| Halley was appointed Savilian professor of geometry at Oxford in 1704, and in 1720 he succeeded John Flamsteed as astronomer royal. At the Greenwich Observatory he used the first transit instrument and devised a method for determining longitude at sea by means of lunar observations. |  |
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| Its initial research efforts included embryonic studies of tides and tidal currents, the collection of bottom samples to determine sea-floor characteristics for the anchoring of vessels, and soundings to establish the depth and physical features of near-shore waters. |
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| "All children heretofore born or hereafter born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, whose fathers were or may be at the time of their birth citizens thereof, are declared to be citizens of the United States; but the rights of citizenship shall not descend to children whose fathers never resided in the United States." |
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| The first U.S. patent on a fire extinguishing system for buildings was granted to Alanson Crane of Fortress Monroe, Va. It had a longitudinal vertical section of a building, which could be with one or more stories, as a dwelling, storehouse or any other purpose and a water pipe under the foundation of the outside wall, which supplied a vertical pipe leading up the inside of the wall to one or more perforated pipes extending horizontally throughout the building. The principle innovation was to include a stop cock with a locking cover that could be operated outside the wall by an authorized person in the event of a fire when the building is unoccupied. Thus water could flood the floors and quickly extinguish a fire. |
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| The much ballyhooed ‘fairy wedding’ of Charles "Tom Thumb" Stratton to Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump
at New York's Grace Episcopal Church on 10 February 1863. P. T. Barnum footed the bill for the wedding, and generated
tremendous publicity (and revenue) in the weeks prior to and following the nuptials. For several weeks before the
wedding, Barnum displayed Lavinia’s wedding gown in the front window of a store on Fifth Avenue.
Enormous crowds filled the streets outside the church, while the pews inside were filled with fellow performers and society notables. Commodore Nutt and Lavinia’s shorter and younger sister Minnie acted as attendants. The Thumbs afterwards honeymooned in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. In Washington they were invited by President Lincoln to be the guests of honor at a special White House reception. |
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| Adolph Ochs acquired the Times in 1896, and under his guidance the newspaper achieved an international scope, circulation, and reputation. In 1897 he coined the paper's current slogan "All The News That's Fit To Print," widely interpreted as a jab at competing papers in New York (the New York World and the New York Journal American) that were known for yellow journalism. |
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| Paste ink was designed to be rendered fluid for use by the addition of water, so that "a very satisfactory writing fluid is provided free of suspended matter and other imperfections." Thus ink could be packaged in collapsible lead vending tube in highly concentrated form. This also had the benefit of reducing shipping costs. Four fluid ounces of paste would produce one gallon of ink after dilution, free from the suspended matter associated with concentrated ink in the form of powders or tablets. It was manufactured as Cooney's Ink Paste by the Standard Ink Co in the same city. |
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| "The Boy Wonder" was 27 when he took over as player-manager of the Washington Senators in 1924, promptly winning two flags in a row. He hit .333 with two home runs to lead the Senators to a World Series title in 1924. Harris also managed the Tigers, the Red Sox and the Phillies, and led the Yankees to a World Championship in 1947. He won 2,159 games in 29 years as a manager. |  |
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| At the American League meeting, a plan is adopted to alternate the site of future World Series openers by league rather than deciding it by a coin toss, with games 1, 2, 6, and seven in one park and 3, 4, five in the other, unless a ban on Sunday baseball interferes in one city. The clubs finishing 4th in the AL will henceforth share in the World Series pool. World Series umps get a raise to $2,500, while umps in city series will earn $700. The plan was proposed in 1924, but formally adopted at this meeting. |
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| The first imperforated, ungummed sheets of postage stamps were issued by the U.S. Postal Service in New York City. To use them you had to cut the stamps out of the sheet and then put some glue on the back to get them to stick on an envelope. Fortunately, the Postal Service changed this idea after many complaints. |
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| The Glenn Miller Orchestra, formed in 1938, immediately attracted attention and big crowds to venues, and a series of recordings followed. Beginning in June, 1939. Miller dominated the top spot on the various popular music charts for over a year, with "In the Mood" ( holding the top spot for over fifteen weeks at the beginning of 1940 and 'Tuxedo Junction' taking over and keeping Miller at 'number 1' into the summer. On February 11, 1941 Miller was presented with the first ever Gold record for 'Chattanooga Choo Choo'. |
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| William Hanna and Joseph Barbera were both part of the Rudolf Ising unit at MGM's animation studio in late 1930s. Barbera, a storyman and character designer, was paired with Hanna, an experienced director, to start directing films for the Ising unit; the first of which was a cat-and-mouse cartoon called "Puss Gets the Boot." Completed in late 1939, and released to theatres on February 10, 1940, "Puss Gets The Boot" centers on Jasper, a grey tabby cat trying to catch an as yet unnamed rodent, but without breaking anything; Jasper's owner Mammy has threatened to throw Jasper out ("O-U-W-T, out!") if he breaks one more thing in the house. |
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| The first Highway Post Office bus was built by the White Motor Company of Cleveland, Ohio. On February 10, 1941, this vehicle inaugurated service between Washington, D.C., and Harrisonburg, Virginia, a distance of 149 miles. Clerks inside were hard at work sorting mail as the buses traveled between towns across the country. The system of sorting mail while in transit grew out of the Railway Mail Service, which Highway Post Office Service was created to replace. |
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| Japanese soldiers had shot Sandy Nininger three times. Fighting hand to hand and exposed to heavy fire from the invaders, he picked off snipers in trees and destroyed foxholes in the Philippines' Bataan peninsula. Pushing on alone, deep into the enemy's position, he seized a Japanese machine gun and continued killing. When the 23-year-old West Pointer was found dying, he still clutched the gun, surrounded by dead enemy officers and soldiers. His bravery and his tally of at least 40 killed earned him the first American Medal of Honor in World War II. |
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| The Andrews Sisters premiered their own weekly network radio show, Eight-to-the-Bar Ranch, at the end of 1944 as the hits continued with the calypso song "Rum and Coca-Cola," which went to number one in February 1945, becoming the biggest hit of that year. The group's other Top Ten hits for 1945 were "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" and "Along the Navajo Trail," both with Crosby, and "The Blond Sailor." |  |
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| The Paris Peace Conference resulted in the Paris peace treaties signed on February 10, 1947. The victorious wartime Allied powers negotiated the details of treaties of Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland. The treaties allowed Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland to reassume their responsibilities as sovereign states in international affairs and to qualify for membership in the United Nations. The settlement elaborated in the peace treaties included payment of war reparations, commitment to minority rights and territorial adjustments. |
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| “Death of a Salesman” is a 1949 play by Arthur Miller and is one of his most famous and commonly revived works. Viewed by many as a caustic attack on the American Dream of achieving wealth and success without regard for principle, “Death of a Salesman” made both Arthur Miller and the character Willy Loman household names. |
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| Set in Montana about 1900, this was a story about young Ken McLaughlin and his horse Flicka. Ken lived on a ranch with his parents Rob and Nell and the ranch-hand Gus and had many an adventure. |  |
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| The lyrics were written by a steel guitar player from Nashville named Tommy Durden. He was inspired by a newspaper story about a man who killed himself and left behind a note saying only, "I walk a lonely street." Another Nashville songwriter named Mae Boren Axton wrote the music, and Elvis' manager Tom Parker arranged for Elvis to receive a songwriting credit in exchange for singing it. This meant that royalties were split between Durden, Axton, and Elvis. |
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| In December, 1957 Elvis received his draft notice, but was given a 30 day deferment to complete the filming of “King Creole.” On March 24, 1958 Presley entered the Army. His number one hits were "Don't" and "I Beg of You." |  |
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| The Starliters’ first single release was a ballad sung by David Brigati, "Face of an Angel." The B-side was the group-led "Shimmy Baby", which led them to work out the "1-2-3 kick, 1-2-3 jump!" routine that would later evolve into the "Peppermint Twist". "Peppermint Twist"was released by Roulette in November, 1961, and it took off immediately for the top of the charts. A few weeks later, the group was recorded "live" at the Peppermint Lounge and Roulette Records rushed-released an LP from the recordings entitled "Doin' The Twist At The Peppermint Lounge". |
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| On May 1st, 1960, CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers flew an espionage mission over the USSR that ended in his becoming a pawn in the Cold War. Thirty-one year old Francis Gary Powers was sentenced to three years in Vladimir Prison plus an additional seven years in a corrective labor colony, but was exchanged for Soviet master spy Colonel Rudolph Abel after serving one year, nine months, and ten days. |
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| Mauriat's own success in America was sparked off in 1968, when his enormous international hit version of "L'Amour Est Bleu" ("Love Is Blue"), Luxembourg's entry in the 1963 Eurovision Song contest, spent five weeks in the number 1 spot. He repeated the feat with Blooming Hits, a collection of 60s favourites, including Eurovision winner "Puppet On A String" and John Lennon/Paul McCartney's "Penny Lane", which is reputed to have sold well over two million copies. |
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| "Crocodile Rock" was the first of many #1 singles by Elton John in the US. His first in the UK came in 1976 with Kiki Dee ("Don't Go Breaking My Heart"). His first solo #1 in the UK was "Sacrifice" in 1990. It told the story of a guy in the '50s and '60s who frequented a restaurant where the patrons, especially him, loved an obscure dance called the Crocodile Rock. |  |
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| Rod Stewart an English born singer and songwriter of Scottish descent, most known for his uniquely raspy, gravelly, hoarse-sounding voice and personable singing style, as exemplified in his signature song "Maggie May". “Da Ya Think I'm Sexy “ was a number one hit in both the UK and the USA in 1979. |  |
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| "Opposites Attract" was written by Oliver Leiber, who is the son of legendary songwriter Jerry Leiber of Leiber and Stoller fame. Oliver Leiber also wrote Abdul's hits "Forever Your Girl" and "It's Just The Way That You Love Me." |  |
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| In February 1996 a computer named Deep Blue challenged Gary Kasparov, the World Chess Champion--and startled everyone by winning the first game. Kasparov bounced back to win the match, four games to two, but the initial defeat was enough to prompt some anguished speculation about whether computers were on the verge of surpassing human intelligence. |  |
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1720 Edmund Halley appointed 2nd
Astronomer Royal of England
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1774 Andrew Becker demonstrates diving suit
1807 US Coast Survey authorized by Congress
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1855 US citizenship laws amended
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1863 First US fire extinguisher patent granted
to Alanson Crane, Virginia
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1863 PT Barnum stages wedding of Tom Thumb &
Mercy Lavinia Warren (New York NY)
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1890 Around 11 million acres, ceded to US by Sioux
Indians opens for settlement
1897 New York Times begins using slogan "All
the News That's Fit to Print"
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1899 State record low temperature of -39°
in Milligan, OH
1923 Ink paste manufactured for first time by
Standard Ink Company
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1924 Bucky Harris, 27, becomes youngest baseball
manager (Washington Senators)
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1925 First waterless gas storage tank put into
service, Michigan City IN
1925 AL decides to alternate leagues for game
1 of World Series each year
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1933 State record low temperature of -54°
in Seneca, OR
1934 The first imperforated, ungummed sheets of
postage stamps were issued
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1935 Pennsylvania RR begins passenger service
on new streamlined electric locomotive
1940 "In The Mood" by Glenn Miller hits
#1
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1940 Tom & Jerry created by Hanna & Barbera
debut by MGM
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1941 First highway post office makes first trip,
Washington DC-Harrisonburg, VA
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1942 The first U.S. Medal of Honor during World
War II
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1945 "Rum & Coca Cola" by Andrews
Sisters hits #1
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1947 WWII peace treaties signed
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1949 Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman"
opens at Morosco Theater, NYC
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1956 "My Friend Flicka" premieres on
CBS (later NBC) TV
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1956 Elvis Presley records "Heartbreak Hotel"
for RCA
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1958 "Don't" by Elvis Presley topped
the charts
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1962 "Peppermint Twist " by
Joey Dee & the Starliters topped the charts
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1962 USSR swaps spy Francis Gary Powers to US for
Rudolph Abel
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1967 The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
was ratified, clarifying the procedures for presidential succession in the
event of the disability of a sitting president
1968 "Love Is Blue" by Paul Mauriat
topped the charts
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1973 "Crocodile Rock" by Elton John
topped the charts
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1976 Sidney Jacoby was granted a patent for a
combination smoke and heat detector alarm
1979 "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" by Rod
Stewart topped the charts
More ...
1990 "Opposites Attract" by Paula Abdul
& the Wild Pair topped the charts
More ...
1996 IBM's Deep Blue defeats chess champion Gary
Kasparov in game one
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