This Day in History

24 November
1642
Abel Tasman discovered Van Diemen's Land, later Tasmania.
1859
The Origin of Species, a path-breaking scientific work by British naturalist Charles Darwin, was published in England.
1874
Joseph F.Glidden patented barbed wire.
1963
Jack Ruby, a Dallas night-club owner, shot dead Lee Harvey Oswald, President Kennedy's assassin. The macabre incident was witnessed live by millions of television viewers.
1971
A hijacker parachuted into a raging thunderstorm from a Northwest Airlines 727 over Washington, with $200,000 in ransom! A massive manhunt for him proved futile.

06 January

1535
The city of Lima in Peru was founded by Francisco Pizarro.
1681
The first recorded boxing match took place between the Duke of Albemarle’s butler and his butcher.
1838
Samuel Morse made the first public demonstration of the telegraph.
1907
Italian educationist, Maria Montessori, opened her first school in Rome.
1930
The first trip in an automobile fitted with a diesel engine, a Packard sedan, was completed.

13 January

1610
Galileo Galilei discovered Callisto, the fourth satellite of Jupiter.
1888
The National Geographic Society was founded in Washington D.C.
1893
The British Independent Labour Party was formed with Keir Hardie as its leader.
1953
Marshal Josip Tito was chosen president of Yugoslavia.
1958
Around 9000 scientists from 43 nations petitioned the United Nations for a nuclear test ban.
1989
Computers across Britain were hit by the Friday the 13th virus

23 January

1492
The Pentateuch, the Jewish holy book was first printed.
1924
Ramsey MacDonald formed the first Labour government in Britain.
1950
In a resolution, the Israeli Knesset declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
1983
Bjorn Borg announced his retirement from tennis.
1991
The world’s largest oil spill was caused by embattled Iraqi forces in Kuwait.

24 January
1899
The rubber heel for shoes was patented by Humphrey O’Sullivan.
1900
The Newcastle Badminton Club, the world’s oldest club was formed in England.
1908
General Robert Baden-Powell established the Boy Scouts.
1924
The Russian city of St Petersburg was renamed Leningrad.
1958
After warming them to 100,000,0000C, 2 light atoms were bombarded against each other to create a heavier atom, resulting in the first man-made nuclear fusion.

25 January

1565
At the battle at Talikota, a combined army of the Deccan kingdoms destroyed the Vijayanagara army.
1949
In the Israeli elections, David Ben-Gurion became the country’s first prime minister.
1970
Robert Altman’s popular TV serial MASH premiered.
1971
Himachal Pradesh became the 18th Indian state.
1983
China’s supreme court commuted Mao’s widow, Chiang Ch’ing’s death sentence, to life.
1985
Wasim Akram made his Test debut against New Zealand at Auckland. He took 2 wickets for 105.

26 January

1531
Lisbon was hit by an earthquake. About 30,000 died.
1788
Captain Arthur Phillip established an English colony at Sydney, in Botany Bay.
1875
The electric dental drill was patented by George F. Green.
1905
The world’s largest diamond, the 3,106-carat Cullinan, was found in South Africa.
1929
At its Lahore session, the Indian National Congress proclaimed ‘Purna Swarajya’ - complete independence as its goal.
1950
India became a republic.
1988
Australia’s 200th anniversary was commemorated by a parade of tall ships in Sydney Harbour

27 January

1302
Dante, the author of the Divine Comedy became a Florentine political exile.
1918
“Tarzan of the Apes,” the first Tarzan film, premiered at New York’s Broadway Theatre.
1924
Lenin’s body was placed in a mausoleum in Red Square.
1967
Apollo-11 astronauts Grissom, White and Chaffee were killed when a fire broke out in their space module during a training session.
1996
France performed a nuclear test at Muruora Island in the Pacific Ocean.

28 January

1099
The first Crusaders began their siege of Hosn-el-Akrad in Syria.
1807
London’s Pall Mall became the first street to be lit by gaslight.
1928
Christopher Hornsrud was chosen Prime Minister of Norway at the age of 101.
1935
Iceland became the first country to legalize abortion.
1986
The US Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after lift-off.
1998
Michelangelo’s painting Christ and the Woman of Samaria was sold for a record $7.4 million.

29 January

1845
Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven was first published in New York.
1886
The first successful gasoline-driven car was patented by Karl Benz.
1933
German President von Hindenburg appointed Hitler the leader of the Nazi party.
1990
The captain of the oil tanker, Exxon Valdez, Joseph Hazelwood went on trial for the oil spill disaster.
1991
Nelson Mandela and Inkatha Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi met in Durban after 28 years, to make another attempt at peace.
1996
The 6,138th performance of Cats was held in London, surpassing the record of Broadway’s longest-running musical, A Chorus Line.