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Today in History 06/24/17

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Engraving portraying women affected by the dancing plague (Public Domain)(1374) Dancing in the streets causes alarm in Germany
In the German town of Aix-la-Chapelle, people begin jumping, twirling, twitching, and hallucinating, all of it seemingly out of their control to stop, and some “dance” until they drop. The so-called “dancing plague” will spread to other cities and later be blamed on mass hysteria or bacterial infections.

Dancing mania (also known as dancing plague, choreomania, St John’s Dance and, historically, St. Vitus’s Dance) was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries. It involved groups of people dancing erratically, sometimes thousands at a time. The mania affected men, women, and children who danced until they collapsed from exhaustion. One of the first major outbreaks was in Aachen, in the Holy Roman Empire, in 1374, and it quickly spread throughout Europe; one particularly notable outbreak occurred in Strasbourg in 1518, also in the Holy Roman Empire.

Affecting thousands of people across several centuries, dancing mania was not an isolated event, and was well documented in contemporary reports. It was nevertheless poorly understood, and remedies were based on guesswork. Generally, musicians accompanied dancers, to help ward off the mania, but this tactic sometimes backfired by encouraging more to join in. There is no consensus among modern-day scholars as to the cause of dancing mania.

The several theories proposed range from religious cults being behind the processions to people dancing to relieve themselves of stress and put the poverty of the period out of their minds. It is, however, thought[by whom?] to have been a mass psychogenic illness in which the occurrence of similar physical symptoms, with no known physical cause, affect a large group of people as a form of social influence.


wiki/Dancing_mania
Portrait of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso standing in his studio, 1920s (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)(1901) First Paris showing for the teenage Picasso
Seventy-five works by a 19-year-old Spaniard hang in a Paris gallery. While few art critics see Pablo Picasso’s show, those who do give it good notices. The artist’s first major exhibition comes on the cusp of his Blue Period, the first of many stylistic phases in a career that will span more than 70 years.
Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright who spent most of his adult life in France. Regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, and Guernica, a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by the German and Italian airforces.
Lived: Oct 25, 1881 – Apr 08, 1973 (age 91)
Height: 5′ 4″ (1.63 m)
Spouse: Jacqueline Roque (m. 1961 – 1973) · Olga Khokhlova (m. 1918 – 1955)
Children: Claude Picasso (Son) · Paloma Picasso (Daughter) · Paul Joseph Picasso (Son) · Maya Widmaier-Picasso (Daughter)
Periods: Cubism · Picasso’s Blue Period · Picasso’s Rose Period · Picasso’s African Period · Surrealism · Modern art · Analytic cubism · Synthetic cubism
Parents: José Ruiz y Blasco (Father) · María Picasso y López (Mother)

wiki/Pablo_Picaso
Kenneth Arnold showing an illustration of one of the nine objects he saw (Public Domain)(1947) Idaho pilot sees supersonic UFOs zoom past Mt. Rainier
Pilot Kenneth Arnold sees what he says are nine shiny objects flying in a 5-mile formation in the clear afternoon sky above Washington State. He later calculates their speed at 1,200 miles-per-hour, describing them as “saucer-shaped” to journalists reporting on the first major UFO sighting of modern times.
Kenneth A. Arnold was an American aviator and businessman. He is best known for making what is generally considered the first widely reported unidentified flying object sighting in the United States, after claiming to have seen nine unusual objects flying in tandem near Mount Rainier, Washington on June 24, 1947.
Born: Mar 29, 1915 · Sebeka, MN
Died: Jan 16, 1984 · Bellevue, WA
Spouse: Doris Arnold
Education: University of Minnesota
Parents: Bertha E. Barden · Edward Erb Arnold
Highlights
  • 1940: Arnold began Great Western Fire Control Supply in Boise, Idaho in 1940, a company that sold and installed fire suppression systems, a job that took him around the Pacific Northwest.

  • 1947: He is best known for making what is generally considered the first widely reported unidentified flying object sighting in the United States, after claiming to have seen nine unusual objects flying in tandem near Mount Rainier, Washington on June 24, 1947.

  • 1962: He ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor of Idaho in 1962.

  • 1977: On June 24, 1977, however, he attended the First International UFO Congress in Chicago, curated by Fate to mark the 30th anniversary of the “birth” of the modern UFO age.

  • 1984: Kenneth Arnold died on January 16, 1984 in Bellevue, United States.

wiki/Kenneth_Arnold
John Isner (left) hugs Nicolas Mahut after winning their record-setting match at Wimbledon. (© Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images)(2010) Three-day match wraps up at Wimbledon
After 11 hours and 5 minutes played over three days, American John Isner defeats Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in a first-round singles match at Wimbledon. The contest sets records for longest match in professional tennis history for both time and number of games (183).
The Isner–Mahut match at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships was a first round Men’s Singles match, in which the American 23rd seed John Isner played French qualifier Nicolas Mahut. The match began at 6:13 pm British Summer Time on Tuesday, 22 June, 2010 on Court 18 at Wimbledon. At 9:07 pm, due to fading light, play was suspended before the start of the fifth set. After resuming on Wednesday, 23 June, at 2:05 pm, the record for longest match was broken at 5:45 pm. The light faded again, and so play was suspended at 9:09 pm, with the final set tied at 59 games all. Play resumed at 3:40 pm on Thursday, 24 June, and Isner won at 4:47 pm, the final set having lasted 8 hours, 11 minutes.
wiki/Isner–Mahut_match_at_the_2010_Wimbledon_Championships
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Today in History 01/22/17

Queen Victoria's funeral procession in 1901 (© The Print Collector/Getty Images)(1901) Queen Victoria dies after 63-year reign
The Victorian Era comes to an end as the longest-reigning monarch in British history dies at 81, having ascended to the throne at 18. The Edwardian Era will follow as her son takes the throne.
Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she adopted the additional title of Empress of India.
Lived: May 24, 1819 – Jan 22, 1901 (age 81)
Height: 5′ 0″ (1.52 m)
Spouse: Albert, Prince Consort (m. 1840 – 1861)
Children: Edward VII (Son) · Victoria, Princess Royal (Daughter) · Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (Daughter) · Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (Daughter) · Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Parents: Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (Father) · Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (Mother)
Movies: Queen Victoria’s Last Visit to Ireland
Highlights
  • 1819: The Duke and Duchess of Kent’s only child, Victoria was born at 4.15 a.m. on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London.

  • 1830: In 1830, the Duchess of Kent and Conroy took Victoria across the centre of England to visit the Malvern Hills, stopping at towns and great country houses along the way.

  • 1835: At Ramsgate in October 1835, Victoria contracted a severe fever, which Conroy initially dismissed as a childish pretence.

  • 1840: During Victoria’s first pregnancy in 1840, in the first few months of the marriage, 18-year-old Edward Oxford attempted to assassinate her while she was riding in a carriage with Prince Albert on her way to visit her mother.

  • 1847: She did undertake her official government duties, yet chose to remain secluded in her royal residences—Windsor Castle, Osborne House, and the private estate in Scotland that she and Albert had acquired in 1847, Balmoral Castle.

  • 1888: Victoria’s eldest daughter became Empress consort of Germany in 1888, but she was widowed within the year, and Victoria’s grandchild Wilhelm became German Emperor as Wilhelm II.

  • 1901: She died on Tuesday, 22 January 1901, at half past six in the evening, at the age of 81.

wiki/Queen_Victoria
Drawing depicting the 1905 Russian Revolution 'Bloody Sunday' in St. Petersburg, Russia (© Archiv Gerstenberg/ullstein bild via Getty Images)(1905) ‘Bloody Sunday’ sparks Russia’s first revolution
Approaching St. Petersburg’s Winter Palace to petition Tsar Nicholas II, unarmed demonstrators are shot down by Imperial Guards. Hundreds are killed, sparking outrage and ultimately leading to revolution.
For the 1972 event in Northern Ireland, see Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday or Red Sunday is the name given to the events of Sunday, 22 January 1905 in St Petersburg, Russia, when unarmed demonstrators led by Father Georgy Gapon were fired upon by soldiers of the Imperial Guard as they marched towards the Winter Palace to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
Date: 1905

wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1905)
Women demonstrating in New York in 1977 for legal abortions (© Peter Keegan/Keystone/Getty Images)(1973) US Supreme Court rules on Roe v. Wade
In a 7-2 ruling, the US Supreme Court decides in favor of the 14th Amendment’s right to privacy extending to a woman’s decision to have an abortion within the first two trimesters of pregnancy.
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, is a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. It was decided simultaneously with a companion case, Doe v. Bolton. The Court ruled 7–2 that a right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman’s decision to have an abortion, but that this right must be balanced against the state’s interests in regulating abortions: protecting women’s health and protecting the potentiality of human life. Arguing that these state interests became stronger over the course of a pregnancy, the Court resolved this balancing test by tying state regulation of abortion to the third trimester of pregnancy.
Start date: 1971
End date: 1973

wiki/Roe_v._Wade
Ted Kaczynski is escorted into federal courthouse in Helena, Mont., in 1996 (© Elaine Thompson/AP)(1998) The ‘Unabomber’ pleads guilty to charges
After 17 years making and sending mail bombs from his Montana cabin, Ted Kaczynski pleads guilty to federal charges stemming from his 1996 arrest, and will receive life in prison without parole.
Theodore John “Ted” Kaczynski, also known as the “Unabomber”, is an American anarchist and domestic terrorist. A mathematical prodigy, he abandoned a promising academic career in 1969, then between 1978 and 1995 killed three people, and injured 23 others, in a nationwide bombing campaign targeting people involved with modern technology. In conjunction with this campaign he issued a wide-ranging social critique opposing industrialization and modern technology, and advancing a nature-centered form of anarchism.
Born: May 22, 1942 (age 74) · Evergreen Park, IL Height: 5′ 9″ (1.75 m)
Movies: The Net
Siblings: David Kaczynski (Brother)
Education: Harvard University · University of Michigan
Highlights
  • 1942: Kaczynski was born on May 22, 1942, in Evergreen Park, Illinois, to second-generation Polish Americans, Wanda (née Dombek) and Theodore Richard Kaczynski.

  • 1971: In 1971, he moved to a remote cabin without electricity or running water, in Lincoln, Montana, where he lived as a recluse while learning survival skills in an attempt to become self-sufficient.

  • 1994: In 1994, Burson-Marsteller executive Thomas J. Mosser was killed by a mail bomb sent to his North Caldwell, New Jersey home.

  • 1996: In 1996, a docudrama was produced titled Unabomber: The True Story, featuring actors Dean Stockwell as Ben Jeffries, Robert Hays as David Kaczynski and Tobin Bell as Ted Kaczynski.

  • 1996: Kaczynski’s brother, David—who would play a vital role in Kaczynski’s capture by alerting federal authorities to the prospect of his brother’s being involved in the Unabomber cases—sought out and became friends with Wright after Kaczynski was detained in 1996.

  • 1996: In 1996 the Evergreen Park Community High School District No. 231 was also placed on lockdown while FBI agents searched Kaczynski’s school records.

  • 1996: In February 1996, Bisceglie provided a copy of the 1971 essay written by Ted Kaczynski to the FBI.

wiki/Ted_Kaczynski
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Today in History 12/10/16

Today in History
(1541) Two men are executed for affairs with Henry VIII’s wife
1541 Thomas Culpeper, a friend of the king, and Francis Dereham are executed after confessing, under torture, to affairs with the Queen of England Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII. Catherine will meet a hard end, too — she will be beheaded within months..

Francis Dereham was a Tudor courtier whose involvement with Henry VIII’s fifth Queen, Catherine Howard in her youth, was a principal cause of the Queen’s execution.

Died: Dec 10, 1541
Parents: John ( Thomas ) Derham · John Paynell

— Source: wiki/Francis_Dereham
(1884) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ is published in England
In colloquial language, Mark Twain’s novel tells the story of its narrator, Huck Finn, and Jim, a runaway slave. The book, which condemns racism, will stir controversy: It’s called “rough, coarse, and inelegant” and “more suited to the slums,” which Twain jokes will spur sales. . 1884

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written throughout in vernacular English, characterized by local color regionalism. It is told in the first person by Huckleberry “Huck” Finn, a friend of Tom Sawyer and narrator of two other Twain novels. It is a direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Author: Mark Twain
First published: Dec 1884
Characters: Huckleberry Finn · Tom Sawyer · Jim · Pap Finn · Aunt Polly
Genres: Satire · Children’s literature · Novel · Fiction · Comedy · Adventure fiction
Original language: English
Adaptations: The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993) · Huckleberry Finn (1974) · Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn (2014) · The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939) · Huckleberry Finn and His Friends (1979)

— Source: wiki/Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn
(1901) The first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden
1901 Inventor of dynamite and manufacturer of weapons, Alfred Nobel didn’t want to be remembered as a “merchant of death,” and so willed that his fortune should fund annual awards to celebrate work that “shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.” Today, on the fifth anniversary of his death, the first prizes are conferred. .

The Nobel Prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed in a number of categories by Swedish and Norwegian institutions in recognition of academic, cultural, and/or scientific advances.

Website: nobelprize.org
Categories: Nobel Peace Prize · Nobel Prize in Literature · Nobel Prize in Physics · Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine · Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences · Nobel Prize in Chemistry

— Source: wiki/Nobel_Prize
(1967) Singer Otis Redding dies at 26 in plane crash
Otis Redding’s private plane plummets into a lake just short of the runway in Madison, Wisconsin, killing Redding and six other passengers. Just the day before, the soul singer recorded ‘The Dock of the Bay,’ which will become the first posthumous No. 1 hit.. 1967

Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, and talent scout. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. His singing style influenced many other soul artists of the 1960s. During his lifetime, his recordings were produced by Stax Records, based in Memphis, Tennessee, and exemplify the sound of Stax.

Lived: Sep 09, 1941 – Dec 10, 1967 (age 26)
Height: 6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
Member of: Otis Redding & Carla Thomas
Parents: Fannie Redding (Mother) · Otis Redding, Sr (Father)
Awards: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1999) · Grammy Hall of Fame (2011, 1998) · Grammy Award for Best R&B Song (1969) · Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (1969)
Education: Ballard-Hudson High School

— Source: wiki/Otis_Redding
— IMDB: www.imdb.com/name/nm0714727
— Website: otisredding.com
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Today in History

Today in History
(1716) Colonies’ first lighthouse shines over Boston Harbor
1716 Rising 75 feet over Little Brewster Island, the new Boston Light goes into service guiding vessels in and out of Boston Harbor. The Massachusetts lighthouse, the first lit in the American colonies, will be twice set on fire, and then demolished completely, in the coming revolution. .
Boston Light is a lighthouse located on Little Brewster Island in outer Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. The first lighthouse to be built on the site dates back to 1716, and was the first lighthouse to be built in what is now the United States. The current lighthouse dates from 1783, is the second oldest working lighthouse in the United States, and is the only lighthouse to still be actively staffed by the United States Coast Guard, being automated in 1998 though there is still a keeper acting as tour guide. The structure was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.

Address: 87 Mount Vernon St, Boston, MA 02108
Phone: (617) 523-1800
Website: http://lightboston.org/
Automated: 1998
First lit: 1783
Opened: 1716

— Source: wiki/Boston_Light
(1812) Retreating Russians lead Napoleon to his downfall
Napoleon Bonaparte and his troops enter Moscow as conquerors only to find the huge Russian city virtually abandoned. Almost all have fled ahead of the French forces, and fires begin to break out that will burn almost the entire city, dooming Napoleon to a disastrous retreat from Russia.. 1812
The 1812 Fire of Moscow broke out on September 14, 1812 in Moscow on the day when Russian troops and most residents abandoned the city and Napoleon’s vanguard troops entered the city following the Battle of Borodino. The fire raged until September 18, destroying an estimated three-quarters of Moscow.

Start date: Sep 14, 1812
End date: Sep 18, 1812

— Source: wiki/Fire_of_Moscow_(1812)
(1901) Roosevelt becomes US president after McKinley’s assassination
1901 President William McKinley dies eight days after being shot by an assassin, and Vice President Theodore Roosevelt is sworn in as the 26th president of the United States. At 42, Teddy is the youngest US president, and will go on to be reelected in 1904 in a landslide victory. .
The first inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt as the 26th President of the United States, took place at the Ansley Wilcox House in Buffalo, New York on September 14, 1901, following the death of President William McKinley. McKinley had been shot by Leon Czolgosz eight days earlier, at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo.

Date: Sep 14, 1901

— Source: wiki/First_inauguration_of_Theodore_Roosevelt
(1959) Spacecraft lands on the moon
Two days after launching, the Soviet Union’s space probe ‘Luna 2’ crash-lands on the moon’s surface near Mare Imbrium in the Palus Putredinis region. The spherical spacecraft becomes the first man-made object to reach another celestial body, and the first of many future moon visitors.. 1959
Luna 2 or Lunik 2 was the second of the Soviet Union’s Luna programme spacecraft launched to the Moon. It was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon, and the first man-made object to land on another celestial body. On September 14, 1959, it successfully impacted east of Mare Imbrium near the craters Aristides, Archimedes, and Autolycus.

Date: Sep 12, 1959

— Source: wiki/Luna_2
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Today in History

Today in History
(1522) Nao Victoria sails into Seville after a historic journey
1522 After three years, 42,000 miles, and the first circumnavigation of the world, the Nao Victoria sails back into her Spanish home port. Of the original five ships and more than 200 sailors that started Magellan’s expedition, only the Victoria and 18 men have returned from the globe-spanning voyage..
Victoria was a Spanish carrack and the first ship to successfully circumnavigate the world. Victoria was part of a Spanish expedition commanded by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, and after his death during the voyage, by Juan Sebastián Elcano. The expedition began on August 10, 1519 with five ships but Victoria was the only ship to complete the voyage, returning on September 6, 1522. Magellan was killed in the Philippines. The ship was built at a shipyard in Gipuzkoa, with the Basques being reputed shipbuilders at the time, and along with the four other ships, she was given to Magellan by King Charles I of Spain. Victoria was named after the church of Santa Maria de la Victoria de Triana, where Magellan took an oath of allegiance to Charles V. Victoria was an 85 ton ship with a crew of 42.

Launched: 1519
(1901) President William McKinley assassinated
Visiting the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, half a year into his second term, US President William McKinley is shot twice by anarchist Leon Czolgosz. McKinley will at first survive, and even seem to be improving after doctors operate, but will succumb to his wounds eight days later.. 1901
The 25th President of the United States, William McKinley, was shot and fatally wounded on September 6, 1901, inside the Temple of Music on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley was shaking hands with the public when he was shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist. The President died on September 14 from gangrene caused by the bullet wounds. McKinley became the third American president to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and James A. Garfield in 1881.

Date: Sep 06, 1901
(1962) London dig yields ship nearly 2,000 years old
1962 Ancient oak timbers emerge from the mud of the Blackfriars area on the banks of London’s Thames River, as archaeologist Peter Marsden uncovers remains of a ship he dates to the Roman Londinium, approximately 150 CE. Three additional Blackfriars ships will be found, from the 15th and 17th centuries. .
(1991) Three Baltic states break free
Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are officially independent republics after more than half a century of Soviet rule. The Baltic States have been vying for independence for almost that long, with the late ’80s’ ‘Singing Revolution’ and ‘Baltic Way’ human chain paving the way for autonomy.. 1991
The Baltic states, also known as the Baltics, Baltic nations or Baltic countries, are the three countries in northern Europe on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Baltic states cooperate on a regional level in several intergovernmental organizations.

Area: 67,574 sq miles (175,015 km²)
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