On this day in the year 1079 of the common era (CE) the Persian polymath Omar Khayyam completes the Jalali calendar, a solar calendar with a precise 33-year intercalation cycle and is the basis for the Persian calendar still in use today.
On this day in the year 1454 CE, Delegates of the Prussian Confederation pledge allegiance to the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, Casimir IV, who agrees to help in their struggle for independence from the Teutonic Knights (the Germans); one hundred and thirty years later, the British First Fleet arrives at the Australian territory of Norfolk Island to found a convict settlement; three hundred and seventy-three years after that, in 1957 CE, Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast) declares independence from the United Kingdom.
On this day in 1646 CE, Joseph Jenkes receives from the General Court of Massachusetts, the first patent in North America for making scythes; two hundred and forty years later, the first alternating current power plant in the United States begins transmission in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Ten years after that, in 1896 CE, the automobile makes its first appearance in Detroit, Michigan, the "Horseless Carriage" driven by Charles B. King; three years later, Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is patented by Felix Hoffmann at the German company Bayer. Forty-six years after that, in 1945 CE, George Nissen of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, receives a patent for the first modern trampoline.
In 1661 CE the French Cardinal Mazarin bequeaths his famous library to the Collège des Quatre-Nations, part of the University of Paris; it is now the oldest public library in France. Four years later, the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society begins publication. One hundred and sixty-six years after that, in 1831 CE, Edgar Allan Poe is court-martialed and dismissed from the West Point military academy (where I was born) for gross neglect of duty and disobedience of orders; thirty-eight years later Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table of elements to the Russian Chemical Society.
In 1775 CE the first African American Free Mason in North America is initiated in Boston, Massachusetts; sixty-one years later, the battle of the Alamo is concluded after thirteen days of fighting, when three thousand Mexican soldiers overwhelm the Free Masons of the fledgling Texas Republic, two hundred and fifty-seven men, including frontier legends William Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett.
In 1808 CE the first college orchestra in the United States is founded at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts; forty-five years later, Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata premieres at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Italy
In 1857 CE in the infamous Dred Scott Decision, the United States Supreme Court rules that African Americans cannot be citizens of the United States; one hundred years later, the centenary of this event is marked by the rediscovery of Scott’s grave.
In 1861 CE the traitorous Provisionary Confederate Congress establishes the Confederate Army, which would go on to kill more Americans than in any other war the United States has ever fought.
In 1886 CE the first nurses' magazine in the United States is published, The Nightingale, New York, New York; ninety-four years later, the publisher of Hustler magazine, Larry Flynt, is shot by a militant white supremacist sniper in Georgia, leaving Flynt crippled and wheelchair bound.
In 1902 CE the permanent United States Census office is created by legislative act.
In 1906 CE, Nora Blatch becomes the first woman elected to the American Society of Civil Engineers.
In 1918 CE the United States naval vessel, the "Cyclops" disappears in Bermuda Triangle; one hundred years later, the American WWII aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Lexington is found in Australia's Coral Sea, after being lost during the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942.
In 1922 CE Babe Ruth signs a three-year contract with the New York Yankees at $52,000 per year; fifty-one years later, in an exhibition game with vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates, Twins Larry Hisle takes the field as the first designated hitter…he hits two home runs and knocks in seven runs during the game.
In 1922 CE George Bernard Shaw's largest-scale play Back to Methusaleh (Part 2) opens at the Garrick Theatre in New York, New York and runs for twenty-five 25 performances.
In 1933 CE, Eleanor Roosevelt becomes the first—First Lady to hold an official press conference at the White House; later that day, her husband, the president of the United States, calls for passage of the Emergency Banking Act.
In 1940 CE the first telecast from an airplane in the United States takes place in New York, New York; four years later the United States Army Air Force begins bombing Berlin in daylight. Three years after that, in 1947 CE, the XB-45, the first four-engine jet bomber, makes its first test flight in the United States at Muroc, California; eighteen years later, the first nonstop helicopter crossing of North America is made by J.R. Willford. Twenty-one years after that, in 1986 CE, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic's (U.S.S.R.), Vega 1 flies by Halley's Comet at 8,889 km distance; four years later, the SR-71 sets a transcontinental record, flying 2,404 miles in one hour, eight minutes and seventeen seconds.
In 1940 CE, Robin (Dick Grayson) debuts as Batman's sidekick in issue number thirty-eight of Detective Comics by DC Comics; ten years later Silly Putty goes on sale in the United States.
In 1951 CE the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg begins for providing top-secret information to the Soviet Union, the case is prosecuted by Roy Cohn, who famously worked for Joseph McCarthy, the New York Mafia and Donald Trump…it is widely believed that Cohn framed the Rosenberg’s for the crime for the sake of publicity; two years later. Malenkov becomes chairman of the U.S.S.R.. Fourteen years after that, in 1967 CE, Joseph Stalin's daughter Svetlana Allilujeva approaches the United States Embassy in New Delhi, India to ask for political asylum…defection!
In 1962 CE the United States (U.S.) promises Thailand assistance against communist aggression; on that same day the U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site; nineteen years later, France performs nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll.
In 1964 CE boxing legend Cassius Clay joins the Nation of Islam and changes his name to "Muhammad Ali," calling his given name a "slave name.; three years later Muhammad Ali is ordered to be inducted in the United States Army by Selective Service Board. Eighteen years after that, the future undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, knocks-out Hector Mercedes at one minute and forty-seven seconds into round one, it is “Iron” Mike’s first professional fight, taking place in Albany, New York.
In 1964 CE Tom O'Hara runs the mile in under four minutes
In 1965 CE the Temptations' single My Girl reaches number one on the Billboard Pop Chart; written and produced by the Smokey Robinson and Ronald White; one year later Barry Sadler's, Ballad of the Green Berets becomes number one and remains there for thirteen weeks
In 1970 CE a Catholic man is shot dead by British soldiers in Belfast, North Ireland; on that same day, an explosion at makeshift bomb factory of left-wing Weather Underground terrorist group kills three members in a townhouse at 18 West 11th St in Greenwich Village, New York. Thirteen years after that, three people suspected of belonging to the Irish Republican Army are shot dead in Gibraltar by SAS officers.
In 1970 CE the Beatles release their single, Let it Be; three years later, Asylum Records releases "Closing Time," the debut album by singer-songwriter Tom Waits. Thirteen years after that, after losing all appeals, American rock singer David Crosby begins serving a five-year sentence in Texas State prison for drug and weapons convictions.
In 1991 CE, following Iraq's capitulation in the Persian Gulf conflict, United States president George H. W. Bush told Congress that "aggression is defeated and the war is over."
In 2014 CE the Crimean Parliament votes unanimously to make Crimea part of Russia, they do so with armed Russian soldiers having taken control of the Crimean capitol.
In 2021 CE on his first visit to Iraq, Pope Francis meets with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the Shiite cleric's home in Najaf.
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