1804

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Today in History 02/21/17

The Globe Theatre in London, circa 1612 (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)(1599) Shakespeare leases marshland on the Thames River
William Shakespeare joins seven other men in signing a lease on a Southwark lot along the Thames. The playwright now owns a share in what will become the Globe Theatre, where some of his most memorable plays will first be staged, including ‘Julius Caesar,’ ‘Macbeth,’ ‘Othello,’ ‘King Lear,’ and ‘Hamlet.’
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare’s playing company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend and grandson Sir Matthew Brend, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed by an Ordinance issued on 6 September 1642.
Address: 21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, London SE1 9
Phone: 020 7620 0202
Opened: 1599
Closed: 1642
Architects: Peter Street · Theo Crosby

wiki/Globe_Theatre
Model of the first steam locomotive (© SSPL/Getty Images)(1804) World’s first steam train railway journey
The steam train makes its maiden run, as Richard Trevithick and his locomotive embark on a rail journey between the Penydarren Ironworks to Abercynon in South Wales, reaching a speed of 5 mph on the 9-mile trip.
Richard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer from Cornwall, England. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He performed poorly in school, but went on to be an early pioneer of steam-powered road and rail transport. His most significant contribution was the development of the first high-pressure steam engine. He also built the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive. On 21 February 1804 the world’s first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place as Trevithick’s unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
Born: Apr 13, 1771 · Tregajorran, United Kingdom
Died: Apr 22, 1833 · Dartford, United Kingdom
Romance: Jane Harvey
Inventions: Steam locomotive
Children: Francis Trevithick (Son)
Parents: Richard F Francis Trevithick · Ann Trevithick
Highlights
  • 1801: Trevithick built a full-size steam road locomotive in 1801 on a site near the present day Fore Street at Camborne.

  • 1804: These were sent to John Whitfield at Gateshead, Trevithick’s agent, who in 1804 built what was probably the first locomotive to have flanged wheels.

  • 1804: On 21 February 1804 the world’s first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place as Trevithick’s unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.

  • 1808: In 1808, Trevithick publicised his steam railway locomotive expertise by building a new locomotive called Catch Me Who Can, built for him by John Hazledine and John Urpeth Rastrick at Bridgnorth in Shropshire, and named by Davies Giddy’s daughter.

  • 1818: Uville died in 1818 and Trevithick soon returned to Cerro de Pasco to continue mining.

  • 1829: In 1829 he built a closed cycle steam engine followed by a vertical tubular boiler.

wiki/Richard_Trevithick
German soldiers during the Battle of Verdun in 1916 ( © Archive Photos/Getty Images)(1916) Battle of Verdun begins
World War I’s battle at Verdun, in France, begins with Germany’s massive heavy artillery array inspiring their confidence in winning the engagement quickly. The battle’s 303 days and 714,000 casualties will prove them wrong.
The Battle of Verdun, fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916, was one of the largest and longest battles of the First World War on the Western Front between the German and French armies. The battle took place on the hills north of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France. The German 5th Army attacked the defences of the Région Fortifiée de Verdun and those of the French Second Army on the right bank of the Meuse. Inspired by the experience of the Second Battle of Champagne the year before, the Germans planned to rapidly capture the Meuse Heights, providing them with an excellent defensive position that would also allow them to bombard Verdun with observed artillery fire. The Germans hoped that the French would commit their strategic reserve to recapture the position and suffer catastrophic losses in a battle of attrition, as the Germans would have a tactical advantage.
Start date: Feb 21, 1916
End date: Dec 18, 1916

wiki/Battle_of_Verdun
Chairman Mao Zedong shakes hands with President Richard Nixon in Beijing in February 1972 (© AFP/Getty Images)(1972) President Nixon arrives for historic China visit
The Cold War freeze begins a slow thaw as Nixon makes a historic trip to China for two weeks of talks in Beijing. The diplomatic breakthrough will be a high point in Nixon’s career.
U.S. President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to the People’s Republic of China was an important step in formally normalizing relations between the United States and China. It marked the first time a U.S. president had visited the PRC, which at that time considered the U.S. one of its foes, and the visit ended 25 years of separation between the two sides.
wiki/1972_Nixon_visit_to_China
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Today in History 02/16/17

Illustration of the burning of the frigate USS Philadelphia in Tripoli Harbor by a group of U.S. sailors under the command of Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, Jr., in Feb 1804 (© Interim Archives/Getty Images)(1804) Swashbuckling raid scuttles a pirated US frigate
Disguised as Maltese sailors, Lt. Stephen Decatur and his men board the USS Philadelphia, an American vessel run aground in Tripoli Harbor and held by Barbary pirates. The ship is considered too valuable to be allowed to remain in the hands of the pirates, so Decatur and his men set her alight.
USS Philadelphia, a 1240-ton, 36-gun sailing frigate, was the second vessel of the United States Navy to be named for the city of Philadelphia. Originally named City of Philadelphia, she was built in 1798–1799 for the United States government by the citizens of that city. Funding for her construction was the result of a funding drive which raised $100,000 in one week, in June 1798. She was designed by Josiah Fox and built by Samuel Humphreys, Nathaniel Hutton and John Delavue. Her carved work was done by William Rush of Philadelphia. She was laid down about November 14, 1798, launched on November 28, 1799, and commissioned on April 5, 1800, with Captain Stephen Decatur, Sr. in command. She is perhaps best remembered for her burning after being captured in Tripoli.
Keel laid: Nov 14, 1798
Launched: Nov 28, 1799

wiki/USS_Philadelphia_(1799)
1878 silver dollar coin (© ClassicStock/Alamy)(1878) The silver dollar is deemed US legal tender
Amid roiling economic controversy and a financial panic, the United States Congress passes the Bland-Allison Act, requiring the minting of silver coins to be put into circulation as dollar coins. Gold coins will be preferred among Americans, however, giving rise to the gold standard economy.
The Bland–Allison Act, also referred to as the Grand Bland Plan of 1878, was an act of United States Congress requiring the U.S. Treasury to buy a certain amount of silver and put it into circulation as silver dollars. Though the bill was vetoed by President Rutherford B. Hayes, the Congress overrode Hayes’ veto on February 23, 1878 to enact the law.
wiki/Bland–Allison_Act
Howard Carter with the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun in Egypt (© APIC/Getty Images)(1923) King Tut’s tomb unsealed in Egypt
British archaeologist Howard Carter unseals a doorway at the back of a tomb buried under the sands of Thebes, Egypt, and after more than 3,000 years, the pharaoh Tutankhamun has a visitor.
Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom or sometimes the New Empire Period. He has since his discovery been colloquially referred to as King Tut. His original name, Tutankhaten, means “Living Image of Aten”, while Tutankhamun means “Living Image of Amun”. In hieroglyphs, the name Tutankhamun was typically written Amen-tut-ankh, because of a scribal custom that placed a divine name at the beginning of a phrase to show appropriate reverence. He is possibly also the Nibhurrereya of the Amarna letters, and likely the 18th dynasty king Rathotis who, according to Manetho, an ancient historian, had reigned for nine years—a figure that conforms with Flavius Josephus’s version of Manetho’s Epitome.
Born: 1341 BC · Ancient Egypt
Died: 1323 BC · Ancient Egypt
Height: 5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
Parents: Akhenaten (Father) · The Younger Lady (Mother)
Siblings: Ankhesenamun (Sister)

wiki/Tutankhamun
The USS Triton submarine undergoing preliminary trials in the Atlantic in 1959 (© U.S. Navy/AP )(1960) Submarine begins world’s first underwater circumnavigation
The USS Triton begins ‘Operation Sandblast,’ the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe. The voyage will generally follow the overwater route Magellan sailed more than four centuries earlier.
USS Triton, a United States Navy radar picket nuclear submarine, was the first vessel to execute a submerged circumnavigation of the Earth, doing so in early 1960. Triton accomplished this objective during her shakedown cruise while under the command of Captain Edward L. “Ned” Beach, Jr. The only member of her class, she also had the distinction of being the only Western submarine powered by two nuclear reactors.
Keel laid: May 29, 1956
Launched: Aug 19, 1958
Builder: General Dynamics Electric Boat

wiki/USS_Triton_(SSRN-586)
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Today in History 12/02/16

Today in History
(1804) Napoleon crowns himself emperor of France
1804 The 35-year-old military strategist becomes the first emperor of France in 1,000 years. The ceremony is held at Notre Dame Cathedral in the presence of the pope. Napoleon will rule until 1814 and, briefly, in 1815. He will die at 51, in exile on a remote island in the Atlantic. .

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again in 1815. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. One of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleon’s political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in human history.

Lived: Aug 15, 1769 – May 05, 1821 (age 51)
Height: 5′ 7″ (1.69 m)
Spouse: Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma (m. 1810 – 1821) · Joséphine de Beauharnais (m. 1796 – 1810)
Buried: Les Invalides
Children: Napoleon II (Son) · Eugène de Beauharnais (Son) · Charles Léon (Son) · Stéphanie de Beauharnais (Daughter)

Highlights

  • 1792: He was promoted to captain in the regular army in July 1792, despite exceeding his leave of absence and leading a riot against a French army in Corsica.

  • 1793: Bonaparte and his family fled to the French mainland in June 1793 because of the split with Paoli.

  • 1796: French forces in Southern Germany had been defeated by the Archduke Charles in 1796, but the Archduke withdrew his forces to protect Vienna after learning about Napoleon’s assault.

  • 1804: His rising ambition inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French.

  • 1806: Following his triumph, Napoleon imposed the first elements of the Continental System through the Berlin Decree issued in November 1806.

  • 1810: In March 1810, he married the 19-year old Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria, and a great niece of Marie Antoinette by proxy; thus he had married into a German royal and imperial family.

— Source: wiki/Napoleon
(1954) US Senate condemns McCarthy for Redbaiting
The Senate votes 65-22 to censure their colleague, Sen. Joseph McCarthy, for conduct unbecoming of a senator in his vitriolic campaign, known as McCarthyism, to root out suspected communists in the US. After the censure, his last traces of influence will evaporate, and he’ll die of alcoholism in 1957.. 1954

Joseph Raymond “Joe” McCarthy was an American politician who was a U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion. He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, the controversy he generated led him to be censured by the United States Senate.

Lived: Nov 14, 1908 – May 02, 1957 (age 48)
Spouse: Jean Kerr (m. 1953 – 1957)
Parties: Republican Party · Democratic Party
Movies: Point of Order
Children: Tierney Elizabeth McCarthy (Daughter)
Previous office: United States Senator WI (1947 – 1957)

Highlights

  • 1950: In the 1950 Maryland Senate election, McCarthy campaigned for John Marshall Butler in his race against four-term incumbent Millard Tydings, with whom McCarthy had been in conflict during the Tydings Committee hearings.

  • 1950: The term “McCarthyism”, coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy’s practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities.

  • 1953: In 1953, McCarthy married Jean Kerr, a researcher in his office.

  • 1954: McCarthy subpoenaed Peress to appear before his subcommittee on January 30, 1954.

  • 1954: On March 9, 1954, Vermont Republican Senator Ralph E. Flanders gave a humor-laced speech on the Senate floor, questioning McCarthy’s tactics in fighting communism, likening McCarthyism to “housecleaning” with “much clatter and hullabaloo”.

  • 1954: To counter the negative publicity, McCarthy appeared on See It Now on April 6, 1954, and made a number of charges against the popular Murrow, including the accusation that he colluded with VOKS, the “Russian espionage and propaganda organization”.

— Source: wiki/Joseph_McCarthy
(1982) Doctors implant first permanent artificial heart in a human
1982 University of Utah doctors implant the device into patient Barney Clark, a Seattle dentist who suffers from congestive heart failure and is too ill for a transplant. Clark, who knew he was unlikely to survive the surgery, will live for 112 days with the artificial heart..

An artificial heart is a device that replaces the heart. Artificial hearts are typically used to bridge the time to heart transplantation, or to permanently replace the heart in case heart transplantation is impossible. Although other similar inventions preceded it going back to the late 1940s, the first artificial heart to be successfully implanted in a human was the Jarvik-7 in 1982, designed by a team including Willem Johan Kolff and Robert Jarvik.

Inventor: Paul Winchell

— Source: wiki/Artificial_heart
(2001) Enron’s bankruptcy filing exposes massive fraud
The huge energy-trading company based in Houston sparks one of the largest corporate scandals in history when it files for bankruptcy. An investigation will reveal that executives misled investors about profits, and the ensuing scandal will wipe out retirement accounts and send key execs to prison.. 2001

Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 1985 as the result of a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies in the U.S. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 20,000 staff and was one of the world’s major electricity, natural gas, communications and pulp and paper companies, with claimed revenues of nearly $101 billion during 2000. Fortune named Enron “America’s Most Innovative Company” for six consecutive years.

Founded: 1985 · Omaha, NE
Ceased operation: Dec 02, 2001
CEOs: Jeffrey Skilling · Kenneth Lay
Founders: Kenneth Lay · Jeffrey Skilling
Headquarters: Houston, TX

— Source: wiki/Enron
DIH v2.9.o16

Today in History

Today in History
(1804) Political rivals meet in a deadly duel
1804 US Vice President Aaron Burr and former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton arrive at New Jersey’s Palisades and proceed with a pistol duel after years of public rivalry. Hamilton fires into the air, but Burr shoots directly at Hamilton, felling him with a fatal bullet. .
(1893) Mikimoto produces his first cultured pearls
After starting his first oyster farm on Ago Bay, Japan, and facing near bankruptcy for years, Mikimoto Kōkichi produces his first mabe cultured pearls. Perfectly round pearls, nearly indistinguishable from natural wild-harvested varieties, will follow a dozen years later.. 1893
(1960) Readers meet Scout, Jem, Boo, and Atticus
1960 A semi-autobiographical tale of small-town racial prejudice is released, with the publisher warning the author that it likely won’t sell well. Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ will go on to sell millions, introducing the world to Atticus Finch and his extraordinary fight for justice. .
(1972) US and Soviet masters meet in Cold War chess clash
Soviet players have had a lock on the World Chess Championships for 24 years, and their grandmaster Boris Spassky now meets American phenom Bobby Fischer for the ‘Match of the Century’ in Reykjavík, Iceland. What follows will be deemed by many the greatest chess competition in history.. 1972

A Historical Day

(1607) English colonists put down roots in America
1607 The Virginia Company of London finds a suitable parcel of land 40 miles from the sea on which to build a fortified settlement. Jamestown, named for the English king, will be the first permanent English colony in America, and arguably the first arm of the future British Empire. .
(1796) Scourge of smallpox meets its match
English scientist Edward Jenner inoculates a patient with the cowpox pathogen, thereby immunizing him from smallpox, a highly infectious, scarring plague that has already killed millions. Jenner has created the world’s first vaccine and will be called ‘the father of immunology.’. 1796
(1804) Lewis & Clark lead “Corps of Discovery” on grand expedition
1804 Twenty-nine year-old Merriweather Lewis and his lieutenant, William Clark, set out from St. Louis with some 45 men for the Pacific Coast. They will return two years later with detailed information about the area newly acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, its native peoples, and its plants and animals. .
(1948) Israel is declared an independent state
Declaring itself independent from the British Mandate of Palestine, the Jewish state of Israel is established, and a provisional government put in place. The next day, the Arab-Israeli War will begin, and last for more than nine months before a ceasefire is announced. . 1948