On This Day In History
November 14th
1680 Gottfried Kirch discovers the Great Comet of 1680 (Kirch’s Comet/Newton’s Comet)
1856 American Gail Borden is issued a patent for technology related to his invention of condensed milk
1896 Power plant at Niagara Falls begins operation
1908 Albert Einstein presents his quantum theory of light
1920 The Russian Bolshevik army occupies Sebastopol, ending anti-communist attempts to regain the government of Russia
1994 1st public trains run through the Channel Tunnel linking England and France under the English Channel
Did You Know?
CFBDSIR 2149-0403 is discovered, the closest rogue planet to earth (100 light-years away)
Today in History in 2012
Would You Believe?
New York World reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) begins her attempt to surpass fictitious journey of Jules Verne‘s Phileas Fogg by traveling around the world in under 80 days. She succeeds, finishing the trip in 72 days, 6 hours
Today in History in 1889
November 15th
1492 Christopher Columbus notes 1st recorded reference to tobacco
1884 European Colonization and trade in Africa is officially regulated at the international Berlin Conference, formalizing European powers “Scramble for Africa”
1904 King C. Gillette patents the Gillette razor blade
1948 Mackenzie King retires after 22 years as Prime Minister of Canada
1969 An estimated 2 million people take part in the Vietnam War Moratorium Demonstration across the United States
Did You Know?
Leonardo da Vinci‘s painting “Salvator Mundi” sells for $450.3 million at auction in New York, world record price for any artwork
Today in History in 2017
Would You Believe?
In Parliament Sir Anthony Blunt, art advisor to the Queen, exposed as 4th man in Soviet spy ring. He was then stripped of his knighthood and fellowship of Trinity College, Cambridge
Today in History in 1979
November 16th
534 Second and final revision of the Justinian Code published, a codified set of imperial and classical laws begun initially in 528
1532 Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro captures Inca Emperor Atahualpa after a surprise ambush at Cajamarca in the Peruvian Andes
1776 British troops capture Fort Washington during American Revolution
1945 Founding of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Did You Know?
New York City’s Fifth Avenue opens for business
Today in History in 1824
Would You Believe?
LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) is first synthesized by Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland
Today in History in 1938
November 17th
1558 Elizabeth I aged 25, ascends the English throne upon death of her half sister, Queen “Bloody” Mary
1800 Congress holds its 1st session in Washington, D.C. in an incomplete Capitol Building
1831 Ecuador and Venezuela separated from Greater Colombia
1855 David Livingstone becomes the first European to see Victoria Falls, in what is now Zambia and Zimbabwe
1869 Suez Canal in Egypt opens, linking Mediterranean and Red seas
1922 The last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI, is expelled to Malta on a British warship
1970 Douglas Engelbart receives the patent for the first computer mouse
Did You Know?
U.S. Congress meets for the first time in the newly built Capitol in Washington, D.C., which had been established by The Residence Act of July 16, 1790
Today in History in 1800
Would You Believe?
US President Richard Nixon tells AP “…people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook”
Today in History in 1973
November 18th
1477 First English dated printed book “Dictes & Sayengis of the Phylosophers” by William Caxton at his press in London
1626 St. Peter’s Basilica is consecrated, replacing an earlier basilica on the same site and becoming the world’s largest Christian basilica
1916 British General Douglas Haig finally calls off the 1st Battle of the Somme in World War I after more than 1 million soldiers had been killed or wounded
1978 In Jonestown, Guyana, 918 members of the Peoples Temple are murdered or commit suicide under the leadership of cult leader Jim Jones
1993 Black and white leaders in South Africa approve new democratic constitution
Did You Know?
Brooklyn toymaker Morris Michton names the teddy bear after US President Teddy Roosevelt
Today in History in 1902
Would You Believe?
Lincoln Deachey becomes the first American pilot to perform an aircraft loop-the-loop in his Curtiss aeroplane near San Diego
Today in History in 1913
November 19th
1530 The Recess document resulting from the Diet of Augsburg signed by Charles V and catholic princes
1620 The Mayflower reaches Cape Cod and explores the coast
1805 Lewis and Clark Expedition, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, reaches the Pacific Ocean, first European Americans to cross the west
1863 US President Abraham Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg address beginning; “Four score and seven years ago…”
1942 Operation Uranus: Soviet offensive begins during Battle of Stalingrad, 1 million Soviet soldiers encircle the German Sixth Army
1969 Apollo 12’s Charles Conrad and Alan Bean become the 3rd and 4th humans on the Moon
1985 US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time
Did You Know?
American inventor Frederick E. Blaisdell patents the pencil
Today in History in 1895
Would You Believe?
McCaughey septuplets born to Bobbi McCaughey in Des Moines, Iowa. First set of septuplets to survive infancy.
Today in History in 1997
November 20th
284 Roman soldier Diocletian proclaimed Emperor by the army
762 Bögü, Khan of the Uyghurs, conquers Lo-Yang, capital of the Chinese Empire
1695 Zumbi, the last King of the Quilombo dos Palmares in early Brazil and ex-slave, is executed and decapitated, his head displayed on a pike to dispel any legends of his immortality
1815 Second Treaty of Paris: France and her allies agree France will pay indemnities after Battle of Waterloo, ending the Napoleonic Wars
1945 The Nuremberg war trials begin as 24 Nazi leaders are put on trial before judges representing the victorious Allied powers
1986 World Health Organization announces first global effort to combat AIDS