Today in History ^02/05/18

February 5, 2018 by GµårÐïåñ

Plastic objects made from phenol formaldehyde, marketed as bakelite, between 1920 and 1939 (© SSPL/Getty Images)

(1909) Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic, is announced

Leo Baekeland, a Belgian-born chemist working in New York, announces his invention of the world’s first manmade plastic material, naming it Bakelite. It will help launch the plastics revolution.

Bakelite, or polyoxybenzylmethyleneglycolanhydride, is an early plastic. It is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. It was developed by the Belgian-American chemist Leo Baekeland in Yonkers, New York, in 1907.

Inventor: Leo Baekeland

Bakelite Color Chart, showing “Bakelite Pearl Colors” (pink, yellow, pale pink, green, white and purple) and “New Bakelite Jewel Quality Colors” (various yellows, ambers, red, greens, orange, mottled). Originally published in Gifts to Treasure, Embed Art Company catalog, 1924.
wiki/Bakelite

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Today in History ^04/06/17

April 6, 2017 by GµårÐïåñ

Athletes prepare for the 100-meter race during the Olympic Games in Athens, 1896 (© Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

(1896) The first modern Olympic Games open in Athens

Athens, Greece hosts the first Olympic Games to be held in 1,500 years as athletes from 13 nations parade before an audience of 60,000. Events include track and field, gymnastics, wrestling, and the first ever marathon, which will be won by Spyridon Louis, of Greece.

The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee, which had been created by Pierre de Coubertin, it was held in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896.

Number of countries: 14
Start date: Apr 06, 1896
End date: Apr 15, 1896
Number of athletes: 241

wiki/1896_Summer_Olympics

(From left) File photos of Robert Edwin Peary and Matthew Henson (© Topical Press Agency/Getty Images; APIC/Getty Images)

(1909) Peary and Henson reportedly reach the North Pole

US explorers Robert Peary and Matthew Henson arrive with four Inuit men at what they and others believe to be the exact location of the North Pole. Their claims will be questioned in 1989 when an examination of navigational errors in Peary’s logs place the explorers about 60 miles short.

Matthew Alexander Henson was the first African-American Arctic explorer, an associate of Robert Peary on seven voyages over a period of nearly 23 years. They made six voyages and spent a total of 18 years in expeditions. Henson served as a navigator and craftsman, traded with Inuit and learned their language, and was known as Peary’s “first man” for these arduous travels.

Lived: Aug 08, 1866 – Mar 09, 1955 (age 88)
Spouse: Lucy Ross (m. 1906)
Education: Harvard University
Children: Anauakaq
Written works: A Black Explorer at the North Pole
Highlights
1906: Matthew Henson married Lucy Ross in 1906.

1909: He and Peary with their teams covered thousands of miles in dog sleds and reached the “Farthest North” point of any Arctic expedition until 1909 .

1912: In 1912 Matthew Henson published his memoir about his arctic explorations, A Negro Explorer at the North Pole.

1937: Henson was invited in 1937 as a member of The Explorers Club due to his achievement and was the first African American to be accepted.

1948: In 1948 he was made an honorary member, a distinction for 20 people annually.

1955: Henson died in the Bronx on March 9, 1955, at the age of 88.

wiki/Matthew_Henson

Robert Edwin Peary Sr. was an American explorer who claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole with his expedition on April 6, 1909. Peary’s claim was widely credited for most of the 20th century, rather than the competing claim by Frederick Cook, who said he got there a year earlier. Both claims were widely debated in newspapers until 1913.

Lived: May 06, 1856 – Feb 20, 1920 (age 63)
Spouse: Josephine Diebitsch Peary (m. 1888 – 1920)
Education: Bowdoin College · Portland High School
Children: Marie Ahnighito Peary · Kali Peary · Robert Edwin Peary Jr.
Buried: Arlington National Cemetery
Highlights
1886: Peary made his first expedition to the Arctic in 1886, intending to cross Greenland by dog sled, taking the first of his own suggested paths.

1888: On August 11, 1888, Peary married Josephine Diebitsch, a business school valedictorian who thought the modern woman should be more than just a mother.

1892: On May 3, 1892, Peary finally set out on the intended trek with Henson, Gibson, Cook and Astrup.

1902: Peary also achieved a “farthest north” for the western hemisphere in 1902 north of Canada’s Ellesmere Island.

1908: For his final assault on the Pole, Peary and 23 men, including Ross Gilmore Marvin, set off from New York City on July 6, 1908 aboard the SS Roosevelt under the command of Captain Robert Bartlett.

1909: Robert Edwin Peary, Sr. (May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer who claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole with his expedition on April 6, 1909.

wiki/Robert_Peary

Two US soldiers wear gas masks while walking through plumes of smoke during World War I (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

(1917) US declares war on Germany and enters World War I

After three years of war between European powers, the once-neutral United States, spurred on by German naval attacks on US civilian merchant ships, enters the fray as Congress declares war. Two million American soldiers will be shipped to Europe’s battlefields.

The United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, during World War I. The U.S. was an independent power and did not officially join the Allies. It closely cooperated with them militarily but acted alone in diplomacy. The U.S. made its major contributions in terms of supplies, raw material and money, starting in 1917. American soldiers under General John Pershing, Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), arrived in large numbers on the Western Front in the summer of 1918. They played a major role until victory was achieved on November 11, 1918 at 11:00am. Before entering the war, the U.S. had remained neutral, though it had been an important supplier to Great Britain and the other Allied powers. During the war, the U.S. mobilized over 4 million military personnel and suffered 110,000 deaths, including 43,000 due to the influenza pandemic. The war saw a dramatic expansion of the United States government in an effort to harness the war effort and a significant increase in the size of the U.S. Armed Forces. After a relatively slow start in mobilizing the economy and labour force, by spring 1918 the nation was poised to play a role in the conflict. Under the leadership of President Woodrow Wilson, the war represented the climax of the Progressive Era as it sought to bring reform and democracy to the world, although there was substantial public opposition to U.S. entry into the war.

wiki/United_States_in_World_War_I

A crowd gathered to watch the departure of 'New Orleans,' one of four aircraft to start the round-the-world flight. Leaving Lake Washington in Seattle on April 6, 1924, two remaining planes returned on Sept 28. (© E. Bacon/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

(1924) First round-the-world airplane flight departs

The US Army Air Service launches the first aerial circumnavigation of the globe, using a specially modified torpedo bomber and relay teams of pilots. Several countries had vied to be the first to accomplish the feat, but 175 days and 27,553 miles later, the US team will fly into the history books.

The first aerial circumnavigation of the world was conducted in 1924 by a team of aviators of the United States Army Air Service, the precursor of the United States Air Force. The trip took 175 days, covering over 27,553 miles (44,342 km).

In 1929 Australian Charles Kingsford Smith completed the second circumnavigation of the world by flight, and the first within both hemispheres, including the first trans-Pacific flight to Australia in 1928.

wiki/First_aerial_circumnavigation

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Today in History ^02/05/17

February 5, 2017 by GµårÐïåñ

Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, is greeted by Native American Indians circa 1636 (© Getty Images)

(1631) Religious pluralist Roger Williams lands in America

Roger Williams arrives in Boston from England, and will become a proponent of the separation between church and state. He’ll also found the state of Rhode Island and America’s first Baptist church.

Roger Williams was a Puritan, an English Reformed theologian, and later a Reformed Baptist who was expelled by the Puritan leaders from the colony of Massachusetts because they thought that he was spreading “new and dangerous ideas” to his congregants. Williams fled the Massachusetts colony under the threat of impending arrest and shipment to an English prison; he began the settlement of Providence Plantation in 1636 as a refuge offering freedom of conscience.

Lived: 1603 – Mar 1683
Spouse: Mary Barnard (m. 1629 – 1676)
Children: Freeborn Williams (Daughter) · Daniel Williams (Son) · Joseph Williams (Son) · Mercy Williams (Daughter) · Mary Williams (Daughter) · Providence Williams
Education: University of Cambridge · Pembroke College, Cambridge
Parents: James Williams · Alice Williams
Nominations: British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series (2002)
Highlights
1629: Williams also married Mary Barnard (1609–76) on December 15, 1629 at the Church of High Laver, Essex, England.

1634: In August 1634, Williams became acting pastor of the Salem church, the Rev. Skelton having died, and continued to be embroiled in controversies.

1635: Finally, in October 1635, the General Court tried Williams and convicted him of sedition and heresy.

1636: He was expelled by the Puritan leaders from the colony of Massachusetts because they thought that he was spreading “new and dangerous ideas”, so he began the colony of Providence Plantation in 1636 which provided a refuge for religious minorities.

1644: Williams secured his precious charter from Parliament for “Providence Plantations” in July 1644, then published his most famous book The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience.

1647: Because of William Coddington’s opposition on Rhode Island, it took Williams until 1647 to get the four towns around Narragansett Bay to unite under a single government.

wiki/Roger_Williams

(1909) Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic, is announced

Leo Baekeland, a Belgian-born chemist working in New York, announces his invention of the world’s first manmade plastic material, naming it Bakelite. It will help launch the plastics revolution.

Bakelite, or polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, is an early plastic. It is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. It was developed by the Belgian-American chemist Leo Baekeland in Yonkers, New York, in 1907.

Inventor: Leo Baekeland

wiki/Bakelite

(From left) Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks on the day they formed the United Artists corporation (© opical Press Agency/Getty Images)

(1919) A powerhouse Hollywood quartet forms United Artists

Seeking artistic freedom and greater monetary rewards, director D.W. Griffith and actors Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks form their own production studio, United Artists.

United Artists is an American film and television entertainment studio. The studio was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks with the intention of controlling their own interests rather than depending upon commercial studios. The studio was repeatedly bought, sold and restructured over the ensuing century.

Website: www.unitedartists.com
Founded: Feb 05, 1919
CEO: Mark Burnett
Founders: Charlie Chaplin · Mary Pickford · Douglas Fairbanks · D.W. Griffith
Headquarters: Beverly Hills, CA
Awards: Country Music Association Award for Album of the Year (1979) · Razzie Award for Worst Picture (1996) · Razzie Award for Worst Picture of the Decade (2000) · Satellite Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Nominations: Country Music Association Award for Album of the Year · Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel · Razzie Award for Worst Picture · Razzie Award for Worst Drama of Our First 25 Years

wiki/United_Artists

Customers buying sweets in a United Kingdom shop after rationing ended in 1953 (© Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Getty Images)

(1953) Britain’s sweets rationing comes to an end

In place since the start of WWII, sweets rationing limited the amount of sugary goods the public could buy. The first day of unrationed sweets sees a run on toffee apples, nougat sticks, and licorice strips.

Rationing was introduced temporarily by the British government several times during the 20th century, during and immediately after a war. At the start of the Second World War in 1939, the United Kingdom imported 20 million long tons of food per year, including about 70% of its cheese and sugar, nearly 80% of fruits and about 70% of cereals and fats. The U.K. also imported more than 50% of its meat and relied heavily on imported feed to support its domestic meat production. The civilian population of the country was about 50 million. It was one of the principal strategies of the Germans to attack shipping bound for Britain, restricting British industry and potentially starving the nation into submission.
To deal with sometimes extreme shortages, the Ministry of Food instituted a system of rationing. To buy most rationed items, each person had to register at chosen shops, and was provided with a ration book containing coupons. The shopkeeper was provided with enough food for registered customers. Purchasers had to take ration books with them when shopping, so the relevant coupon or coupons could be cancelled.
wiki/Rationing_in_the_United_Kingdom

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Today in History

August 30, 2016 by GµårÐïåñ

(1909) A window opens on a world half a billion years old

	Paleontologist Charles Walcott is almost at the end of his year’s fieldwork in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia when he discovers the Burgess Shale, a formation teeming with the fossils of soft-bodied organisms 508 million years old. The Middle Cambrian field will yield weird and wonderful discoveries.
The Burgess Shale Formation is a fossil-bearing deposit exposed in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. At 508 million years old, it is one of the earliest fossil beds containing soft-part imprints.
(1967) A slave’s grandson makes history at US Supreme Court

Thirteen years after he successfully argued in front of the US Supreme Court against racial segregation in the landmark case ‘Brown v. Board of Education,’ Thurgood Marshall is confirmed by the Senate to become the first African American justice on that very same court.
Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court’s 96th justice and its first African-American justice. Lived: Jul 02, 1908 – Jan 24, 1993 (age 84) Buried: Arlington National Cemetery
(1970) Wight tops Woodstock as more than half a million rock

	Some 600,000 people crowd an English island as a five-day rock music concert comes to a close. Europe’s answer to 1969’s epoch-making Woodstock gathering, the Isle of Wight festival features headliner Jimi Hendrix in one of his last performances before his death less than a month later.
The 1970 Isle of Wight Festival was held between 26 and 31 August 1970 at Afton Down, an area on the western side of the Isle of Wight. It was the last of three consecutive music festivals to take place on the island between 1968 and 1970 and widely acknowledged as the largest musical event of its time, greater than the attendance of Woodstock. Although estimates vary, the Guinness Book of Records estimated 600,000, possibly 700,000 people attended. It was organised and promoted by local brothers, Ron and Ray Foulk through their company Fiery Creations Ltd and their brother Bill Foulk. Ron Smith was site manager and Rikki Farr acted as compere. Start date: Aug 26, 1970 – End date: Aug 31, 1970

(1989) The ‘Queen of Mean’ is convicted on tax evasion charges
New York hotel magnate Leona Helmsley, is said to have once proclaimed, “We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.” This likely didn’t help her case, and neither did testimony regarding her fiery temper, overinflated ego, and dodgy financial dealings, and she’s found guilty of tax evasion.
Leona Mindy Roberts Helmsley was an American businesswoman. She was known for her flamboyant personality and had a reputation for tyrannical behavior that earned her the sobriquet Queen of Mean. She was promoted by the Beber Silverstein Group and its co-founder Joyce Beber persuaded Helmsley to replace that title for Queen of the Palace Hotel instead. Lived: Jul 04, 1920 – Aug 20, 2007 (age 87)

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Today in History

August 7, 2016 by GµårÐïåñ

(1819) Spain’s hold on Latin America is pried loose at Boyacá
	The Andes Mountains echo with the clash of cavalries as Colombian and Venezuelan Republican armies meet Spanish royalist forces fighting to hold their provinces. General Simón Bolívar’s Republican forces triumph, which ultimately leads to Spain losing its northern Latin American empire. .
(1909) Ramsey is first woman to drive across the US
Stepping on the brakes after 59 days and 3,800 miles, driver Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends finish their epic cross-country road trip from New York City to San Francisco. Behind the wheel of her four-cylinder Maxwell DA touring car, Ramsey is the first woman to drive across the US..
(1959) Earth is ready for its close-up as Explorer 6 launches
	NASA’s Explorer 6 satellite blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to orbit the Earth on a 60-day mission. A UHF transmitter will send back the first satellite TV image of the Earth from orbit a few days later, beginning an era of astounding portraits of our planet. .
(1974) High-wire artist walks between the Twin Towers
Frenchman Philippe Petit walks out onto a cable he’s illegally rigged 1,350 feet in the air between the Twin Towers of New York City’s World Trade Center. Petit performs a 45-minute high-wire act, complete with a bit of joyful dancing, to the cheers of astounded onlookers. .