Today in History ^04/24/17

April 24, 2017 by GµårÐïåñ

Annie Oakley circa 1880s (Public domain)

(1885) Buffalo Bill’s show hires sharpshooter Annie Oakley

At 25, standing just 5 feet tall, and the daughter of Pennsylvania Quakers, Annie Oakley is nicknamed ‘Little Sure Shot’ by Sitting Bull after she’s hired on as a sharpshooter in Buffalo Bill’s popular, and lucrative, Wild West show.

Annie Oakley was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Her “amazing talent” first came to light when the then-15-year-old won a shooting match with traveling-show marksman Frank E. Butler. The couple joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show a few years later. Oakley became a renowned international star, performing before royalty and heads of state.

Born: Aug 13, 1860 · Patterson Township, OH
Died: Nov 03, 1926 · Greenville, OH
Height: 4′ 11″ (1.51 m)
Spouse: Frank E. Butler (m. 1876 – 1926)
Parents: Susan Wise Moses (Mother) · Jacob Moses (Father)
Highlights
1870: On March 15, 1870, at age nine, Annie was admitted to the Darke County Infirmary, along with elder sister Sarah Ellen.

1875: The Annie Oakley Center Foundation mentions Oakley visiting her married sister, Lydia Stein, at her home near Cincinnati in 1875.

1876: Assuming their marriage had been in 1876, Oakley and Butler had been married just over 50 years.

1882: A certificate is currently on file with the Archives of Ontario, Registration Number 49594, reporting Butler and Oakley being wed on June 20, 1882, in Windsor, Ontario.

1894: In 1894, Oakley and Butler performed in Edison’s Kinetoscope film, The “Little Sure Shot of the Wild West,” an exhibition of rifle shooting at glass balls, etc.

1902: She left the Buffalo Bill show and in 1902 began a quieter acting career in a stage play written especially for her, The Western Girl.

wiki/Annie_Oakley

Armenians are marched to a prison in Mezireh by armed Turkish soldiers in Kharpert, Armenia, April 1915 (Public domain)

(1915) Armenian Genocide begins with arrests in Constantinople

Turkey’s Ottoman government arrests 250 intellectuals and leaders of the minority Armenian population. Within a week most will be executed, and within a few years an estimated 1.5 million Armenians will be killed in the 20th century’s first genocide.

The Armenian Genocide, also known as the Armenian Holocaust, was the Ottoman government’s systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians, mostly Ottoman citizens within the Ottoman Empire and its successor state, the Republic of Turkey. The starting date is conventionally held to be 24 April 1915, the day that Ottoman authorities rounded up, arrested, and deported 235 to 270 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders from Constantinople to the region of Ankara, the majority of whom were eventually murdered. The genocide was carried out during and after World War I and implemented in two phases: the wholesale killing of the able-bodied male population through massacre and subjection of army conscripts to forced labour, followed by the deportation of women, children, the elderly, and the infirm on death marches leading to the Syrian desert. Driven forward by military escorts, the deportees were deprived of food and water and subjected to periodic robbery, rape, and massacre. Other indigenous and Christian ethnic groups such as the Assyrians and the Ottoman Greeks were similarly targeted for extermination by the Ottoman government in the Assyrian genocide and the Greek genocide, and their treatment is considered by some historians to be part of the same genocidal policy. Most Armenian diaspora communities around the world came into being as a direct result of the genocide.

Start date: Apr 24, 1915
End date: 1917

wiki/Armenian_Genocide

Howard Stern speaks at a rally in New York's Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in front of more than 2,000 fans. (© Richard Drew/AP)

(1987) Howard Stern rallies against FCC

Controversial radio host Howard Stern holds a rally in New York’s Dag Hammarskjold Plaza to protest the FCC’s decision that he aired indecent material. Stern’s battles with the agency would continue through 2005 when he will begin broadcasting via satellite radio.

Howard Allan Stern is an American radio and television personality, producer, author, actor, and photographer. He is best known for his radio show The Howard Stern Show, which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1986 to 2005. Stern has broadcast on Sirius XM Radio since 2006. Stern first wished to be on the radio at five years of age. He landed his first radio jobs while at Boston University. From 1976 to 1982, Stern developed his on-air personality through morning positions at WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, New York, WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut, WWWW in Detroit, Michigan, and WWDC in Washington, D.C. Stern worked afternoons at WNBC in New York City from 1982 until his firing in 1985.

Born: Jan 12, 1954 (age 63) · Jackson Heights, NY
Height: 6′ 5″ (1.96 m)
Spouse: Beth Ostrosky Stern (m. 2008) · Alison Stern (m. 1978 – 2001)
Children: Emily Beth Stern (Daughter) · Deborah Jennifer Stern (Daughter) · Ashley Jade Stern (Daughter)
Education: Boston University · Roosevelt High School · South Side High School
Parents: Ben Stern (Father) · Ray Stern (Mother)

wiki/Howard_Stern

The Hubble Space Telescope is suspended in space by Discovery's Remote Manipulator System on April 25, 1990 (© NASA/AP)

(1990) Hubble Space Telescope launched into Earth’s orbit

Riding on the Space Shuttle ‘Discovery,’ a 24,000-pound space telescope with an almost 8-foot mirror will be deployed to a low Earth orbit. It will transmit spectacular images of distant galaxies, black holes, nebulas, and other deep-space wonders.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. Although not the first space telescope, Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well known as both a vital research tool and a public relations boon for astronomy. The HST is named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble, and is one of NASA’s Great Observatories, along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

Website: www.nasa.gov/hubble
Launched: Apr 24, 1990
Orbital height: 347 miles (559 km)
Weight: 24,493 pound (11,110 kg)
Orbital period: 96.50 minutes
Orbital speed: 4.66 miles/s (7.50 km/s)
Launch vehicle: STS-31

wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope

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Today in History ^04/22/17

April 22, 2017 by GµårÐïåñ

French troops wearing an early form of gas mask in the trenches during the Second Battle of Ypres, 1915 (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

(1915) WWI’s Second Battle of Ypres shocks with chemical weapon use

A battle to secure the Belgian town of Ypres introduces the world to the large-scale use of chemical weapons when the Germans release 168 long tons of chlorine gas on the Allied lines. Wind-borne poison gas kills 6,000 French troops in minutes.

During World War I, the Second Battle of Ypres was fought from 22 April – 25 May 1915 for control of the strategic Flemish town of Ypres in western Belgium after the First Battle of Ypres the previous autumn. It was the first mass use by Germany of poison gas on the Western Front. For the first time, a former colonial force defeated a European power on European soil.

Start date: Apr 22, 1915
End date: May 25, 1915

wiki/Second_Battle_of_Ypres

Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to sail around the world solo and nonstop, waves from his boat on May 1, 1969 (© Evening Standard/Getty Images)

(1969) Londoner sails solo nonstop around the world

Nine sailors take on the challenge of becoming the first to sail nonstop around the globe single-handedly, but only Robin Knox-Johnston completes the journey. The former sailor in the Royal Naval Reserve steers his 32-foot boat ‘Suhaili’ through the world’s oceans for 10 months.

Sir William Robert Patrick “Robin” Knox-Johnston, CBE, RD and bar is an English sailor. In 1969 he became the first man to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe and was the second winner of the Jules Verne Trophy, together with Sir Peter Blake.

Born: Mar 17, 1939 (age 78) · London, England
Movies: Deep Water
Education: Berkhamsted School
Highlights
1965: In 1965 he sailed his William Atkins design ketch Suhaili from Bombay to England.

1967: His wife left him when he proposed taking her and the child back to England in his new boat Suhaili, and they were divorced in 1967.

1994: Knox-Johnston and Peter Blake (who both acted as co-skippers) won the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation in 1994.

1996: In 1996 Knox-Johnston established the first Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and has since worked with the Clipper Ventures company as chairman to progress the race to higher levels every year.

2006: In 2006 he became at 67 the oldest yachtsman to complete a round the world solo voyage in the Velux 5 Oceans Race.

2007: He completed his second solo circumnavigation of the world in the yacht Saga Insurance on 4 May 2007, finishing in fourth place in the Velux 5 Oceans Race.

wiki/Robin_Knox-Johnston

A Pace College student in a gas mask smells a magnolia blossom in City Hall Park on Earth Day, April 22, 1970, in New York (© AP)

(1970) First Earth Day

Peace activist John McConnell, US Senator Gaylord Nelson, and coordinator Denis Hayes create a day to honor and promote protection of the Earth and its ecosystems. Earth Day will gain in popularity, and grow to include observances in more than 192 countries.

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22. Worldwide, various events are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day events in more than 193 countries are now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network.

Website: www.earthday.org

wiki/Earth_Day

Cpl. Pat Tillman in 2003 (© Photography Plus via Williamson Stealth Media Solutions via AP)

(2004) Pat Tillman shot in Afghanistan

The former Arizona Cardinal who enlisted in the US Army following the September 11 attacks is killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. Military officials will initially inform Tillman’s family he died in a firefight with enemy forces.

Patrick Daniel Tillman was a professional American football player in the National Football League who left his sports career and enlisted in the United States Army in June 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. His service in Iraq and Afghanistan, and subsequent death, were the subject of much media attention.

Lived: Nov 06, 1976 – Apr 22, 2004 (age 27)
Height: 5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
Spouse: Marie Tillman (m. 2002 – 2004)
Education: Arizona State University · Leland High School
Siblings: Richard Tillman (Brother) · Kevin Tillman (Brother)
Movies: The Tillman Story
Highlights
1994: He started his college career as a linebacker for Arizona State University in 1994, when he secured the last remaining scholarship for the team.

1998: In the 1998 National Football League Draft, Tillman was selected as the 226th pick by the Arizona Cardinals.

2002: Pat Tillman married Marie Tillman on May 04, 2002.

2003: In addition to his military awards, Pat Tillman received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award from ESPN in 2003, as part of that year’s ESPY Awards ceremony.

2003: Another article quotes Tillman as having told then-general manager of the Seattle Seahawks Bob Ferguson in December 2003, “You know I’m not religious.”

2004: On April 22, 2004, he was initially reported to have been killed by enemy combatants.

wiki/Pat_Tillman

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Today in History ^03/27/17

March 27, 2017 by GµårÐïåñ

England national rugby union team in 1871 before their game with Scotland (Public domain)

(1871) Rugby’s first international match is played

England and Scotland scrum at Edinburgh’s Raeburn Place in the debut rugby football game between two countries. The rough and tumble match is won by Scotland, but England will beat the Scots the next year.

The 1871 rugby union match between Scotland and England was a single international rugby union match played between the Scotland and England national rugby union teams on 27 March 1871. This was the world’s very first international rugby union match, and was played at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh in front of 4,000 spectators. The match was won by Scotland which scored two tries and a goal to England’s single try.

Date: Mar 27, 1871

wiki/1871_Scotland_versus_England_rugby_union_match

Mary Mallon, aka 'Typhoid Mary,' during her first quarantine, 1907-1910 (Public domain)

(1915) ‘Typhoid Mary’ is quarantined for life

Irish immigrant Mary Mallon is isolated on North Brother Island in New York’s East River. As an asymptomatic typhus carrier she is believed to have unwittingly infected 51 people and killed three in her role as a family cook. She will spend nearly three decades in isolation before dying of pneumonia.

Mary Mallon, better known as Typhoid Mary, was the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever. She was presumed to have infected 22 people, three of whom died, over the course of her career as a cook. She was twice forcibly isolated by public health authorities and died after a total of nearly three decades in isolation.

Born: Sep 23, 1869 · Cookstown, United Kingdom
Died: Nov 11, 1938 · North and South Brother Islands, New York City, NY
Buried: Saint Raymond’s Cemetery
Highlights
1900: In 1900, she worked in Mamaroneck, New York, where, within two weeks of her employment, residents developed typhoid fever.

1901: In 1901, she moved to Manhattan, where members of the family for whom she worked developed fevers and diarrhea, and the laundress died.

1906: In 1906, she took a position in Oyster Bay, Long Island, and within two weeks 10 of the 11 family members were hospitalized with typhoid.

1915: In 1915, Mallon started another major outbreak, this time at Sloane Hospital for Women in New York City.

1915: After arresting her, public health authorities returned her to quarantine on North Brother Island on March 27, 1915.

1938: On November 11, 1938, she died of pneumonia at age 69.

wiki/Mary_Mallon

Street damaged by an earthquake in Anchorage, Alaska, on March 27, 1964 (U.S. Army)

(1964) Strongest quake in US history slams Alaska

The afternoon calm of Good Friday is shattered as a massively powerful 9.2 magnitude megathrust earthquake hits 78 miles east of Anchorage, Alaska. Fifteen people are killed by the earthquake itself, but tsunamis triggered by the quake will claim 124 additional victims, some as far away as California.

The 1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 P.M. AST on Good Friday, March 27. Across south-central Alaska, ground fissures, collapsing structures, and tsunamis resulting from the earthquake caused about 139 deaths.

Date: Mar 27, 1964

wiki/1964_Alaska_earthquake

The remains of a KLM jumbo jet sits in ruins at Los Rodeos airport, Tenerife, on March 27, 1977 (© AP)

(1977) 583 die on Tenerife airport runway

Two airliners slam into each other during takeoff in foggy weather on Tenerife, an island off the coast of Spain. Only 61 of the 644 passengers and crew survive the fireball, making this history’s worst aviation disaster.

On March 27, 1977, two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport (now Tenerife North Airport), on the Spanish island of Tenerife, Canary Islands. The crash killed 583 people, making it the deadliest accident in aviation history. As a result of the complex interaction of organizational influences, environmental conditions, and unsafe acts leading up to this aircraft mishap, the disaster at Tenerife has served as a textbook example for reviewing the processes and frameworks used in aviation mishap investigations and accident prevention.

A bomb explosion at Gran Canaria Airport, and the threat of a second bomb, caused many aircraft to be diverted to Los Rodeos Airport. Among them were KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736 – the two aircraft involved in the accident. At Los Rodeos Airport, air traffic controllers were forced to park many of the airplanes on the taxiway, thereby blocking it. While authorities waited to reopen Gran Canaria, a dense fog had developed at Tenerife, which greatly reduced visibility and further complicated the situation.

When Gran Canaria reopened, the parked aircraft blocking the taxiway at Tenerife required both of the 747s to taxi on the only runway in order to get in position for takeoff. The fog was so thick that neither aircraft could be seen from the other, and the controller in the tower could not see the runway or the two 747s on it. As the airport did not have ground radar, the controller could only find where each airplane was by voice reports over the radio.

The disaster occurred in Spanish territory, making Spain responsible for investigating the accident. The crash involved aircraft from the United States and the Netherlands, and both of those countries appointed representatives to the investigation. The investigations revealed that the primary cause of the accident was the captain of the KLM flight taking off without clearance from air traffic control (ATC). The investigation specified that the captain did not intentionally take off without clearance; rather he fully believed he had clearance to take off due to misunderstandings between his flight crew and ATC. Dutch investigators placed a greater emphasis on this than their American and Spanish counterparts, but ultimately KLM admitted their crew was responsible for the accident, and the airline financially compensated the victims’ relatives.

The accident had a lasting influence on the industry, particularly in the area of communication. An increased emphasis was placed on using standardized phraseology in ATC communication by controllers and pilots alike, thereby reducing the chance for misunderstandings. As part of these changes, the word “takeoff” was removed from general usage, and is only spoken by ATC when clearing an aircraft to take off or when cancelling that same clearance. Less experienced flight crew members were encouraged to challenge their captains when they believed something was not correct, and captains were instructed to listen to their crew and evaluate all decisions in light of crew concerns. This concept was later expanded into what is known today as crew resource management (CRM), in which training is now mandatory for all airline pilots.

Date: Mar 27, 1977
Fatalities: 583

wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster

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Today in History ^01/19/17

January 19, 2017 by GµårÐïåñ

Thomas Edison, in 1883, with the incandescent lamps he invented (© Boyer/Roger Viollet/Getty Images)

(1883) World’s first overhead wired electricity turns on

Roselle, New Jersey is a lot brighter tonight after Thomas Edison’s overhead electrical lines are used to light up the town. This new invention will catch on as the US, and the world, electrify.

Bentwick Street in King's Lynn, England, in ruins after a Zeppelin bombing raid by the Germans in Jan. 1915 (© Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

(1915) First major aerial bombardment targeting civilians

Two WWI German zeppelins drop bombs over the English coastal towns of Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn, resulting in more than 20 deaths. Aerial bombing raids beginning 25 years later, during WWII, will cause hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties in Europe and Asia.

The aerial bombing of cities in warfare is an optional element of strategic bombing which was first seen in World War I. The bombing of cities grew to a vast scale in World War II, and is still practiced today. The development of aerial bombardment marked an increased capacity of armed forces to deliver ordnance from the air against combatants, military bases, and factories, with a greatly reduced risk to its ground forces. Civilian and non-combatant casualties in bombed cities have variously been a purposeful result of the bombings, or unavoidable collateral damage depending on intent and technology. A number of multilateral efforts have been made to restrict the use of aerial bombardment so as to protect non-combatants.
wiki/Aerial_bombing_of_cities

Industrialist and aviator Howard Hughes sits in his airplane and talks to reporters after setting the speed record for transcontinental US flights on Jan. 19, 1937 (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

(1937) Aviator Howard Hughes sets transcontinental air record

Millionaire tycoon and intrepid pilot Howard Hughes spends 7 hours, 28 minutes, and 25 seconds flying his H-1 Racer solo between California and New Jersey, setting a new cross-America speed record.

Howard Robard Hughes Jr. was an American entrepreneur, known during his lifetime as one of the most financially successful individuals in the world. He first made a name for himself as a film producer, and then became an influential figure in the aviation industry. Later in life, he became known for his eccentric behavior and reclusive lifestyle, oddities that were caused in part by a worsening obsessive–compulsive disorder and chronic pain from a plane crash.

Lived: Dec 24, 1905 – Apr 05, 1976 (age 70)
Height: 6′ 4″ (1.93 m)
Spouse: Terry Moore (m. 1949 – 1976) · Jean Peters (m. 1957 – 1971) · Ella Rice (m. 1925 – 1929)
Founded: Hughes Aircraft Company · Trans World Airlines · Howard Hughes Medical Institute · Summa Corporation · MD Helicopters · The Caddo Company
Related movies: The Aviator
Buried: Glenwood Cemetery

wiki/Howard_Hughes

Lucille Ball with Ricky Jr. in 'I Love Lucy' in 1953 (© CBS Worldwide Inc./Getty Images)

(1953) Lucy Ricardo has a baby and America tunes in

Approximately 44 million viewers (72 percent of US households with TV sets) watch as Lucy Ricardo gives birth to Little Ricky. Just 12 hours before the episode airs, Lucille Ball, real-life expectant mom and star of ‘I Love Lucy,’ had given birth to Desi Arnaz, Jr.

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Today in History ^12/18/16

December 18, 2016 by GµårÐïåñ

(1888) Cowboys stumble upon an ancient “palace” on a cliff

Two cowboys, Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason, are out looking for stray cattle in southwestern Colorado when they spy ruins of ancient dwellings high on a mesa. Wetherill dubs it Cliff Palace and the name will stick. The former home of Ancestral Puebloans will come to be considered the largest cliff dwelling in North America.
Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The structure built by the Ancestral Puebloans is located in Mesa Verde National Park in their former homeland region. The cliff dwelling and park are in the southwestern corner of Colorado, in the Southwestern United States. Address: Ruins Rd, Uninc Montezuma County, CO 81330 Phone: (970) 529-4461 — Source: wiki/Cliff_Palace
(1892) ‘The Nutcracker Suite’ premieres in St. Petersburg, Russia

The new two-act ballet, choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, with music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky gets an ambivalent reaction from critics. But the score will become one of Tchaikovsky’s most famous compositions and many ballet companies will rely on ‘Nutcracker’ ticket sales each Christmas season.
The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, by way of Alexandre Dumas’ adapted story ‘The Nutcracker’. It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg on Sunday, December 18, 1892, on a double-bill with Tchaikovsky’s opera Iolanta. Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Adaptations: The Nutcracker in 3D (2010) · Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (1986) · Shchelkunchik (1973) · Nutcracker Fantasy (1979) · Nutcracker Rouge · Nutcracker Compositional form: Ballet — Source: wiki/The_Nutcracker
(1915) US President Woodrow Wilson marries socialite

Woodrow Wilson, 59, marries a 43-year-old Washington, DC, socialite, Edith Bolling Galt. Presidential advisors voice concern about the marriage just a year after Wilson’s first wife had died. Wilson will suffer a stroke during his second term, leaving Edith to run many routine affairs of his administration.
Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, second wife of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, was First Lady of the United States from 1915 to 1921. She met the President in March 1915 and they married nine months later. Lived: Oct 15, 1872 – Dec 28, 1961 (age 89) Spouse: Woodrow Wilson (m. 1915 – 1924) · Norman Galt (m. 1896 – 1908) Buried: Washington National Cathedral Children: Margaret Woodrow Wilson · Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre · Eleanor “Nellie” Randolph McAdoo · Jessie Woodrow Sayre · Infant Galt Previous office: First Lady of the United States (1915 – 1921) Education: Emory and Henry College Highlights 1896: Edith Wilson married Norman Galt on April 01, 1896; their marriage lasted 12 years till 1908. 1896: While visiting her married sister in Washington, D.C., Edith met Norman Galt (1864-1908), a prominent jeweler; they married on April 30, 1896 and lived in the capital for the next 12 years. 1915: Wilson married Edith Bolling Galt on December 18, 1915 at her home in Washington, D.C. 1916: In 1916, the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862–1947) was commissioned by Colonel Edward M. House to paint a portrait of Mrs. Wilson, which he did in the White House. 1919: Following his attendance at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Wilson returned to campaign for Senate approval of the peace treaty and the League of Nations Covenant. 1921: In 1921, Edith Wilson retired with the former president to their home on S Street NW in Washington, D.C., nursing him until his death three years later. — Source: wiki/Edith_Wilson
(1957) First civilian nuclear power plant goes online

The Shippingport Atomic Power Station, in Pennsylvania, is up and running, generating electricity for the first time. The $72 million plant, which is the world’s first large-scale nuclear power facility, will supply power to the Pittsburgh area for 25 years until it’s retired in 1982.
The Shippingport Atomic Power Station was the world’s first full-scale atomic electric power plant devoted exclusively to peacetime uses. It was located near the present-day Beaver Valley Nuclear Generating Station on the Ohio River in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States, about 25 miles from Pittsburgh. Opened: 1957 — Source: wiki/Shippingport_Atomic_Power_Station
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