, 1788 (age 67)
Spouse: Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern (m. 1772)
Children: Charlotte Stuart, Duchess of Albany (Daughter)
Parents: James Francis Edward Stuart (Father) · Maria Clementina Sobieska (Mother)
Buried: St. Peter’s Basilica
Siblings: Henry Benedict Stuart (Brother)

— Source: wiki/Charles_Edward_Stuart
(1873) Bonds and banks fail as a depression looms
Wall Street is in free fall in the wake of US railroad bonds defaulting and the biggest banks in the US failing, and the crisis will close the New York Stock Exchange for 10 days. A major worldwide economic collapse follows and will not let up in some countries for two decades. . 1873
The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered a depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 until 1879, and even longer in some countries. In Britain, for example, it started two decades of stagnation known as the “Long Depression” that weakened the country’s economic leadership. The Panic was known as the “Great Depression” until the events in the early 1930s set a new precedent.

Start date: 1873
End date: 1879

— Source: wiki/Panic_of_1873
(1946) Glamour, commerce, and art converge at Cannes
1946 Scheduled to hold an inaugural gala in 1939, Cannes had to delay its film festival’s rollout for seven years while WWII raged. Now that the all-clear has sounded, the Cannes Film Festival begins its annual tradition as the film world descends on the French Riviera resort. .
The Cannes Festival, named until 2002 as the International Film Festival and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from around the world. Founded in 1946, the invitation-only festival is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès.

First occurred: 1946

— Source: wiki/Cannes_Film_Festival
(1973) No love lost in tennis battle of the sexes
Having bested Margaret Court months earlier, former Wimbledon champ Bobby Riggs, 55, meets women’s tennis superstar Billie Jean King, 29, in what the media dub “the battle of the sexes.” Riggs’ dream of proving male athletic superiority is smashed when King handily wins the match in front of spectators and millions of TV viewers. . 1973
The Battle of the Sexes is a title given to three notable tennis matches between a male and a female player. The first match was between Bobby Riggs and Margaret Court, over the best of three sets. The second was a nationally televised match between Riggs and Billie Jean King, over the best of five sets. The Riggs v King match was officially dubbed The Battle of the Sexes. The final match was between Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova, over the best of three sets and hybrid rules favoring the female player, which was dubbed The Battle of Champions.

First occurred: May 13, 1973

— Source: wiki/Battle_of_the_Sexes_(tennis)
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A Historical Day

(73 CE) Roman troops end siege of Jewish rebel stronghold Masada
73 CE Having spent months building a giant ramp to reach Masada, a mountaintop fortress defended by just 967 Jewish rebels, a massive Roman force uses a battering ram to breach the walls. Inside, according to a Jewish chronicler of the events, the Romans find the rebels dead, having committed mass suicide..
(1746) The Battle of Culloden is Scottish Jacobites’ last stand
A pitched battle near Inverness between Scottish Highlanders and British Loyalists results in thousands of casualties for the Scots, and a victory for the Brits that will lead to a cracking down on the Scottish clan system and a depopulating of the Highlands.. 1746
(1943) Scientist Albert Hofmann takes history’s first LSD trip
1943 During research into compounds synthesized in part from a grain fungus, Swiss scientist Dr. Albert Hofmann accidentally touches and absorbs a small amount of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and experiences a 2-hour-long hallucinogenic journey. .
(1947) A freighter’s payload explodes and wipes out Texas City
Ammonium nitrate fertilizer catches fire on a vessel in Galveston Bay and explodes, flattening much of the town of Texas City, Texas. The disaster will kill nearly 600 and wound over 3,000, becoming the worst industrial accident in US history.. 1947