(1839) France gives gift of photography to the world
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Louis Daguerre has received a lifetime pension from France in exchange for his recent invention, a process by which visual impressions from a camera are transferred to metal plates. France announces the technology is “free to the world” and the public first learns of photography.. |
(1934) Homemade rattling racers roll in a glide to the finish
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Dayton, Ohio, hosts the inaugural All-American Soap Box Derby, and 362 entrants have cobbled together racers made of packaging crates, buggy wheels, scrap metal, and yes, soap boxes. Gravity does the work as none of the cars are powered, so aerodynamics and wheel quality are key.. |
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(1944) French capital drives out Nazi control
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The Nazi occupation of ‘the City of Light’ nears its end as the French Resistance mobilizes fighting units against the German garrison in advance of the arrival of US General Patton’s Third Army. As they withdraw their forces, German commanders will ignore Hitler’s order to destroy Paris. . |
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(1991) ‘August Coup’ puts Soviet President Gorbachev under arrest
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Communist hardliners, unhappy with President Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies, attempt to take over the Soviet Union’s government. Tanks patrol Moscow, Gorbachev is placed under house arrest, and tens of thousands of citizens are out in the streets protesting against the coup.. |
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