| Appointed as the leader of Russia's Great Nordic Expedition, Vitus Bering landed in Alaska as the first European man. The sea and the strait between Alaska and Siberia were named after him. The waters to the west of it are called the Bering Sea and the Bering Strait. Little Diomede Island, in the Strait, is only 2.5 miles from Russia's Big Diomede Island. |
Close this window |
| A year before the action of this opera begins, Nanki-Poo, son of the Mikado of Japan, fled his father's imperial court to escape marriage with Katisha, an elderly lady. Disguised as a traveling musician, he met and fell in love with Yum-Yum, the young ward of Ko-Ko, a cheap tailor in the town of Titipu. Yum-Yum, however, was already betrothed to her guardian, and Nanki-Poo left Titipu in despair. |
 |
Close this window |
| Between 1879 and 1900, a great many patents covering dial switching systems were issued, but except for the Strowger patent ( No. 447,918) of 1891 and subsequent patents pertaining to the Strowger system, none resulted in a successful commercial system. |  |
Close this window | |
| Pégoud made the world's second parachute jump from an aeroplane. (The first had been made by an American, Berry, in March 1912.) Because it was thought at the time that the change in balance as a man jumped out would make a plane uncontrollable, Pégoud chose to jump from a single-seater Blériot XI piloted by himself. With his rudimentary parachute packed on the fuselage behind him, Pégoud climbed to about 2,000 feet (700 m.) over Buc, near Versailles, and then left the aeroplane. The parachute opened perfectly but Pégoud remained at some considerable risk as the pilotless Blériot spectacularly reared and somersaulted its way down to earth nearby. The Frenchman landed safely in a tree not far from the wreckage of his plane. |
 |
Close this window |
| The Scripps family founded the Detroit station 8MK, later WWJ, which claims that on Aug. 20, 1920 it 'became the first radio station in the world to broadcast regularly scheduled programs.' According to this claim the first broadcast began at 8:15 p.m. from the second floor of The Detroit News Building with the words 'This is 8MK calling,' followed by the playing of two phonograph records, 'Annie Laurie' and 'Roses of Picardy,' a query by an announcer to unseen listeners, 'How do you get it?,' and the playing of 'Taps'. The broadcast is thought to have been received in some 30 Detroit homes. |
Close this window |
| In 1927, Philo Farnsworth was the first inventor to transmit a television image comprised of 60 horizontal lines. The image transmitted was a dollar sign. Farnsworth developed the dissector tube, the basis of all current electronic televisions. He filed for his first television patent in 1927. Although he won an early patent for his image dissection tube, he lost later patent battles to RCA. Philo Farnsworth went on to invent over 165 different devices including equipment for converting an optical image into an electrical signal, amplifier, cathode-ray, vacuum tubes, electrical scanners, electron multipliers and photoelectric materials. |
 |
Close this window |
| Though he had studied to be a doctor, Orrin Tucker ended up as a singer and a bandleader. He was leading a successful, though not well-known, orchestra in 1939 when his female vocalist, Wee Bonnie Baker, recorded an old WWI tune called ''Oh, Johnny, Oh, Johnny, Oh!'' With the help of her sexy sighs and coos, Tucker found himself with a hit record and one of the hottest bands in the country. |  |
Close this window | |
| Because the constitutions of the American Bowling Congress and the Women's International Bowling Congress had "Caucasian only" clauses, the National Negro Bowling Association was formed in 1939. In 1944, it was renamed the National Bowling Association. In 1950, the ABC and WIBC dropped their Jim Crow prohibition on African-American members. |
 |
Close this window |
| Statesman, historian, and biographer, whose five years of war leadership (1940-45) secured him a
central place in modern British history. Churchill is widely considered the greatest political figure in 20th-century
Britain. The "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" speech was made in the House of Commons as the Battle Britain peaked on August 20, 1940. The home front was totally involved in the war because of the Germany bombing raids and Britain was "a whole nation fighting and suffering together." But special gratitude was directed towards the airmen whose prowess and devotion were capable of turning the tide of the war. |
 |
Close this window |
| At the age of 17, SS Tommy Brown of the Brooklyn Dodgers is the youngest player to hit a ML home run. Brown belts his homer off Pirates southpaw Preacher Roe into the upper LF section at Ebbets Field. Seven Dodger errors make it easy for Pittsburgh to win, 11-1.His weak hitting made him a utility infielder after the war. However, he hit three consecutive homers in a September 18, 1950 game. |  |
Close this window | |
| The first of three D-558-1 Skystreaks made its maiden flight on April 14, 1947, at Muroc Army Air Field (later named Edwards AFB). Less than 4 months later, on August 20, this aircraft with Commander Turner Caldwell, USN, set a new world speed record of 641 miles per hour flying D-558-1 #1. The record lasted 5 days and was broken by Marine pilot Marion Carl going 10 miles per hour faster in D-558-1 #2. |
 |
Close this window |
| One of the most popular vocalists between the end of World War II and the rise of rock & roll in the mid-1950s, Perry Como perfected the post-big band approach to pop music, by lending his own irresistible laidback singing, influenced by Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo, to the popular hits of the day on radio, TV and LP. |  |
Close this window | |
| The Soviet press announced that the USSR had tested a hydrogen bomb. The explosion, which had taken place eight days earlier in Kazakhstan, yielded the equivalent of 400 kilotons of TNT making it about 30 times larger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The device tested was known as the "Layer Cake." It was small enough to fit in a plane, which meant that unlike "Mike", the American thermonuclear device tested a year earlier, it could easily be turned into a deliverable weapon. However, "Mike" was based on a concept that could be turned into a weapon of virtually unlimited explosive power. The "Layer Cake" design limited the amount of thermonuclear fuel that could be used and therefore the bomb's explosive force. |
 |
Close this window |
| North American F-100 Super Sabre, the world's first supersonic jet fighter. At 35,000 pounds, the F-100 was more than twice as heavy as the F-84. The Rocketdyne solid-propellant booster would generate 130,000 pounds of thrust for four seconds, and at burnout the F-100 would be at an altitude of 400 feet and traveling at 275 mph. During launch, the pilot would experience a maximum force of 3.5 to almost 4 Gs. Hanes reached a speed of 822.135 miles per hour in a Super Sabrejet. |
 |
Close this window |
| It was while at Decca that Haley fell under the influence of Milt Gabler who had produced Louis Jordan. Gabler would convince Haley to change his sound. That change would be evident when on April 12th 1954, at Pythian Temple Studio with the recording of "Rock Around the Clock." The song that introduced rock & roll to White America. "Rock Around the Clock." Originally recorded by Sunny Dae in 1952, "Rock Around the Clock" had initial sales topping 75,000. "Rock Around the Clock" was a modest hit, until the song was used as the title track of "The Blackboard Jungle", a movie about juvenile delinquents, some 12 months later. |
 |
Close this window |
| This Elvis classic borrows the chord progression as well as the melody from the Italian song "O Sole Mio," which was first recorded by Giuseppe Anselmi in 1907. Mario Lanza popularized the song, and Tony Martin released the first English translation as "There's No Tomorrow" in 1949. |  |
Close this window | |
| On August 20, 1960,the retro-rocket fired 8000 km from the landing point. The ejector mechanism operated as a test for the Vostok ejector seat, and the container carrying Strelka and Belka continued descent under a parachute. The experiment container with the dogs landed and the spacecraft touched down nearby at about the same time. |
Close this window |
| On August 20, 1960,the retro-rocket fired 8000 km from the landing point. The ejector mechanism operated as a test for the Vostok ejector seat, and the container carrying Strelka and Belka continued descent under a parachute. The experiment container with the dogs landed and the spacecraft touched down nearby at about the same time. |
Close this window |
| Philadelphia's modern National League-record 23-game losing streak ends when John Buzhardt beats Milwaukee 74 in the 2nd of two games. The win snaps Milwaukee's 10-game win streak. The Phils lost the game 5-2. Seventeen of the losses came on the road. |
Close this window |
| A version of Irma Thomas' "Time Is on My Side" became their first U.S. Top Ten. It was followed by "The Last Time" in early 1965, a number one U.K. and Top Ten U.S. hit that began a virtually uninterrupted string of Jagger-Richards hit singles. Still, it wasn't until the group released "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" in the summer of 1965 that they were elevated to superstars. Driven by a fuzz-guitar riff designed to replicate the sound of a horn section, "Satisfaction" signaled that Jagger and Richards had come into their own as songwriters, breaking away from their blues roots and developing a signature style of big, bluesy riffs and wry, sardonic lyrics. |
 |
Close this window |
| The Lovin' Spoonful became part of the American response to the British Invasion and was noted for such folk-flavoured hits as "Jug Band Music", "Do You Believe in Magic", "You Didn't Have to be So Nice", and "Daydream." Putting an "anti-drug" spin on the traditional folksong "Blues in the Bottle", the Lovin' Spoonful endeared themselves to radio stations across the United States. Soon they were a cross-over hit, topping both rock'n'roll and country charts with "Nashville Cats". Other hits were "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind", "Six O'Clock", and "Younger Girl". Another of their hits was the more hard-edged "Summer in the City". |
 |
Close this window |
| Williams also competed in the teenage-oriented singles market as well and had several charting hits including "Can't
Get Used to Losing You," "Happy Heart," and "Where Do I Begin", the theme song from the 1970 blockbuster film, Love
Story. Williams was asked to sing Mancini and Johnny Mercer's song "Moon River" at the 1962 Oscar Awards (where it won), and it quickly became Williams's theme song. This was repeated the next year with the pair's "Days of Wine and Roses" (which also won), Mancini's "Dear Heart" at the 1965 awards and "The Sweetheart Tree" (also written with Mercer) at the 1966 awards. |
 |
Close this window |
| In 1972 Schorr began working full-time on the Watergate Scandal. Schorr's reports on the Senate Watergate hearings earned him three Emmys. In June 1973, Bill Paley made attempts to censor Schorr's criticism of Richard Nixon. It was later discovered that Schorr had been added to Nixon's "enemies list" and as a result was investigated by the FBI. |  |
Close this window | |
| With a blazing fastball that approached 100 miles per hour and a work ethic like none other, Nolan Ryan dominated hitters for an unparalleled 27 seasons on his way to 5,714 strikeouts, an all-time record. During four decades of prominence, he totaled 324 victories and a host of major league records. Most notable of his milestones are a mystifying seven no-hitters and 12 one-hitters. |  |
Close this window | |
| The Viking 1 lander touched down on the western slope of Chryse Planitia (the Plains of Gold),
while the Viking 2 lander settled down at Utopia Planitia.
Besides taking photographs and collecting other science data on the Martian surface, the two landers conducted three biology experiments designed to look for possible signs of life. These experiments discovered unexpected and enigmatic chemical activity in the Martian soil, but provided no clear evidence for the presence of living microorganisms in soil near the landing sites. |
 |
Close this window |
| Voyager 2 was launched first, on August 20, 1977, followed by Voyager 1, which was put on a
faster, shorter trajectory to Jupiter on September 5, 1977. It was an unmanned spacecraft carrying a 12-inch copper
phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music and sounds of nature.
The twin Voyager spacecraft, over the course of a dozen years, drew back the curtain on nearly half of the solar system. From launch in 1977 through the spectacular parting shots in 1989 of Neptune at the outer reaches of the solar system, this pair of gangly, instrument-laden spacecraft explored four planets -- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune -- as well as tens of moons, and the rings and magnetic environments of those planetary systems. |
 |
Close this window |
| The association with White hit pay dirt immediately, and the group’s 1976 Columbia debut single and album "Flowers" were R&B smashes. However it was 1977’s Rejoice that brought the Emotions to the top of the pop and soul charts. That album’s first single, "Best of My Love," was one of the year’s greatest cuts, with the Hutchinson sisters’ tight harmonies working perfectly with White’s joyous production. |
 |
Close this window |
| Helped by the DH rule, Watson had a late-career renaissance in the American League. On September 15, 1979, he became the first ML player to hit for the cycle in both leagues (he did so in the NL in 1977). He signed as a free agent with the Yankees for 1980 and excelled in postseason play. In 1981 he tied a record by homering in his first World Series plate appearance; the three-run shot boosted the Yankees to a 5-3 Game One victory over the Dodgers. |
 |
Close this window |
| Messner and Habeler quickly found themselves the subject of criticism by members of both the
climbing and medical communities. They were labeled "lunatics," who were placing themselves at risk for severe brain
damage. The physiological demands of climbing Everest had been studied on previous expeditions, and found to be
extreme; in 1960-61, tests conducted on members of an expedition led by Sir Edmund Hillary concluded that oxygen
levels at the summit of Mt. Everest were only enough to support a body at rest—and that the oxygen demands of a
climber in motion would certainly be too great.
Two years after reaching Everest's summit with Peter Habeler, Reinhold Messner did the whole thing again on his own and became the first person to do it alone! He's a legend among mountaineers and has climbed all of the world's 14 summits over 8,000 meters high, mainly on solo expeditions. |
 |
Close this window |
| Steve Winwood released his first No. 1 album, Roll With It, whose title track topped the U.S. singles chart. While his follow-up, 1990's Refugees of the Heart, cracked the top 30, Winwood was already losing interest in making mainstream music, feelings that would intensify after his reunion with the late Jim Capaldi for Traffic 1994's release, Far From Home, and resulting tour. |  |
Close this window | |
| What Pimentel had just done was strikeout 18 batters in a six-inning, 7-2 win, breaking the pool play record of 16 accomplished by Sean Burroughs twice in 1993 and tying the overall record of 18 held by Chao-An Chan, who achieved the feat way back in 1979. "I had no idea I had 18 strikeouts until they came out and told me after the game that I broke the record," said the hard-throwing right-hander. |
 |
Close this window |
 |
|||
1741 Alaska was discovered by Danish navigator
Vitus Jonas Bering
More ...
1866 The National Labor Union advocated an eight-hour
workday. Industry, however, did not heed the request.
1866 Pres Andrew Johnson formally declares Civil
War over
1885 Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado" opened at the Fifth Avenue
Theatre in NYC
More ...
1896 Dial telephone patented
More ...
1913 First pilot to parachute from an aircraft
in Europe
More ...
1920 US's first commercial radio 8MK later WWJ
Detroit began daily broadcasting
More ...
1930 Philo Farnsworth patented a television
More ...
1939 Orrin Tucker’s orchestra recorded "Oh,
Johnny, Oh, Johnny, Oh!"
More ...
1939 The National Negro Bowling Association was founded
in Detroit, MI
More ...
1940 British PM Churchill speech lauds the Royal Air
Force
More ...
1945 Tommy Brown, Brooklyn Dodger becomes youngest
HR hitter (17)
More ...
1947 Turner Caldwell in D-558-I sets aircraft
speed record, 703 mph
More ...
1949 "Some Enchanted Evening" by Perry
Como topped the charts
More ...
1953 Russia publicly acknowledges hydrogen bomb
test detonation
More ...
1955 Col. Horace A. Hanes, a U.S. Air Force pilot,
flew to an altitude of 40,000 feet
More ...
1955 Bill Haley & Comets' "Rock Around
the Clock" tops billboards chart
More ...
1957 USAF ballon breaks an altitude record at
102,000' (310,896 m)
1960 "It's Now or Never" by Elvis Presley
topped the charts
More ...
1960 USSR recovers 2 dogs; first living organisms
to return from space
More ...
1961 Phillies set then dubious record of 23 straight
losses
More ...
1965 Rolling Stones release "Satisfaction"
(their first #1 US hit)
More ...
1966 "Summer in the City" by Lovin'
Spoonful topped the charts
More ...
1969 Andy Williams received a gold record for
the album "Happy Heart"
More ...
1971 FBI begins covert investigation of journalist
Daniel Schorr
More ...
1974 Nolan Ryan pitch measured at record 161.6
kph (100.4 mph)
More ...
1975 Viking 1 launched toward orbit around Mars,
soft landing
More ...
1977 The United States launched Voyager 2
More ...
1977 "Best of My Love" by the Emotions
topped the charts
More ...
1978 Mark Vinchesi of Amherst Mass keeps a frisbee
aloft 15.2 seconds
1980 NY Yankee Bob Watson hits Seattle Kingdome
speaker, 2nd straight day
More ...
1980 Reinhold Messner of Italy is first to solo
ascent Mt Everest
More ...
1983 "Every Breath You Take" by The
Police topped the charts
1985 Hanspeter Beck of South Australia, finishes
a 3,875 mile, 51 day trip from Western Australia to Melbourne on a unicycle
1988 "Roll with It" by Steve Winwood
topped the charts
More ...
2005 Kalen Pimentel tied a Little League World
Series record by striking out 18 batters in 6-innings
More ...