Basketball

Today in History 12/21 (Curies Discover Radium)

Marie and Pierre Curie in the laboratory in 1896 (© Ullstein Bild/Getty Images)(1898) Pierre and Marie Curie discover the element radium
The husband-wife team discovers the existence of the radioactive element radium. The pair will win a Nobel Prize for their work with radiation, making Madame Curie the first woman to win a Nobel, and she’ll win another a few years later. Marie Curie will die from radiation exposure in 1934.
Radium is a chemical element with symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen on exposure to air, forming a black surface layer of radium nitride. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226, which has a half-life of 1600 years and decays into radon gas. When radium decays, ionizing radiation is a product, which can excite fluorescent chemicals and cause radioluminescence.
Discovered: 1898
Symbol: Ra
Atomic number: 88
Electron configuration: Rn 7s2
Boiling point: 3,159°F (1,737°C)
Melting point: 1,760°F (960°C)

Curie experimenting with radium
Marie and Pierre Curie experimenting with radium, a drawing by André Castaigne
wiki/Radium
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(1898) Pierre and Marie Curie discover the element radium.
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1891 | Hoops history as first basketball game played
James Naismith nails two peach baskets to the balcony of the gym at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, MA, hands his students a soccer ball, and makes sports history with his new game. Basketball will catch on quickly, spreading to colleges and fledgling professional leagues within a few years.
1913 | The first crossword puzzle is published
Arthur Wynne introduces a new puzzle called ‘Word-Cross’ in the New York World newspaper’s ‘Fun’ section. The diamond-shaped grid has numbered squares, clues, and simple instructions to fill the blanks. A typographical error a few weeks later will change the name to ‘Cross-Word.’ That one will stick.
1991 | Soviet states break away as eleven of 12 former Soviet republics form commonwealth
Having previously declared independence from the USSR, 11 Soviet republics proclaim the creation of a new alliance, the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Republic of Georgia, dealing with a civil war, abstains. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev will step down a few days later and the Soviet Union will dissolve.

Today in History 12/21/17

Soviet and Russian flags fly over the Kremlin in Moscow on December 18, 1991 (© Alain-Pierre Hovasse/AFP/Getty Images)(1991) Eleven of 12 former Soviet republics form commonwealth
Having previously declared independence from the USSR, 11 Soviet republics proclaim the creation of a new alliance, the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Republic of Georgia, dealing with a civil war, abstains. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev will step down a few days later and the Soviet Union will dissolve.
The Commonwealth of Independent States, also called the Russian Commonwealth, is a loose confederation of 9 member states and 2 associate members that are located in Eurasia, formed during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and which were all former Soviet Republics. Georgia withdrew its membership in 2008, while the Baltic states, which regard their membership in the Soviet Union as an illegal occupation, chose not to participate.
Founded: 1991
Headquarters: Minsk, Belarus
Founders: Russia · Ukraine · Belarus
Subsidiary: Warriors-Internationalists Affairs Committee

CIS (orthographic projection)
Orthographic projection of Commonwealth of Independent States.

wiki/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States
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Today in History 10/13 (ABA Basketball)

Larry Kenon of the New York Nets goes up to shoot over Roger Brown of the Indiana Pacers during a 1973 ABA game. (© Focus on Sport/Getty Images)(1967) New league takes a shot at competing with the NBA
The Anaheim Amigos take on the Oakland Oaks to tip off the first season of the American Basketball Association. Known for its colorful ball and colorful personalities, the league will last until 1976, launching the careers of some future NBA stars.
The original American Basketball Association was a men’s professional basketball league, from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, leading several teams to join the National Basketball Association and the introduction of the 3-point shot in the NBA.
Founded: 1967
Founders: Dennis Murphy · Richard Tinkham · Joe Newman
Teams: Springfield Sting

American Basketball Association (shield logo)
This is a logo for American Basketball Association.
wiki/American_Basketball_Association
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(1967) New league takes a shot at competing with the NBA.
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1773 | Messier spots another otherworldly ‘object’ and Whirlpool Galaxy is found
While searching the skies for celestial objects that might mislead comet seekers, French astronomer Charles Messier finds a cluster of stars that will later be named the Whirlpool Galaxy. It will eventually be found to have a spiral structure, the first spiral galaxy discovered, and will be plotted at over 23 million light-years away.
1958 | Paddington Bear’s debut as deepest, darkest Peru sends a small bear to London
A small stowaway bear with a distinct fondness for marmalade has turned up at London’s bustling Paddington Railway Station, where Mr. and Mrs. Brown decide to take him home. Author Michael Bond’s book for children, ‘A Bear Called Paddington,’ will launch this upstanding ursine into enduring fame.
1962 | George and Martha invite their new friends over for drinks as ‘Virginia Woolf’ opens
Edward Albee’s new play, ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ opens on Broadway, featuring four characters, a three-hour performance, and dialogue so barbed it could be weaponized. The chronicle of social niceties shredded by drink and neurosis will be adapted into an equally famous film.

Today in History 10/13/17

This 2005 image made by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) (© NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), Hubble Heritage Team STS/AP)(1773) Messier spots another otherworldly 'object'
While searching the skies for celestial objects that might mislead comet seekers, French astronomer Charles Messier finds a cluster of stars that will later be named the Whirlpool Galaxy. It will eventually be found to have a spiral structure, the first spiral galaxy discovered, and will be plotted at over 23 million light-years away.
The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a, M51a, and NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. Recently it was estimated to be 23 ± 4 million light-years from the Milky Way, but different methods yield distances between 15 and 35 million light-years. Messier 51 is one of the best known galaxies in the sky. The galaxy and its companion, NGC 5195, are easily observed by amateur astronomers, and the two galaxies may even be seen with binoculars. The Whirlpool Galaxy is also a popular target for professional astronomers, who study it to further understand galaxy structure and galaxy interactions.
Apparent magnitude: 8.40
Absolute magnitude: 8.40
Apparent mass: 160 billion solar-mass
Distance to Earth: 23,157,103 light-year (7,100,000 parsec)
Constellation: Canes Venatici
Galactic group: M51 Group
Messier 51
The Whirlpool Galaxy (Spiral Galaxy M51, NGC 5194), a classic spiral galaxy located in the Canes Venatici constellation, and its companion NGC 5195.

wiki/Whirlpool_Galaxy
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