On This Day In History
November 7th
1492 Ensisheim Meteorite strikes a wheat field near the village of Ensisheim in Alsace, France. Oldest meteorite with a known date of impact.
1872 Cargo ship Mary Celeste sails from Staten Island for Genoa; mysteriously found abandoned four weeks later
1917 [OS Oct 25] October Revolution in Russia; Lenin and the Bolsheviks seize power, capture the Winter Palace and overthrow the Provisional Government.
1931 Chinese People’s Republic proclaimed by Mao Zedong
2000 Controversial US presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore is inconclusive; the result, in Bush’s favor, is eventually resolved by the Supreme Court
2020 Former Vice-President Joe Biden declared the winner of the US Presidential race, four days after the US election, defeating sitting President Donald Trump
Did You Know?
1st cartoon depicting elephant as Republican Party symbol, by Thomas Nast
Today in History in 1874
Would You Believe?
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration discovers one of the country’s largest LSD labs inside a converted military missile silo in Wamego, Kansas
Today in History in 2000
November 8th
392 Roman Emperor Theodosius declares Christian religion the state religion
1519 1st meeting of Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II and Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés in Tenochtitlan, Mexico
1701 William Penn presents Charter of Privileges, guaranteed religious freedom for the colony in Pennsylvania
1734 Vincent la Chapelle, master cook to various nobility and royalty, forms Free Masons Lodge in Netherlands
1895 German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen produces and detects electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range today known as X-rays or Röntgen rays
2002 Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council under Resolution 1441 unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face “serious consequences”
2005 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is elected president of Liberia, the first woman to lead an African country
Did You Know?
The Bodleian Library at Oxford University is opened
Today in History in 1602
Would You Believe?
British peer the Earl of Lucan disappears and is never seen again after his nanny is found murdered in London
Today in History in 1974
November 9th
1494 Piero the Unfortunate of the de’ Medici family, ruler of Florence, loses his power and flees the state
1799 Napoleon Bonaparte pulls off a coup and becomes the dictator of France under the title of First Consul
1980 Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declares holy war against Iran
1994 Darmstadtium, Chemical element 110, discovered at GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research near Darmstadt, Germany
1998 Brokerage houses are ordered to pay 1.03 billion USD to NASDAQ investors to compensate for price-fixing – largest civil settlement in US history
2020 Drugmakers BioNTech and Pfizer announce their COVID-19 vaccine to be over 90% effective in a first look at the results from their phase 3 trial involving nearly 44,000 people
Did You Know?
Jack the Ripper’s 5th and probably last victim, Mary Jane Kelly, found on her bed
Today in History in 1888
Would You Believe?
The first U.S. design patent for typefaces and borders was issued to George Bruce of New York City
Today in History in 1842
November 10th
1619 René Descartes has the dream that inspires his “Meditations on First Philosophy”
1674 Dutch formally cede New Netherlands (New York) to the English
1885 German engineer Gottlieb Daimler unveils the world’s first motorcycle
1918 Western Union Cable Office in North Sydney, Nova Scotia receives a top-secret coded message from Europe stating on November 11, 1918 all fighting would cease on land, sea and in the air
1989 Germans begin demolishing the Berlin Wall
Did You Know?
Henry Morton Stanley encounters David Livingstone at Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa, with the immortal words ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume?’
Today in History in 1871
Would You Believe?
Walt Disney begins serving as an informer for the Los Angeles office of the FBI; his job is to report back information on Hollywood subversives.
Today in History in 1940
November 11th
1620 Mayflower Compact signed by Pilgrims at Cape Cod, the 1st framework of government in the territory that is now the USA [N.S. Nov 21]
1675 German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz demonstrates integral calculus for the first time to find the area under the graph of y = f(x) function
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army enters England
1918 WWI armistice signed by the Allies and Germany comes into effect and World War I hostilities end at 11am, “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”
1975 Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam removed from office by Governor General Sir John Kerr – 1st elected PM removed in 200 yrs
1992 The Church of England approves the ordination of female priests
2004 Yasser Arafat’s death through unidentified causes confirmed by Palestine Liberation Organization, Mahmoud Abbas elected PLO chairman minutes later.
Did You Know?
Australian Bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly is hanged at Melbourne Gaol
Today in History in 1880
Would You Believe?
Washington Irving‘s Salmagundi periodical published – first to associate the name “Gotham” with New York City
Today in History in 1807
November 12th
764 Tibetan troops occupy Chang’an for 15 days, capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty
1927 Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, paving the way for Joseph Stalin to consolidate complete power
1942 WWII Naval Battle of Guadalcanal begins between Allied and Japanese forces in Solomon Islands
1968 US Supreme Court: Epperson v. Arkansas, court declares unconstitutional Arkansas law banning teaching evolution in public schools
1970 Cyclone Bhola makes landfall in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) killing up to 500,000, making it the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded
1990 The World Wide Web is first proposed by CERN computer scientists Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau [1]
Did You Know?
British explorer Robert Falcon Scott‘s diary & body found in Antarctica
Today in History in 1912
Would You Believe?
Out Magazine names Barack Obama ‘Ally of the Year’, Obama becomes 1st sitting US President to pose for cover of a gay magazine
Today in History in 2015
November 13th
1789 Benjamin Franklin writes “Nothing . . . certain but death & taxes”
1933 1st modern sit-down strike by Hormel meat packers in Austin, Minnesota
1956 US Supreme court rules race separation on buses in Alabama unconstitutional
1980 US spacecraft Voyager 1 sends back 1st close-up pictures of Saturn during its fly-by
1985 Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts in Colombia, killing 25,000 in the town of Armero
2018 Trial of Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán begins in New York, he is charged with drug trafficking, money laundering, and murder
Did You Know?
First shipment of canned pineapple from Hawaii
Today in History in 1895
Would You Believe?
World’s earliest wine-making uncovered from Khramis Didi Gora, Georgia, in clay pots from 6,000BC
Today in History in 2017