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Today in History 12/21 (Curies Discover Radium)

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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.
Also on this day,

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 11/20 (US Bill of Rights)

Copy of the Bill of Rights (© Aaron Haupt/Getty Images)(1789) New Jersey becomes first state to ratify the Bill of Rights
New Jersey ratifies the Bill of Rights, a collection of amendments written by James Madison to ease concerns that the US Constitution had invested the federal government with too much power. New Jersey does, however, reject one of the original 12 amendments: Article II, which regulated congressional pay raises.
The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. Proposed following the oftentimes bitter 1787–88 battle over ratification of the U.S. Constitution, and crafted to address the objections raised by Anti-Federalists, the Bill of Rights amendments add to the Constitution specific guarantees of personal freedoms and rights, clear limitations on the government’s power in judicial and other proceedings, and explicit declarations that all powers not specifically delegated to Congress by the Constitution are reserved for the states or the people. The concepts codified in these amendments are built upon those found in several earlier documents, including the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the English Bill of Rights 1689, along with earlier documents such as Magna Carta. In practice, the amendments had little impact on judgements by the courts for the first 150 years after ratification.
The Bill of Rights, twelve articles of amendment to the to the United States Constitution proposed in 1789, ten of which, Articles three through twelve, became part of the United States Constitution in 1791. Note that the First Amendment is actually
The Bill of Rights, twelve articles of amendment to the to the United States Constitution proposed in 1789, ten of which, Articles three through twelve, became part of the United States Constitution in 1791. Note that the First Amendment is actually “Article the third” on the document, Second Amendment is “Article the fourth”, and so on. “Article the second” is now the 27th Amendment. “Article the first” has not been ratified.
wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights
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(1789) New Jersey becomes first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
Also on this day,

1820 | Sperm whale sinks whaling ship
An 80-ton sperm whale rams and sinks a whaleship, the Essex, from Massachusetts. Twenty crewmembers escape in open boats, but only five will survive the harrowing three months adrift; three others will be rescued off an island. Herman Melville will base his novel ‘Moby-Dick’ on this true-life tale.
1945 | Nazi leaders go on trial for World War II atrocities as Nuremburg Trials begin
Judges from the US, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union preside over the military tribunals in Nuremburg opening today to try Nazi officials for crimes against humanity, among other charges. Twelve Nazi leaders will be sentenced to death. Adolf Hitler won’t be among them, having already shot himself.
1995 | Princess Diana admits she had an affair
Britain’s Princess Diana speaks candidly about her troubled marriage with Prince Charles in a widely watched BBC interview. Diana admits to infidelity and talks about her struggles with depression and bulimia. She also predicts she will never be queen of England, but hopes to be “queen of people’s hearts.”

Today in History 11/20/17

Hans Frank, standing, makes his final plea to the court at the International Military Tribunals in Nuremberg, Germany in 1946 (© War Department/AP)(1945) Nazi leaders go on trial for World War II atrocities
Judges from the US, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union preside over the military tribunals in Nuremburg opening today to try Nazi officials for crimes against humanity, among other charges. Twelve Nazi leaders will be sentenced to death. Adolf Hitler won't be among them, having already shot himself.
The Nuremberg trials were a series of military tribunals held by the Allied forces under international law and the laws of war after World War II. The trials were most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, judicial and economic leadership of Nazi Germany, who planned, carried out, or otherwise participated in the Holocaust and other war crimes. The trials were held in the city of Nuremberg, Germany, and their decisions marked a turning point between classical and contemporary international law.
Start date: Nov 20, 1945
End date: Oct 01, 1946

Jackson Nuremberg
Chief American prosecutor Robert H. Jackson addresses the Nuremberg court. 20 November 1945.

wiki/Nuremberg_trials
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