This Week In #History ... April 18th - 24th
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @UlaVovk
Apr 18
1834 Charles Darwin sails to Rio Santa Cruz up Patagonia
1853 1st train in Asia (Bombay to Tanna, 36 km)
1868 San Francisco Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals formed
1902 Denmark is 1st country to adopt fingerprinting to identify criminals
1909 Joan of Arc declared a saint
1924 1st crossword puzzle book published (Simon and Schuster)
1934 1st "Washateria" (laundromat) opens (Ft. Worth, Texas)
1948 International Court of Justice opens at Hague, Netherlands
1955 1st "Walk"/"Don't Walk" lighted street signals installed
1963 Dr. James Campbell performed the 1st human nerve transplant
1980 Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia) declares independence from UK
1987 An unconscious skydiver is rescued by another diver in mid-air
2010 President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls for 'alien troops' to leave and suggests that the regional nations be allowed to settle things themselves
Apr 19
1770 Captain James Cook 1st sees Australia
1892 Charles Duryea takes 1st American-made auto out for a spin (Mass)
1910 Halley's comet seen by naked eye 1st time this trip (Curacao)
1919 Leslie Irvin of U.S. makes 1st parachute jump and free fall
1934 Shirley Temple appears in her 1st movie, "Stand Up and Cheer"
1948 ABC-TV network begins
1965 1st all news radio station (WINS 1010 AM in New York City) begins operating
1971 Charles Manson sentenced to life (Sharon Tate murder)
1982 Sally Ride announced as 1st woman astronaut
1994 Supreme Court outlaws excluding people from juries because of gender
2005 Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, becomes the 265th pope
2010 Kyrgyzstan unrest continues as over 1,000 people in Jala-Abad gather in the towns main square denouncing Otunbayeva's interim government and chanting pro-Bakiev slogans
Apr 20
1770 Captain Cook arrives in New South Wales
1841 1st detective story (Poe's "Murders in Rue Morgue") published
1879 1st mobile home (horse drawn) used in a journey from London and Cyprus
1896 1st public film showing in U.S. John Philip Sousa's "El Capitan," premieres in New York City
1910 Halley's Comet passes 29th recorded perihelion at 87.9 million km
1926 1st check sent by radio facsimile transmission across Atlantic
1940 1st electron microscope demonstrated (RCA), Philadelphia, Pa
1961 American Harold Graham makes 1st rocket belt flight
1971 U.S. Supreme Court upholds use of busing to achieve racial desegregation
1986 Vladimir Horowitz performs in his Russian homeland
1993 Uranus passes Neptune (once every 171 years)
2010 Planes return to the air in Germany, France and Italy after being grounded by ash clouds from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano
Apr 21
1649 Maryland Toleration Act passed, allowing all freedom of worship
1857 Alexander Douglas patents the bustle
1878 New York installs 1st firehouse pole
1908 Frederick A. Cook claims to reach North Pole, he didn't
1913 Gideon Sundback of Sweden patents the zipper
1941 Greece surrenders to nazi-Germany
1948 1st Polaroid camera was sold in US
1952 BOAC begins 1st passenger service with jets (London-Rome route)
1967 Svetlana Alliluyeva (Josef Stalin's daughter) defects in New York City
1976 Swine Flu vaccine, for non-epidemic, enters testing
1983 1 pound coin introduced in United Kingdom
1993 Brazil votes against a monarchy
1997 Ashes of Timothy Leary and Gene Roddenberry launched into orbit
2010 Renewed tribal clashes in Sudan's South Darfur state result in 52 civilians killed and 55 others wounded
Apr 22
1500 Pedro Alvarez Cabral discovers Brazil and claims it for Portugal
1793 President Washington attends opening of Rickett's, 1st circus in U.S.
1864 U.S. mints 2 cent coin (1st appearance of "In God We Trust")
1884 Thomas Stevens starts 1st bike trip around world (2 years 9 months)
1898 1st Spanish-American War action: USS Nashville, takes enemy ship
1915 1st military use of chlorine poison gas by Germany in WW I
1930 U.S., Britain and Japan sign London Naval Treaty
1944 Hitler and Mussolini meet at Salzburg
1954 U.S.S.R. joins UNESCO
1969 1st human eye transplant performed
1982 Launch of STS-3-Lousma and Fullerton
1992 Holocaust Museum dedicated in Washington D.C.
2010 The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that exploded off the coast of Louisiana two days ago, sinks; the wreck is leading crude oil and diesel at an alarming rate
Apr 23
1348 1st English order of knighthood founded (Order of Garter)
1661 English king Charles II crowned in London
1878 1st Dutch test drive of steam tram
1896 Vitascope system of movie projection 1st demonstrated (New York City)
1910 International Exhibition opens in Brussels
1920 Turkish Grand National Assembly 1st meets, in Ankara
1932 Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opens at Stratford-on-Avon
1945 Concentration camp Flossenburg liberated
1952 Oil pipeline from Kirkuk to Banias completed
1962 1st U.S. satellite to reach the moon launched
1972 Apollo 16 astronauts explores Moon surface
1984 AIDS-virus identified, acquired immune deficiency syndrome
1992 McDonald's opens its 1st fast-food restaurant in China
2010 A series of bomb explosions in Baghdad, near Shia mosques, kill dozens of people and wound 100 others
Apr 24
1704 "Boston News-Letter," 1st successful newspaper in U.S., forms
1833 Patent granted for 1st soda fountain
1865 Fire alarm and police telegraph system put into operation in San Francisco
1897 1st reporter, William Price (Washington Star), assigned to White House
1900 Passing of Andrew Halliday, cable car pioneer
1916 Easter rebellion of Irish against British occupation begins
1929 1st non-stop England to India flight takes-off
1944 United Negro College Fund incorporates
1953 Winston Churchill knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
1962 MIT sends TV signal by satellite for 1st time: CA to MA
1971 Soyuz 10 returns to Earth
1981 IBM-PC computer introduced
1990 West and East Germany agree to merge currency and economies on July 1st
2010 Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva rejects demands by Thai protesters to dissolve Parliament in 30 days