1911

Today in History 10/10 (Windscale Fire)

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Calder Hall and Windscale (now known as Sellafield) power stations in Cumbria, England, October 1957 (© Harold Clements/Express/Getty Images)(1957) Fire at England’s Windscale nuclear reactor
A fuel cartridge has burst in one of the channels of England’s Windscale nuclear weapons facility and catches fire, sending iodine-131 radioactive contamination into the air. Eleven tons of uranium will be ablaze before the world’s first known nuclear accident is contained two days later.
The Windscale fire of 10 October 1957 was the worst nuclear accident in Great Britain’s history, ranked in severity at level 5 out of a possible 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The fire took place in Unit 1 of the two-pile Windscale facility on the northwest coast of England in Cumberland. The two graphite-moderated reactors, referred to at the time as “piles”, had been built as part of the British atomic bomb project. Windscale Pile No. 1 was operational in October 1950 followed by Pile No. 2 in June 1951.
Date: Oct 10, 1957
Location: Windscale, Seascale, Cumbria (now Sellafield)
Non-fatal injuries: Estimated 240 additional cases of thyroid cancer
Outcome: INES Level 5 (accident with wider consequences)

Windscale Schematic
Cutaway diagram of Windscale reactor
wiki/Windscale_fire
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(1957) Fire at England’s Windscale nuclear reactor.
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1845 | US Navy’s officer’s training school opens at Chesapeake Bay
Seven professors will teach 50 midshipmen in Annapolis, Maryland, as the Naval School, later known as the United States Naval Academy, begins its first term. Commodore Matthew Perry has helped plan the five-year curriculum, with the first and last year taught on land, and the middle three at sea.
1911 | Chinese Revolution begins as 2,000 years of imperial rule crumbles in China
The building of railways by foreign powers in China stokes nationalistic fervor, and unfair financial gain for those same foreign powers leads to violent protests. Today’s Wuchang Uprising will start the Xinhai Revolution, the overthrow of more than 2 millennia of imperial rule.
1956 | James Dean’s final film debuts posthumously ‘Giant’ premieres
The drama starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean debuts, telling the tumultuous story of a Texas ranching family. It marks Dean’s third and final big-screen role, as he had died in a car accident a year earlier after completing work on the film.

Today in History 10/10/17

The Imperial army in white uniforms marching in single file in front of a Pagoda during the Chinese Revolution, October 1911 (© Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)(1911) 2,000 years of imperial rule begins to crumble in China
The building of railways by foreign powers in China stokes nationalistic fervor, and unfair financial gain for those same foreign powers leads to violent protests. Today's Wuchang Uprising will start the Xinhai Revolution, the overthrow of more than 2 millennia of imperial rule.
The Xinhai Revolution, also known as the Chinese Revolution or the Revolution of 1911, was a revolution that overthrew China's last imperial dynasty and established the Republic of China. The revolution was named Xinhai because it occurred in 1911, the year of the Xinhai stem-branch in the sexagenary cycle of the Chinese calendar.
Start date: Oct 10, 1911
End date: Feb 12, 1912
Xinhai Revolution (Chinese characters)
Xinhai Revolution in Chinese characters

wiki/Xinhai_Revolution
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Today in History 08/21 (Nat Turner’s Slave Rebellion)

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Illustration depicting American slave leader Nat Turner and his companions in a wooded area, 1831 (© Stock Montage/Getty Images)(1831) Nat Turner leads a violent revolt against slavery
Acting on visions from God, Virginia plantation slave Nat Turner and seven supporters begin an armed insurrection that will last two days, rally at least 70 more recruits to the cause, result in the reported deaths of 60 whites, and end in Turner’s capture and hanging.
Nat Turner’s Rebellion was a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831, led by Nat Turner. Rebel slaves killed from 55 to 65 people, at least 51 being white. The rebellion was put down within a few days, but Turner survived in hiding for more than two months afterwards. The rebellion was effectively suppressed at Belmont Plantation on the morning of August 23, 1831.
Start date: Aug 21, 1831
End date: Aug 23, 1831

Nat Turner woodcut
19th Century woodcut depiction of the Southampton Insurrection. Note part of the upper part of this woodcut was later reused in 1835/1836 during the Seminole War
wiki/Nat_Turner’s_slave_rebellion
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(1831) Nat Turner leads a violent revolt against slavery.
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1883 | Out of tragedy rises Mayo Clinic center of healing
A humid summer day turns tragic as an F5 tornado bears down on Rochester, Minnesota. After caring for casualties in an area with no hospital, Dr. William Mayo and his sons will be inspired to team with local nuns and open a medical facility that evolves into the world-renowned Mayo Clinic.
1911 | Lady with the mysterious smile ‘Mona Lisa’ taken from the Louvre
Vincenzo Peruggia, an employee at Paris’ Louvre museum, hides in the broom closet until the museum closes, then leaves the premises with Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ tucked under his large coat. He’ll keep the priceless masterpiece in a trunk in his apartment for two years before being captured.
1968 | The USSR puts a chokehold on Czechoslovakia Prague Spring
Hopes for a freer society are brutally quashed as Warsaw Pact tanks and hundreds of thousands of troops thunder through the street of Prague, Czechoslovakia. Democratic reforms that began seven months earlier as the ‘Prague Spring’ are now crushed in the iron grip of Soviet domination.

Today in History 08/21/17

Czech protesters holding a Czechoslovak flag on Aug 21, 1968, as Soviet-led armies crush the so called Prague Spring reform (© LIBOR HAJSKY/AFP/Getty Images)(1968) The USSR puts a chokehold on Czechoslovakia
Hopes for a freer society are brutally quashed as Warsaw Pact tanks and hundreds of thousands of troops thunder through the street of Prague, Czechoslovakia. Democratic reforms that began seven months earlier as the 'Prague Spring' are now crushed in the iron grip of Soviet domination.
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and continued until 21 August 1968 when the Soviet Union and other members of the Warsaw Pact invaded the country to halt the reforms.
Start date: Jan 05, 1968
End date: Aug 21, 1968

wiki/Prague_Spring
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Today in History 07/24 (New France Founded)

Painting of French navigator Jacques Cartier (© Stock Montage/Getty Images)(1534) Cartier begins colonizing a continent for France
Explorer extraordinaire Jacques Cartier establishes the first province of New France on the Gaspé Peninsula in present-day Quebec, Canada. Cartier’s planting of a cross will lead to a French territorial reach in North America stretching for more than 3 million square miles by 1712.
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spain in 1763. Under the Treaty of Paris, France’s claims to New France were transferred to Great Britain and Spain.
Founded: Jul 24, 1534
Dissolved: 1763
Capitals: Quebec City · Montreal
Official language: French
Currency: New France livre

Map of the New-France about 1750
Location of New France
wiki/New_France
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(1534) Cartier begins colonizing a continent for France.
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1895 | An Austrian neurologist, Freud’s dream leads to revelation
An Austrian neurologist puzzles over his previous night’s dream. After an exhaustive analysis, Sigmund Freud concludes it was his mind’s way of purging unexpressed guilt over a medical mistake, and this revelation will lead to his groundbreaking work, ‘The Interpretation of Dreams.’
1911 | Peruvian mountaintop’s ancient city, Machu Picchu, is rediscovered
Explorer Hiram Bingham III has organized the Yale Peruvian Expedition to search for lost Incan cities, and with the help of Melchor Arteaga, Bingham finds a biggie: a citadel abandoned for more than three centuries perched 7,970 feet above the South American jungle floor, Machu Picchu.
1983 | ‘Black July’ riots cause bloodshed and spur civil war
A conflict that will last more than 25 years and claim upwards of 100,000 lives escalates, as riots break out in Sri Lanka between Tamil Tiger separatists and the Sri Lankan military. The island nation, formerly known as Ceylon, will be rocked with strife for decades to come.

Today in History 07/24/17

Sigmund Freud, circa 1906 (© Imagno/Getty Images)(1895) An Austrian neurologist's dream leads to revelation
An Austrian neurologist puzzles over his previous night's dream. After an exhaustive analysis, Sigmund Freud concludes it was his mind's way of purging unexpressed guilt over a medical mistake, and this revelation will lead to his groundbreaking work, 'The Interpretation of Dreams.'

Sigmund Freud; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst. Freud was born to Galician Jewish parents in the Moravian town of Freiberg, in the Austrian Empire. He qualified as a doctor of medicine in 1881 at the University of Vienna. Upon completing his habilitation in 1885, he was appointed a docent in neuropathology and became an affiliated professor in 1902. Freud lived and worked in Vienna, having set up his clinical practice there in 1886. In 1938 Freud left Austria to escape the Nazis. He died in exile in the United Kingdom in 1939.

In creating psychoanalysis, Freud developed therapeutic techniques such as the use of free association and discovered transference, establishing its central role in the analytic process. Freud's redefinition of sexuality to include its infantile forms led him to formulate the Oedipus complex as the central tenet of psychoanalytical theory. His analysis of dreams as wish-fulfillments provided him with models for the clinical analysis of symptom formation and the underlying mechanisms of repression. On this basis Freud elaborated his theory of the unconscious and went on to develop a model of psychic structure comprising id, ego and super-ego. Freud postulated the existence of libido, an energy with which mental processes and structures are invested and which generates erotic attachments, and a death drive, the source of compulsive repetition, hate, aggression and neurotic guilt. In his later work Freud developed a wide-ranging interpretation and critique of religion and culture.

Though in overall decline as a diagnostic and clinical practice, psychoanalysis remains influential within psychology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy, and across the humanities. As such, it continues to generate extensive and highly contested debate with regard to its therapeutic efficacy, its scientific status, and whether it advances or is detrimental to the feminist cause. Nonetheless, Freud's work has suffused contemporary Western thought and popular culture. In the words of W. H. Auden's 1940 poetic tribute, by the time of Freud's death, he had become "a whole climate of opinion / under whom we conduct our different lives."


wiki/Sigmund_Freud
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Today in History 10/10/17

The Imperial army in white uniforms marching in single file in front of a Pagoda during the Chinese Revolution, October 1911 (© Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)(1911) 2,000 years of imperial rule begins to crumble in China
The building of railways by foreign powers in China stokes nationalistic fervor, and unfair financial gain for those same foreign powers leads to violent protests. Today’s Wuchang Uprising will start the Xinhai Revolution, the overthrow of more than 2 millennia of imperial rule.
The Xinhai Revolution, also known as the Chinese Revolution or the Revolution of 1911, was a revolution that overthrew China’s last imperial dynasty and established the Republic of China. The revolution was named Xinhai because it occurred in 1911, the year of the Xinhai stem-branch in the sexagenary cycle of the Chinese calendar.
Start date: Oct 10, 1911
End date: Feb 12, 1912
Xinhai Revolution (Chinese characters)
Xinhai Revolution in Chinese characters

wiki/Xinhai_Revolution
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Today in History 06/16/17

Drawing of the Switchback Gravity Railway, the first true roller coaster, at Coney Island, New York (© Barry Norman/REX)(1884) A new thrill ride debuts at Coney Island
A nickel gets you on Coney Island’s Switchback Railway, a new amusement park ride carrying passengers on an undulating railroad track at up to 6 mph, running a length of 600 feet and an overall drop of 43 feet. America’s first roller coaster will be a hit, spawning ever-bigger thrills.
The original Switchback Railway at Coney Island was the first roller coaster designed as an amusement ride in America. It was designed by LaMarcus Adna Thompson in 1881 and constructed in 1884. It appears Thompson based his design, at least in part, on the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway which was a coal-mining train that had started carrying passengers as a thrill ride in 1827.
Opened: Jun 16, 1884
Height: 50′ 0″ (15.24 m)
Max speed: 6.03 mph (9.70 km/h)
G-force: 2.90 g
Track length: 600 feet (182.88 m)
Duration: 1 minutes

wiki/Switchback_Railway
Engraving of American businessman Charles Flint, circa 1880, who founded the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, which later became IBM (© Kean Collection/Getty Images)(1911) Early computing companies merge to form a tech powerhouse
Charles Flint founds the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (C-T-R) after merging smaller specialized firms, some of which got their start inventing new computing technology to tabulate the 1890 US Census. C-T-R will be renamed International Business Machines (IBM) in 1924.
International Business Machines, or IBM, nicknamed “Big Blue”, is a multinational computer technology and IT consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. The company is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating back to the 19th century. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and offers infrastructure services, hosting services, and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. Ginni Rometty is the president, chairman and CEO of IBM.
wiki/History_of_IBM
Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, in front of the Vostok 6 capsule, June 1963 (© Sovfoto/UIG/Getty Images)(1963) Soviet cosmonaut is the first woman in space
Born into a decidedly earthbound proletariat family in rural Russia, Valentina Tereshkova has been chosen from over 400 applicants to become the world’s first woman in space. She will orbit Earth 48 times on a flight lasting almost three days, and parachute into re-entry at 20,000 feet.
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova is a retired Russian cosmonaut and politician. She is the first woman to have flown in space, having been selected from more than 400 applicants and five finalists to pilot Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. She completed 48 orbits of the Earth in her three days in space.
Born: Mar 06, 1937 (age 80) · Bolshoye Maslennikovo, Russia
Spouse: Yuli Shaposhnikov · Andriyan Nikolayev (m. 1963 – 1982)
Children: Elena Andrianovna Nikolaeva-Tereshkova (Daughter)
Space missions: Vostok 6
Parents: Elena Fyodorovna Tereshkova (Mother) · Vladimir Tereshkov (Father)
Highlights
  • 1962: On 16 February 1962, Valentina Tereshkova was selected to join the female cosmonaut corps.

  • 1963: She is the first woman to have flown in space, having been selected from more than 400 applicants and five finalists to pilot Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963.

  • 1963: Valentina Tereshkova married Andriyan Nikolayev on November 03, 1963; their marriage lasted 19 years till 1982.

  • 1982: She and Nikolayev divorced in 1982.

  • 1997: In 1997, London-based electronic pop group Komputer released a song entitled “Valentina” which gives a more-or-less direct account of her career as a cosmonaut.

  • 1997: In 1997, she was retired from the Russian Air Force and the cosmonaut corps by presidential order.

wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova
Jimi Hendrix plays his Fender Stratocaster guitar while performing at the Monterey International Pop Music Festival on June 18, 1967 in Monterey, California (© Ed Caraeff/Getty Images)(1967) The counterculture comes together for music at Monterey
Kicking off the Summer of Love, the Monterey Pop Festival will blow everyone’s minds with a roster of new rock stars including The Who, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and soul superstar Otis Redding. A young guitarist, Jimi Hendrix, will literally be the show’s hottest act.
The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. Crowd estimates for the festival have ranged from 25,000-90,000 people, who congregated in and around the festival grounds. The fairgrounds’ enclosed performance arena, where the music took place, had an approved festival capacity of 7,000, but it was estimated that 8,500 jammed into it for Saturday night’s show, with many extra attendees standing around the sides of the arena. Festival-goers who wanted to see the musical performances were required to have either an ‘all-festival’ ticket or a separate ticket for each of the five scheduled concert events they wanted to attend in the arena: Friday night, Saturday afternoon and night, and Sunday afternoon and night. Ticket prices varied by seating area, and ranged from $3 to $6.50.
wiki/Monterey_Pop_Festival
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