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 Suez Canal opens ... The Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean and the Red seas, is inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony attended by French Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. [hidden image - please register] Construction began in April 1859, and at first digging was done by hand with picks and shovels wielded by forced laborers. Later, European workers with dredgers and steam shovels arrived. Labor disputes and a cholera epidemic slowed construction, and the Suez Canal was not completed until 1869–four years behind schedule. On November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal was opened to navigation. Ferdinand de Lesseps would later attempt, unsuccessfully, to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. “The Terminator” becomes “The Governator” of California ... On this day in 2003, the actor and former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger is sworn in as the 38th governor of California at the State Capitol in Sacramento. [hidden image - please register] Schwarzenegger, who became a major Hollywood star in the 1980s with such action movies as Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator, defeated Governor Gray Davis in a special recall election on October 7, 2003. Prior to Schwarzenegger, another famous actor, Ronald Reagan, served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975 before going on to become the nation’s 40th president in 1980. |
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Christopher Columbus discover tobacco ... On October 15, 1492, Christopher Columbus was offered dried tobacco leaves as a gift from the American Indians that he encountered. [hidden image - please register] Soon after, sailors brought tobacco. Christopher Columbus notes 1st recorded reference to... November. |
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 The Perpetual Motion of Johann Bessler ... The idea of a “perpetual motion machine” is one that has proved an irresistible lure for humanity for centuries. The concept has attracted countless numbers of greedy fortune-seekers, idealistic humanitarians, amateur mechanics, scientific geniuses, cranks, and con-artists. All were doomed to failure. [hidden image - please register] However, there was at least one person who made anything close to a credible claim of having achieved that goal. He was Johann Ernest Elias Bessler, who went by the considerably snappier name of “Orffryeus.” If he was right—and no one ever indisputably proved him wrong—he just may have done the impossible. [hidden image - please register] In 1717, Orffryeus built his last and most impressive wheel, a machine twelve feet in diameter. A Professor Gravesend who examined the device later told Sir Isaac Newton of his conclusions. He wrote, “The inventor has a turn for mechanics, but is far from being a profound mathematician, and yet his machine hath something in it prodigiously astonishing, even though it should be an imposition.” After noting that Orffryeus forbade anyone from examining the internal parts of his machine, “lest anyone should rob him of his secret,” the Professor concluded that he was “firmly persuaded that nothing from without the wheel in the least contributes to its motion.” [hidden image - please register] On November 12, 1717, the wheel was locked in a room in the castle with the doors and windows sealed to prevent any interference. This was witnessed by the Landgrave and various officials. Two weeks later, the seals were broken and the room was opened, whereupon the wheel was found to be revolving. The door was resealed until January 4, 1718. The wheel was then found to be turning at twenty-six revolutions per minute. [hidden link - please register] |
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 World War I ends ... At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ends. At 5 a.m. that morning, Germany, bereft of manpower and supplies and faced with imminent invasion, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiégne, France. [hidden image - please register] The First World War left nine million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded, with Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, France, and Great Britain each losing nearly a million or more lives. In addition, at least five million civilians died from disease, starvation, or exposure. |
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First motorcycle ride ... “On this day in 1885, Paul Daimler made the first ever journey on a motorcycle. The short drive, over a distance of 5.5 kilometres from Cannstatt to Untertürkheim in southern Germany, was made on the petroleum reitwagen, the invention of Paul’s father Gottlieb Daimler, and his colleague Wilhelm Maybach. [hidden image - please register] Daimler and Maybach had been experimenting with the internal combustion engine for a number of years, devoting their endeavours to producing a lightweight design that would be capable of propelling a vehicle. In 1885, they came up with a design that was small and light enough to perform the task. Nicknamed “”the grandfather clock”” for its pendulum-like appearance, the small combustion engine was affixed to a custom-made cycle, and the petroleum reitwagen was born. It was a primitive wooden-framed machine running on ironclad wooden wheels, with no suspension and only a rear brake. The engine had 0.5 horsepower, and gave a top speed of 11 kph. |
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1989. East Germany opens the Berlin Wall ... East German officials today opened the Berlin Wall, allowing travel from East to West Berlin. [hidden image - please register] The following day, celebrating Germans began to tear the wall down. One of the ugliest and most infamous symbols of the Cold War was soon reduced to rubble that was quickly snatched up by souvenir hunters. |
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German scientist discovers X-rays ... On this day in 1895, physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen (1845-1923) becomes the first person to observe X-rays, a significant scientific advancement that would ultimately benefit a variety of fields, most of all medicine, by making the invisible visible. [hidden image - please register] Rontgen’s discovery occurred accidentally in his Wurzburg, Germany, lab, where he was testing whether cathode rays could pass through glass when he noticed a glow coming from a nearby chemically coated screen. He dubbed the rays that caused this glow X-rays because of their unknown nature. |
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October Revolution in Russia ... On this day - November 7. 1917 [OS Oct 25] October Revolution in Russia; Lenin and the Bolsheviks seize power, capture the Winter Palace and overthrow the Provisional Government. The Russian Revolution of 1917 was one of the most explosive political events of the twentieth century. [hidden image - please register] The violent revolution marked the end of the Romanov dynasty and centuries of Russian Imperial rule. During the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks, led by leftist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, seized power and destroyed the tradition of csarist rule. The Bolsheviks would later become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. |
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Birthday Juventus F.C. Juventus Football Club - is a professional Italian football club in Turin, Piedmont. [hidden image - please register] Founded in November 1. 1897 by some Torinese students, the club has worn a black and white striped home kit since 1903 and has played home matches in different grounds around its city |
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On This Day - 1541. Michelangelo Buonarroti finishes painting "The Last Judgement" in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City ... The Last Judgment is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Michelangelo covering the whole altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. It is a depiction of the Second Coming of Christ and the final and eternal judgment by God of all humanity. The souls of humans rise and descend to their fates, as judged by Christ who is surrounded by prominent saints. Altogether there are over 300 figures, with nearly all the males and angels originally shown as nudes; many were later partly covered up by painted draperies, of which some remain after recent cleaning and restoration. [hidden image - please register] The work took over four years to complete between 1536 and 1541 (preparation of the altar wall began in 1535). Michelangelo began working on it twenty-five years after having finished the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and was nearly 67 at its completion. |
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Thirty Years War ends ... On this day 1648, The Treaty of Westphalia is signed, ending the Thirty Years War and radically shifting the balance of power in Europe. The Thirty Years War, a series of wars fought by European nations for various reasons, ignited in 1618 over an attempt by the king of Bohemia (the future Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand II) to impose Catholicism throughout his domains. Protestant nobles rebelled, and by the 1630s most of continental Europe was at war. [hidden image - please register] As a result of the Treaty of Westphalia, the Netherlands gained independence from Spain, Sweden gained control of the Baltic and France was acknowledged as the preeminent Western power. The power of the Holy Roman Emperor was broken and the German states were again able to determine the religion of their lands. The principle of state sovereignty emerged as a result of the Treaty of Westphalia and serves as the basis for the modern system of nation-states. |
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U.S. takes possession of Alaska ... On this day in 1867, the U.S. formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre. The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas, and was championed by William Henry Seward, the enthusiasticly expansionist secretary of state under President Andrew Johnson. [hidden image - please register] Russia wanted to sell its Alaska territory, which was remote, sparsely populated and difficult to defend, to the U.S. rather than risk losing it in battle with a rival such as Great Britain. However, the American public believed the land to be barren and worthless and dubbed the purchase “Seward’s Folly” and “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden,” among other derogatory names. Some animosity toward the project may have been a byproduct of President Johnson’s own unpopularity. [hidden image - please register] Public opinion of the purchase turned more favorable when gold was discovered in a tributary of Alaska’s Klondike River in 1896, sparking a gold rush. Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959, and is now recognized for its vast natural resources. |
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The first resolution formally creating the Texas Rangers is approved ... On this day in 1835, Texans approve a resolution to create the Texas Rangers, a corps of armed and mounted lawmen designed to “range and guard the frontier between the Brazos and Trinity Rivers.” [hidden image - please register] In the midst of their revolt against Mexico, Texan leaders felt they needed a semi-official force of armed men who would defend the isolated frontier settlers of the Lone Star Republic against both Santa Ana’s soldiers and hostile Indians; the Texas Rangers filled this role. [hidden image - please register] But after winning their revolutionary war with Mexico the following year, Texans decided to keep the Rangers, both to defend against Indian and Mexican raiders and to serve as the principal law enforcement authority along the sparsely populated Texan frontier. |
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1492. Columbus reaches the New World ... On this day, after sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sights a Bahamian island, believing he has reached East Asia. His expedition went ashore the same day and claimed the land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, who sponsored his attempt to find a western ocean route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. [hidden image - please register] On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, with three small ships, the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina. On October 12, the expedition reached land, probably Watling Island in the Bahamas. Later that month, Columbus sighted Cuba, which he thought was mainland China, and in December the expedition landed on Hispaniola, which Columbus thought might be Japan. He established a small colony there with 39 of his men. The explorer returned to Spain with gold, spices, and “Indian” captives in March 1493 and was received with the highest honors by the Spanish court. He was the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings set up colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland in the 10th century. |
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On This Day - October 9, was born the legendary leader of "The Beatles" - John Lennon ... John Winston Ono Lennon was born in war-time England, on 9 October 1940, at Liverpool Maternity Hospital, to Julia (née Stanley) and Alfred Lennon. [hidden image - please register] Julia Lennon taught her son to play the banjo, and they shared a love of Elvis Presley's music. The first song he learned to play was Fats Domino's Ain't That A Shame. [hidden image - please register] Lennon's first school was Dovedale Primary School, and upon passing his 11 Plus attended Quarry Bank Grammar School (1952-1957). He formed The Quarrymen in March 1957, and in July the same year met Paul McCartney at the garden fete at St Peter's Church in Woolton, Liverpool. [hidden image - please register] The pair quickly bonded, and began rehearsing and writing songs together at McCartney's home at 20 Forthlin Road. Lennon's first completed song was Hello Little Girl, later a hit for the Fourmost. McCartney also introduced Lennon to George Harrison, and convinced him to let the young guitarist join the group, eventually named [hidden link - please register] after a series of other names were rejected. |
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