1954

Today in History 12/23 (Rutan Voyager)

Pilots Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan stand next to the experimental aircraft Voyager in 1985 (© Doug Pizac/Getty Images)(1986) First nonstop around-the-world flight completed
Pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager land the odd-looking experimental plane at Edwards Air Force Base in California, completing the first flight around the world without refueling. The trip took nine days and three minutes and covered 25,000 miles.
The Rutan Model 76 Voyager was the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. It was piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. The flight took off from Edwards Air Force Base’s 15,000 foot runway in the Mojave Desert on December 14, 1986, and ended 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds later on December 23, setting a flight endurance record. The aircraft flew westerly 26,366 statute miles at an average altitude of 11,000 feet.
Maximum speed: 121.79 mph
Range: 26,229 miles
Maiden flight: Jun 22, 1984
Length: 29′ 2″
Wingspan: 111 feet
Passengers: 1

The Voyager aircraft circles before landing at Edwards Air Force Base, Edwards, California, to complete its record-breaking, non-stop unrefueled flight around the world
The Voyager aircraft circles before landing at Edwards Air Force Base, Edwards, California, to complete its record-breaking, non-stop unrefueled flight around the world.
wiki/Rutan_Voyager
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(1986) First nonstop around-the-world flight completed.
Also on this day,

1823 | ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ is published
A newspaper in Troy, New York, publishes an anonymous poem with the memorable opening line, “Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ the house…” Literature professor Clement Clarke Moore will later be identified as the author of the poem that will help define the modern Santa Claus.
1888 | Vincent van Gogh reportedly slices off part of his ear
A depressed Van Gogh cuts off his ear, reportedly after his friend, artist Paul Gauguin, says he’s leaving the “yellow house” in Arles, France, where Van Gogh is renting rooms. This dashes Van Gogh’s hopes of creating an artist colony there. Some historians will doubt Van Gogh cut his own ear and will blame Gauguin for the injury.
1954 | First successful kidney transplant performed
A medical team described by one doctor as a “bunch of fools,” performs the procedure on 23-year-old identical twins, Richard and Ronald Herrick. The recipient will live for eight years; his donor brother will live until age 79. One of the doctors, Joseph Murray, will go on to win a Nobel Prize for his work in organ transplants.

Today in History 12/23/17

(From left) Richard Herrick and his twin brother, Ronald, in 1955 (© AP)(1954) First successful kidney transplant performed
A medical team described by one doctor as a "bunch of fools," performs the procedure on 23-year-old identical twins, Richard and Ronald Herrick. The recipient will live for eight years; his donor brother will live until age 79. One of the doctors, Joseph Murray, will go on to win a Nobel Prize for his work in organ transplants.

Kidney transplantation or renal transplantation is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage renal disease. Kidney transplantation is typically classified as deceased-donor (formerly known as cadaveric) or living-donor transplantation depending on the source of the donor organ.

Living-donor renal transplants are further characterized as genetically related (living-related) or non-related (living-unrelated) transplants, depending on whether a biological relationship exists between the donor and recipient.

Exchanges and chains are a novel approach to expand the living donor pool. In February 2012, this novel approach to expand the living donor pool resulted in the largest chain in the world, involving 60 participants organized by the National Kidney Registry. In 2014 the record for the largest chain was broken again by a swap involving 70 participants.


Kidney Transplant
Kidney location after transplantation. Based on this image. Human figure adapted from this image by Connexions, which was licensed under CC BY 3.0.

wiki/Kidney_transplantation
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Today in History 12/02 (Enron)

A former Enron employee sits in front of the company's headquarters in Houston after being laid off on December 3, 2001 (© James Nielsen/Getty Images)(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.
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 1985 as a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. Before its bankruptcy on December 3, 2001, Enron employed approximately 29,000 staff and was a major electricity, natural gas, communications and pulp and paper company, 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
Revenue: $40.11 billion USD (2000)
Headquarters: Houston, TX
Founders: Kenneth Lay · Jeffrey Skilling
Subsidiary: Azurix

Logo of Enron, the defunct U.S. company
Logo of Enron, the defunct U.S. company
wiki/Enron
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(2001) Enron’s bankruptcy filing exposes massive fraud.
Also on this day,

1804 | Napoleon crowns himself emperor of France
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.
1954 | McCarthy censured as 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.
1982 | Artificial heart operation as doctors implant first permanent artificial heart in a human
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.

Today in History 12/02/17

Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy on December 2, 1954, after testifying on the Senate floor in Washington, DC (© AP)(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.
Joseph Raymond McCarthy was an American politician who served as 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 the United States in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion. He is known for alleging that numerous Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers had infiltrated the United States federal government, universities, film industry, and elsewhere. Ultimately, the smear tactics he used led him to be censured by the U.S. Senate. The term "McCarthyism", coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities. Today, the term is used in reference to what are considered demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents.
Lived: Nov 14, 1908 - May 02, 1957 (age 48)
Spouse: Jean Kerr (m. 1953 - 1957)
Movies: Point of Order
Parties: Republican Party · Democratic Party
Children: Tierney Elizabeth McCarthy (Daughter)
Previous office: United States Senator WI (1947 - 1957)
Highlights
  • 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".

  • 1957: McCarthy died in Bethesda Naval Hospital on May 2, 1957, at the age of just 48.


Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond McCarthy.

wiki/Joseph_McCarthy
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