On this day in the year 240 before the common era (BCE) the first known record of the perihelion-passage of Halley's Comet is made, the perihelion is the transit point at which the comet is nearest in its orbit to Helios, the sun.
On this day in the year 1422 of the common era (CE) the Zen Buddhist teacher Ketsugan, performs a series of exorcisms to free the Aizōji Temple in Fukushima, Japan…demonstrating that being a Zen Buddhist does not mean you are unwilling to exploit superstition, or succumb to it yourself, because even Zen Buddhists like to believe stupid sh*t.
On this day in the year 1533 CE, Thomas Cranmer becomes the archbishop of Canterbury
On this day in 1603 CE the English army under lord Mountjoy defeats the Irish at the Battle of Mellifont; three hundred and sixty three years later, loyalists bomb water and electricity installations in Northern Ireland in the hope that the attacks would be blamed on the Irish Republican Army and activist elements within the civil rights movement, who were demanding an end to discrimination against Catholics. Three years after that, in 1972 CE, Northern Ireland's government and parliament are dissolved by the British government and direct rule from Westminster is introduced; seven years later, Airey Neave, a British politician, is killed by a car bomb as he exits Westminster Palace, the Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
In 1778 CE the playwright Voltaire is crowned with a laurel wreath; one hundred and sixteen years later, George Bernard Shaw's comedy Candida premieres at the Theatre Royal in South Shields, England. Fifty-seven years after that, in 1951 CE, the first performance of Walter Piston's Fourth Symphony is commissioned to mark the University of Minnesota's centennial, its debut is made by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, with Antal Doráti conducting; one year later, at the 6th Tony Awards, The King & I win for best musical. Thirty years after that in, 1982 CE, John Pielmeier's play Agnes of God, premieres at the Music Box Theatre in New York, New York; it is about a nun who gives birth and insists it was immaculate conception, it runs for 599 performances.
In 1796 CE, Carl Friedrich Gauss, a German mathematician, discovers the construction of the heptadecagon; one hundred and fifty-seven years later, Albert Einstein announces his revised unified field theory…like king Pelinore, it details his never-ending quest for the cosmological-constant, like a beast in the mist that eludes his snares.
In 1814 CE, Joachim Murat issues the Rimini Declaration, which later inspires Italian unification; on this same day, the forces of the Sixth Coalition march into Paris after defeating Napoleon.
In 1822 CE the United States (U.S.) Congress combines East and West Florida into the Florida Territory; forty-eight years later, the Florida territorial government is established.
In 1842 CE, ether is used as an anesthetic for the first time by Dr. Crawford Long in Georgia; sixteen years later, the pencil with attached eraser is patented by Hyman L. Lipman of Philadelphia. Thirty-eight years after that, in 1895 CE. British inventor Birt Acres films Oxford and Cambridge boat race; fifty-five years later, Bell Laboratories announces the invention of the phototransistor in Murray Hill, New Jersey.
In 1856 CE the Russian Empire, the
Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia sign the
Treaty of Paris, bringing the Crimean War to end…it did not take; nine years
later, Danish prince Wilhelm Georg of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg,
takes the name George, and is chosen to
be king of Greece.
In 1867 CE the United States buys Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 (109 million in 2018 dollars), at roughly 2 cents an acre.
In 1870 CE Texas becomes the last of the treasonous confederate states to be readmitted to the Union, on that same day, the 15th Amendment to the US Constitution is adopted, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race.
In 1900 the Dutch Second Chamber accepts the Compulsory Education law; ninety-one years later, the last issue of the Dutch Newspaper "Vr˜e Folk" (Free People) is issued.
In 1909 CE, New York's Queensboro Bridge opens, linking Manhattan & Queens; two years later, the Lötschberg tunnel in Switzerland is completed.
In 1910 CE the Mississippi Legislature founds The University of Southern Mississippi.
In 1919 CE Indian civil rights activist Mahatma Gandhi announces a campaign of resistance against Rowlatt Act; forty years later, the Dalai Lama flees Chinese occupied Tibet and is granted political asylum in India.
In 1939 CE, Batman debuts in the twenty-seventh issue of Detective Comics, published by D.C..
In 1942 the first transport of Dutch Jewry from the Reich Security Main Office (R.S.H.A.) in France arrives at camp Birkenau; on this same day, Nazi SS soldiers murder two hundred inmates of the Trawniki concentration camp. One year after that, in 1943 CE, the British 1st Army recaptures Sejenane; one year later, seven hundred and eighty-one British bombers attack Nuremberg. One year after that, in 1945 CE, two hundred and eighty-nine anti-fascists are murdered by Nazis at Romberg Park, in Dortmund, Germany; on this same day, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) forces invade Austria. Also on this day in 1945 CE, a defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt ME 262A-1 to the American forces in Europe.
In 1949 CE, Riots breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
In 1955 CE, On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando, win Best Picture and Best Actor at the 27th Academy Awards; eleven years later, Barbra Streisand's second TV special and the first in color, premieres on CBS, Color Me Barbra. Twenty-one years after, in 1987 CE, at the 59th Academy Awards, Platoon wins Best Picture; five years later, at the 64th Academy Awards, The Silence of the Lambs wins Best Picture, together with the actors in its lead roles, Anthony Hopkins & Jodie Foster. Thirty years after that, in 2022 CE, Bruce Willis announces he is stepping away from acting after a diagnosis of aphasia.
In 1956 CE the U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test; seven years later France performs underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria. Nine years after that, in 1972 CE, the United States performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site; eleven years later, the U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan.
In 1961 CE a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (N.A.S.A.) civilian pilot, Joseph A. Walker takes the X-15 to 169,600 feet (51,690 meters), becoming the first person to surpass the stratopause, entering the mesosphere; three years later Astronaut John Glenn withdraws from Ohio senate race. Eighteen years after that, in 1982 CE, the third N.A.S.A. Space Shuttle Mission: Columbia 3, lands at White Sands, New Mexico; eighteen years later, Richard Branson is knighted by Charles, Prince of Wales for "services to entrepreneurship" at Buckingham Palace, London. Six years after that, in 2006 CE, Marcos Pontes becomes the first Brazilian astronaut in space.
In 1965 CE, A car bomb explodes in front of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, killing twenty-two people, wounding one hundred and eighty-three more; seven years later, North Vietnam launches a major conventional offensive against South Vietnam. One year after that, in 1973 CE, Ellsworth Bunker resigns as the U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam
In 1967 CE the cover picture of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album is photographed by Michael Cooper; three years later, Columbia Records releases jazz artist Miles Davis's influential double album Bitches Brew; it becomes his highest-charting title, wins a Grammy Award and earns Miles Davis his first gold record. Five years after that, in 1975 CE, James Rupert kills eleven members of his family, on Easter Sunday, in Hamilton, Ohio
In 1981 CE, U.S. president Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded in an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr., the former college roommate of George H. W. Bush’s son, the sitting V.P. under Reagan. Three others, including press secretary James Brady, are wounded; forty-two years later, (then) former U.S. president Donald Trump is indicted by a Manhattan Grand Jury on charges over hush payments he paid to actress Stormy Daniels; Trump is the first U.S. president to face criminal charges.
In 1983 CE the New York Mercantile Exchange (N.Y.M.E.X.) begins trading crude oil futures.
In 1984 CE, New York police detective Robert Cunningham offers waitress Phyllis Penzo half of a $1 lottery ticket; the next day, they win $6 million.
In 1987 CE, Vincent van Gogh's
painting, Sunflowers, sells for a record thirty-nine million, seven hundred-thousand
dollars.
In 2013 CE North Korea declares it is at a state of war with South Korea; four years later, ex-South Korean president Park Geun-hye is arrested in a corruption investigation.
In 2017 CE the Venezuela Supreme Court takes over legislative powers of the National Assembly, the opposition calls it a coup.
In 2019 CE pope Francis arrives in Rabat, Morocco, on his first-ever visit to the Magreb region of Northern Africa.
In 2019 CE, Zuzana Caputova is elected president of Slovakia, she is the country's first female head of state.
In 2020 CE the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.) announces the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, stating that they will be held July 23rd to August 8th in the following year of 2021 CE, due to the COVID-19 pandemic; on this same day, Moscow, in the Russian Federation, begins a city-wide lockdown with four hours notice due to COVID-19. Also on this day in 2020 CE, three out of four Americans are now ordered to stay home due to COVID-19, as the states of Virginia, Maryland, Arizona and Florida issue lockdown orders.
In 2022 CE the Turing Award is won by American programmer Jack Dongarra, whose work paved the way for supercomputers; one year later, key figures in Artificial Intelligence including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak sign an open letter warning the race to develop AI systems is out of control and asking for a suspension of at least six months.
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