1959

image_pdfimage_print

Today in History 08/07/17

Leave a Comment
Explorer 6 satellite (© NASA)(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.
Explorer 6, or S-2, was an American satellite launched on August 7, 1959. It was a small, spheroidal satellite designed to study trapped radiation of various energies, galactic cosmic rays, geomagnetism, radio propagation in the upper atmosphere, and the flux of micrometeorites. It also tested a scanning device designed for photographing the Earth’s cloud cover, and transmitted the first pictures of Earth from orbit.
Date: Aug 07, 1959
Thor-Able III Explorer 6 Launch
The launch of Explorer 6

wiki/Explorer_6
4.4.j17

Today in History 06/08/17

Leave a Comment
Painting of Vikings landing at a beach before a raid, circa 800 (© ullstein bild/Getty Images)(793) Shocking raid from the north ushers in a new age
The Kingdom of Northumbria sees uninvited guests arrive on Lindisfarne, an island off of England’s northeast coast. What these ‘Northmen’ do there, including destroying the abbey and killing its monks, will jolt Europe and earn the Vikings a fierce reputation for the ages.
The Viking Age is the period from the late 8th century to the mid-11th century in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, between the Germanic Iron Age and the Middle Ages, from a general Scandinavian perspective. It is the period of history when Scandinavian Norsemen explored Europe by its seas and rivers for trade, raids, colonisation and conquest. In this period, the Norsemen settled in Norse Greenland, Newfoundland, and present-day Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, Scotland, England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, and Turkey. Though Viking travellers and colonists were seen at many points in history as brutal raiders, many historical documents suggest that their invasion of other countries was retaliation in response to the encroachment upon tribal lands by Christian missionaries, and perhaps by the Saxon Wars prosecuted by Charlemagne and his kin to the south, or, were motivated by overpopulation, trade inequities, and the lack of viable farmland in their homeland. Information about the Viking Age is drawn largely from what was written about the Vikings by their enemies, and primary sources of archaeology, supplied with secondary sources like the Icelandic Sagas. But the Vikingers were not illiterates. Some history can be found on Runestones, a good example of this is the larger of the two Jelling Stones. Further did travellers like Adam of Bremen and Ansgar visit Scandinavia by the end of the Viking Age, and wrote imperative works of chronicle-style. And later did Saxo do the same. Also some Scandinavian early Middle-Ages works like Hávamál, Codex Regius, the Scanian Law have also been of historical help.
Start date: 800 AD
End date: 1066
Viking Expansion

wiki/Viking_Age
George Orwell (© ullstein bild via Getty Images)(1949) Big Brother is watching you as ‘1984’ is published
Newspeak, thoughtcrimes, and Big Brother are introduced as George Orwell’s vision of a dystopian future is published. ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ will be seen as both a great literary work and an accurate warning of the “double plus ungood” rise of totalitarianism and surveillance.
Nineteen Eighty-Four, often published as 1984, is a dystopian novel published in 1949 by English author George Orwell. The novel is set in Airstrip One, a province of the superstate Oceania in a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and public manipulation. The superstate and its residents are dictated to by a political regime euphemistically named English Socialism, shortened to “Ingsoc” in Newspeak, the government’s invented language. The superstate is under the control of the privileged elite of the Inner Party, a party and government that persecutes individualism and independent thinking as “thoughtcrime”, which is enforced by the “Thought Police”.
Author: George Orwell
First published: Jun 08, 1949
Number of pages: 298
Characters: Big Brother · Winston Smith · Emmanuel Goldstein · O’Brien · Julia · Syme
Preceded by: Animal Farm
Adaptations: Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) · 1984 (1956) · Brazil (1985) · Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954) · 1984 · 1984: A Personal View of Orwell’s ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ (1983) · 1984 · 1984
1984 First Run Cover1984 Manuscript Draft with Development

wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four
USS Barbero (Public Domain)(1959) US Post Office delivers mail by rocket
Three thousand letters streak through the sky at 600 mph, encased in a guided missile shot from the nuclear submarine USS Barbero. This newfangled airmail travels a distance of more than 100 miles in 22 minutes, but Missile Mail delivery will prove cost-prohibitive and won’t catch on.
Rocket mail is the delivery of mail by rocket or missile. The rocket lands by deploying an internal parachute upon arrival. It has been attempted by various organizations in many different countries, with varying levels of success. It has never become widely seen as being a viable option for delivering mail, due to the cost of the schemes and numerous failures.
wiki/Rocket_mail
James Earl Ray, assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., being taken to his cell by Sheriff William Morris, upon his arrival in Memphis, Tennessee on July 19, 1968 (© REX Features)(1968) Suspected killer of Martin Luther King, Jr. arrested
Two months after civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was gunned down in Memphis, Tennessee, his suspected assassin is apprehended at London’s Heathrow Airport. James Earl Ray will be extradited back to the US, stand trial, and be convicted and sentenced to 99 years in prison.
James Earl Ray was a convicted murderer who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. Ray was convicted on his 41st birthday after entering a guilty plea to forgo a jury trial. Had he been found guilty by jury trial, he would have been eligible for the death penalty.
Born: Mar 10, 1928 · Alton, IL
Died: Apr 23, 1998 · Nashville, TN
Movies: Who Killed Martin Luther King?
Parents: Lucille Ray (Mother) · James Gerald Ray (Father)
Highlights
  • 1959: In 1959 he was caught stealing $120 in an armed robbery of a St. Louis Kroger store.

  • 1968: Arriving in Atlanta on March 24, 1968, Ray checked into a rooming house.

  • 1968: There, on March 30, 1968, he bought a Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .30-06-caliber rifle and a box of 20 cartridges from the Aeromarine Supply Company.

  • 1968: On April 4, 1968, Ray killed Martin Luther King with a single shot fired from his Remington rifle, while King was standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

  • 1968: On June 8, 1968, two months after King’s death, Ray was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the United Kingdom on the false Canadian passport.

  • 1998: Ray died at age 70 on April 23, 1998, at the Columbia Nashville Memorial Hospital from complications related to kidney disease and liver failure caused by hepatitis C.

wiki/James_Earl_Ray
4.2.m17

Today in History 05/04/17

File photo of Grammy Award trophies (© Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)(1959) First Grammy Awards held in New York and Los Angeles
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Services hosts black-tie dinners on both coasts to give out the first Grammy Awards. Attendees include Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin. ‘Volare’ wins Song and Record of the Year, and Henry Mancini’s ‘The Music From Peter Gunn’ takes Album of the Year.
A Grammy Award, or Grammy, is an honor awarded by The Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the mainly English-language music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of those awards that have a more popular interest. It shares recognition of the music industry as that of the other performance awards such as the Emmy Awards, the Tony Awards, and the Academy Awards.
Categories: Grammy Award for Album of the Year · Grammy Award for Song of the Year · Grammy Award for Record of the Year · Grammy Award for Best New Artist · Grammy Award for Best Rap Album · Grammy Award for Best Rock Album · Grammy Award for Best Rock Song · Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award · Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album

wiki/Grammy_Award
A bus load of 'Freedom Riders,' including four white college professors and three African American students, arrives in Montgomery, Alabama, May 24, 1961, under guard of police and National Guard (© Perry Aycock/AP)(1961) Freedom Riders head to the US South
Calling themselves the ‘Freedom Riders,’ 13 activists board an interstate bus departing Washington, DC, for New Orleans, Louisiana. Along the way they will defy Jim Crow travel laws, be beaten by angry crowds, and be arrested and jailed.
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years in order to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions Morgan v. Virginia and Boynton v. Virginia, which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. The Southern states had ignored the rulings and the federal government did nothing to enforce them. The first Freedom Ride left Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961, and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17.
Start date: May 04, 1961
End date: Dec 10, 1961

wiki/Freedom_Riders
Mary Ann Vecchio screams as she kneels by the body of a student lying face down on the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, on May 4, 1970 (© John Filo/AP)(1970) Students killed as National Guard opens fire on campus
A war protest turns deadly as Ohio National Guard troops shoot at unarmed students on the Kent State University commons. Four die, nine are wounded, and less than a week later 100,000 will march against the killings, and the Vietnam War, in Washington, DC.
The Kent State shootings were the shootings of unarmed college students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, by members of the Ohio National Guard on May 4, 1970. Twenty-nine guardsmen fired approximately 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.
Fatalities: 4
Date: May 04, 1970

wiki/Kent_State_shootings
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, with husband Denis Thatcher, waves to well-wishers outside Number 10 Downing Street following her election victory on May 4, 1979, in London (© Tim Graham/Getty Images)(1979) Thatcher sworn in as Britain’s first female prime minister
The first woman prime minister in British history arrives at at 10 Downing Street after her Conservative Party sweeps the elections. Margaret Thatcher will prove to be one of the country’s longest tenured PMs as well as one of the most controversial.
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS, FRIC was a British stateswoman, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and as Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century, and the first woman to have held the office. A Soviet journalist dubbed her The Iron Lady, a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As Prime Minister, she implemented policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism.
Lived: Oct 13, 1925 – Apr 08, 2013 (age 87)
Height: 5′ 5″ (1.66 m)
Spouse: Denis Thatcher (m. 1951 – 2003)
Education: Somerville College, Oxford (1943 – 1947) · Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School (1936 – 1943) · City Law School (1952 – 1954)
Children: Mark Thatcher (Son) · Carol Thatcher (Daughter)
Related movies: The Iron Lady
Highlights
  • 1951: During the campaigns, she was supported by her parents and by Denis Thatcher, whom she married in December 1951.

  • 1975: Thatcher became party leader and Leader of the Opposition on 11 February 1975; she appointed Whitelaw as her deputy.

  • 1979: Thatcher became Prime Minister on 4 May 1979.

  • 2002: Thatcher was voted the fourth-greatest British prime minister of the 20th century in a poll of 139 academics organised by MORI, and in 2002 was ranked number 16 in the BBC poll 100 Greatest Britons.

  • 2005: After leaving the House of Commons, Thatcher became the first former Prime Minister to set up a foundation; the British wing of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation was dissolved in 2005 because of financial difficulties.

  • 2013: In 2013, she died of another stroke in London, at the age of 87.

wiki/Margaret_Thatcher
4.0.a17

Today in History 04/09/17

Illustration of Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle (1643 - 1687), as the French explorer stands at the mouth of the Mississippi River (© Getty Images)(1682) De La Salle claims “La Louisiane” for France
French explorer Robert de La Salle, having ventured throughout the central northern regions of America, now arrives at the mouth of the mighty Mississippi River, names the entire basin area “La Louisiane,” after French King Louis XIV, and claims the territory for France.
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or Robert de La Salle was a French explorer. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico. He claimed the entire Mississippi River basin for France.
Born: Nov 22, 1643 · Rouen, France
Died: Mar 19, 1687 · Huntsville, TX
Romance: Danielle Cavelier
Founded: Mississippi Company
Siblings: Jean Cavelier
Parents: Catherine Gest (Mother) · Jean Cavelier (Father)

wiki/René-Robert_Cavelier,_Sieur_de_La_Salle
Phonautograph (c 1857) apparatus for studying sound vibrations graphically, invented by (Edouard) Leon Scott de Martinville (© Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/REX)(1860) Oldest surviving recording of a human voice is made
Parisian bookseller Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville sets up his invention, the phonautograph, and records someone singing ‘Au Claire de la Lune.’ It will predate Thomas Edison’s more famous first recordings by 28 years. The MP3 won’t arrive for another 133 years.
Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville was a French printer and bookseller who lived in Paris. He invented the earliest known sound recording device, the phonautograph, which was patented in France on 25 March 1857.
Born: Apr 25, 1817 · France
Died: Apr 26, 1879
Inventions: Phonautograph

wiki/Édouard-Léon_Scott_de_Martinville
General Robert E. Lee's (right) surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia to General Grant (left) at Appomattox Courthouse, April 9, 1865 (© Culture Club/Getty Images)(1865) Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders
In a last-ditch effort against Union forces, Confederate General Robert E. Lee realizes the effort is futile and surrenders his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Virginia’s Appomattox Court House. The surrender triggers others across the South, as the American Civil War finally winds down.
The Battle of Appomattox Court House, fought on the morning of April 9, 1865, was one of the last battles of the American Civil War. It was the final engagement of Confederate Army general Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army under Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Lee, having abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, after the ten-month Siege of Petersburg, retreated west, hoping to join his army with the Confederate forces in North Carolina. Union forces pursued and cut off the Confederate’s retreat at the village of Appomattox Court House. Lee launched an attack to break through the Union force to his front, assuming the Union force consisted entirely of cavalry. When he realized that the cavalry was backed up by two corps of Union infantry, he had no choice but to surrender.
Date: Apr 09, 1865

wiki/Battle_of_Appomattox_Court_House
The Mercury Seven astronauts pictured (front row, left to right) Walter Schirra, Donald Slayton, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, (back row, left to right) Alan Shepard, Virgil Grissom and Gordon Cooper in 1959 (© Oxford Science Archive/Print Collector/Getty Images)(1959) NASA introduces picks for Project Mercury
Seven astronauts out of 500 applicants are determined to have the right stuff to conduct manned spaceflights, and they’re introduced in Washington, DC, in front of hundreds of reporters. Astronauts Carpenter, Cooper, Glenn, Grissom, Schirra, Shepard, and Slayton will become national heroes.

The Mercury Seven were the group of seven Mercury astronauts announced by NASA on April 9, 1959. They are also referred to as the Original Seven or Astronaut Group 1. They piloted the manned spaceflights of the Mercury program from May 1961 to May 1963. These seven original American astronauts were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton.

Members of the group flew on all classes of NASA manned orbital spacecraft of the 20th century — Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle. Gus Grissom died in 1967, in the Apollo 1 fire. The others all survived past retirement from service. John Glenn went on to become a U.S. senator, and flew on the Shuttle 36 years later to become the oldest person to fly in space. He was the last living member of the class when he died in 2016.


Astronaut Assignments Chart - Mercury 7
wiki/Mercury_Seven
4.0.a17

Today in History 04/08/17

Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire, England (© Andrew Backwell/Getty Images)(1093) England’s Winchester Cathedral is consecrated
A limestone Norman cathedral is formally dedicated in Winchester, England. In coming centuries, it will be altered from its medieval form with massive Gothic renovations, including the lengthiest nave of any European church.
Winchester Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, with the longest nave and greatest overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe. Dedicated to the Holy Trinity, Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and before the Reformation, Saint Swithun, it is the seat of the Bishop of Winchester and centre of the Diocese of Winchester. The cathedral is a Grade I listed building.
Address: 9 The Close, Winchester SO23 9LS
Phone: 01962 857200
Opened: Apr 08, 1093
Burials: Jane Austen · William II of England · Egbert of Wessex · Cnut the Great · Æthelwulf · Harthacnut · Eadwig · Emma of Normandy · Henry Beaufort · William of Wykeham · Cenwalh of Wessex · Cynegils of Wessex
Architectural styles: Norman architecture · English Gothic architecture
Religion: Anglicanism

wiki/Winchester_Cathedral
Marble statue of Aphrodite of Milos known as 'Venus de Milo' (© De Agostini/Getty Images)(1820) Venus de Milo is discovered
A peasant on the Aegean island of Milos uncovers a “fine marble statue” in an underground cave. The find, dating from Ancient Greece, will be dubbed the Venus de Milo, and in spite of, or perhaps partly because of its lack of arms, it will become an art sensation.
Aphrodite of Milos, better known as the Venus de Milo, is an ancient Greek statue and one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. Created sometime between 130 and 100 BCE, it is believed to depict Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. It is a marble sculpture, slightly larger than life size at 203 cm high. Part of an arm and the original plinth were lost following its discovery. From an inscription that was on its plinth, it is thought to be the work of Alexandros of Antioch; earlier, it was mistakenly attributed to the master sculptor Praxiteles. It is currently on permanent display at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The statue is named after the Greek island of Milos, where it was discovered.
Artist: Alexandros of Antioch
Location: Louvre
Subject: Venus
Medium: Marble

wiki/Venus_de_Milo
Dr. Grace Hopper, pioneering computer scientist (© AP)(1959) Grace Hopper leads computer programming milestone
Mathematician, computer scientist, and rare woman in her field, Grace Hopper consults at a two-day conference with the best brains in the new realm of computer programming. The committee will build on Hopper’s earlier work to develop what will be the groundbreaking programming language COBOL.
Grace Brewster Murray Hopper was an American computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral. In 1944, she was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer and invented the first compiler for a computer programming language. She popularized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of COBOL, one of the first high-level programming languages.
Lived: Dec 09, 1906 – Jan 01, 1992 (age 85)
Spouse: Vincent Foster Hopper (m. 1930 – 1945)
Inventions: COBOL · FLOW-MATIC · MATH-MATIC
Education: Vassar College (1924 – 1928) · Yale University · Wardlaw-Hartridge School
Awards: Defense Distinguished Service Medal · American Campaign Medal · National Medal of Technology and Innovation (1991) · IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award (1988)
Parents: Mary Campbell Van Horne Murray (Mother) · Walter Fletcher Murray (Father)
Highlights
  • 1930: Grace Hopper married Vincent Foster Hopper in 1930; their marriage lasted 15 years till 1945.

  • 1947: While she was working on a Mark II Computer at a US Navy research lab in Dahlgren, Virginia in 1947, her associates discovered a moth stuck in a relay impeding its operation.

  • 1952: In 1952 she had an operational compiler.

  • 1954: In 1954 Hopper was named the company’s first director of automatic programming, and her department released some of the first compiler-based programming languages, including MATH-MATIC and FLOW-MATIC.

  • 1971: 1971: The annual Grace Murray Hopper Award for Outstanding Young Computer Professionals was established in 1971 by the Association for Computing Machinery.

  • 1992: She was then hired as a senior consultant to Digital Equipment Corporation, a position she retained until her death in 1992, aged 85.

wiki/Grace_Hopper
Atlanta Braves Hank Aaron hits career home run 715 against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 8, 1974, in Atlanta, Georgia (© Sporting News via Getty Images)(1974) ‘Hammerin’ Hank’ Aaron breaks a baseball record
The Atlanta Braves’ Hank Aaron swings on a pitch from the L.A. Dodgers, driving it deep into left center field for his 715th career home run, beating Babe Ruth’s record. Aaron will rack up a total of 755 home runs in his career, a milestone that will stand for more than 30 years.
Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron, nicknamed “Hammer”, or “Hammerin’ Hank”, is a retired American Major League Baseball right fielder who is currently the senior vice president of the Atlanta Braves. He played 21 seasons for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves in the National League and 2 seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League, from 1954 through 1976. Aaron held the MLB record for career home runs for 33 years, and he still holds several MLB offensive records. He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, and is one of only two players to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked Aaron fifth on its “100 Greatest Baseball Players” list.
Born: Feb 05, 1934 (age 83) · Mobile, AL
Height: 6′ 0″ (1.83 m)
Spouse: Billye Aaron (m. 1973) · Barbara Lucas (m. 1953 – 1971)
Education: Central High School
Children: Dorinda Aaron (Daughter) · Gaile Aaron (Daughter) · Ceci Aaron (Daughter) · Lary Aaron (Son) · Gary Aaron (Son) · Hank Aaron, Jr. (Son)
Siblings: Tommie Aaron (Brother) · Alfredia Scott (Sister)
Highlights
  • 1953: Hank Aaron married Barbara Lucas on October 06, 1953; their marriage lasted 18 years till February 01, 1971.

  • 1954: He played 21 seasons for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves in the National League (NL) and 2 seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League (AL), from 1954 through 1976.

  • 1969: On July 31, 1969, Aaron hit his 537th home run, passing Mickey Mantle’s total; this moved Aaron into third place on the career home run list, after Willie Mays and Babe Ruth.

  • 1971: At age 37, he hit a career-high 47 home runs during the season (along with a career-high .669 slugging percentage) and finished third in MVP voting for the sixth time.

  • 1973: He hit home run number 713 on September 29, 1973, and with one day remaining in the season, many expected him to tie the record.

  • 1999: In 1999, MLB created the Hank Aaron Award, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Aaron’s surpassing of Babe Ruth’s career home run mark of 714 home runs and to honor Aaron’s contributions to baseball.

wiki/Hank_Aaron
4.0.a17