| Halley's Comet, named after Edmond Halley, is a comet that can be seen every 75-76 years. It is the most famous of all periodic comets, even though in every century many comets appear brighter and more spectacular. Halley's comet last appeared in the inner Solar System in 1986, and will next appear in the summer of 2061. |
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| Franklin was the first to propose a monthly magazine for the American colonies. Andrew Bradford learned of Franklin’s plans and accelerated his own publication plan. Both printers issued their first number in February 1741. Bradford's American Magazine, which may have beaten Franklin's General Magazine by a few days, lasted only three issues, while Franklin's magazine survived for six. |  |
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| The ice shelf was first made known by the United States Exploring Expedition under Charles Wilkes who mapped a portion of it from the Vincennes in February 1840. It was explored by the Australian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson (1911-14) who named it for Sir Ernest Shackleton. |  |
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| In 1852, Henry and Clement Studebaker founded H. & C. Studebaker, a blacksmith and wagon building business, in South Bend, Indiana. The brothers made their fortune manufacturing during the Civil War, as The Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company became the world’s largest manufacturer of horse-drawn carriages. With the advent of the automobile, Studebaker converted its business to car manufacturing, becoming one of the larger independent automobile manufacturers. |
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| In 1856, Amos Kendall, a wealthy business man who also had served as postmaster general during two presidential administrations, donated two acres of his estate in northeast Washington, D.C. to establish housing and a school for 12 deaf and six blind students. The following year Kendall persuaded Congress to incorporate the new school, which was called the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and Blind. Through an act of Congress in 1954, the name of the institution was changed to Gallaudet College in honor of former college president Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. |
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| The Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks had modest beginnings in 1868 as a drinking club (then called the "Jolly Corks") established as a private club to elude New York City laws governing the opening hours of public taverns. Early members were members of theatrical performing troupes in New York City. The purpose of the fraternal group: “...practice charity, justice, brotherly love and faithfulness.” It has since evolved into a major American fraternal, charitable, and service order with over a million members throughout the nation. |
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| "Ladies Home Journal" was a magazine first published February 16, 1883 as a women's supplement to the Tribune and Farmer. The following year it became an independent publication. It was published by the Curtis Publishing Company and edited by Louisa Knapp, until she was replaced by Edward William Bok (alternate spelling is Buck) in 1889. Until 1919 he published the work of social reformers such as Jane Addams. The ground-breaking magazine was published when Cyrus H. Curtis ran short of material for his farming publications. |
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| In 1909, the first subway car with side doors in the U.S. was put into service in New York City. The Interborough Rapid Transit Company placed an 8-car train in service from Lenox Avenue to 148th Street. The side doors, positioned four feet from each end of the car, were opened and closed by a pneumatic-lever system. The cars cost $12,000 each. These doors were the invention of James McElroy of the Consolidated Car Heating Company. |
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| In 1923, archaeologist Howard Carter opened the sealed doorway to the sepulchral chamber of King Tutankhamen's tomb in Thebes, Egypt. A group of invited visitors and officials was present, including Lord Carnarvon, the aristocratic Englishman who had funded the excavation. On 18 Feb 1923, the Queen of the Belgians and numerous visitors attended an official opening. The following day, the press was admitted. The pharoah reigned around 1350 B.C. |
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| In 1932, the first patent for a fruit tree, the seventh plant patent in the U.S., was granted to James E. Markham of Stark Brothers Nurseries and Orchards of Louisiana, Missouri. It was for a peach tree which ripens later than other varieties. |
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| In 1937, Dr. Wallace Hume Carothers, a research chemist for DuPont, who invented nylon, received a patent for the synthetic fiber. The patent covered synthetic linear condensation polymers capable of being drawn into strong pliable fibres, as well as the process for making them. One of the first consumer uses of this new wonder plastic was replacing hog bristles in tooth brushes. Du Pont began production of such bristle filament on February 24, 1938, at their Arlington, N.J. factory. Commercial production of yarn for nylon hosiery followed at their Seaford, Delaware factory on December 15, 1939. |
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| In 1946, the first commercial helicopter, the four-seat Sikorsky S51, single rotor helicopter first flew. It was the first Sikorsky helicopter to be licensed by the U.S. Civil Aviation Administration for commercial operations. It could carry 3 passengers over 250 miles at a speed of 100 miles per hour. The S51 had a 15 m span 15 m, and a length of 12.5 m. |  |
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| In 1948, the first U.S. newsreel telecast to be presented daily was the 20th Century-Fox Movietone News. It was broadcast by the National Broadcast Company (NBC) over its East Coast network broadcast. The program was sponsored by a tobacco company. |
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| Inspired by Bill Monroe's hit "Kentucky Waltz," King and Redd Stewart penned lyrics to an instrumental tune they'd been playing; recorded in December 1947, "Tennessee Waltz" became a number three hit for King the following year. Pop singer Patti Page cut her own version in 1950 and it was an enormous hit. King followed it in 1951 with "Slow Poke," a novelty tune that topped both the country and pop charts, spending over three months at number one. |
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| In 1953, diamond crystals, the size of grains of sand, were produced in Sweden in a high pressure press by subjecting graphite to 83,000 atmospheres pressure and about 2000°C for an hour. The research, headed by Erik Lundblad, was funded by the Swedish electrical company ASEA. The idea was conceived by refrigerator inventor, Baltzar von Platen. The press used six pyramidal anvils, set spherically around a graphite pellet. Despite one success, the equipment was unreliable and dangerous. ASEA decided not to publish the results to keep the experiment a commercial secret. Less than a year later, General Electric in the U.S. also produced man-made diamonds, which is recognised as the first process that was reproducible. |
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| On January 6, 1957, Elvis sang several of his songs on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Besides “Too Much,” the songs included "Hound Dog," "Love Me Tender," "Heartbreak Hotel," "Don't Be Cruel," "Peace in the Valley," and "When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again." This is the only "above the waist" performance on the Sullivan show. |  |
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| Besides acting, Hunter also enjoyed a very successful recording career that culminated with one of the top records of the rock and roll era. His recording of “Young Love” zoomed to number one on the charts worldwide (knocking Elvis out of the top spot) and remained there for twelve weeks straight! |  |
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| On January 5 the liberal law professor José Miró Cardona created a new government with himself as prime minister and Manuel Urrutia Lleó as president. On January 8 Castro himself arrived in Havana to cheering mobs and assumed the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. In February Miró unexpectedly resigned and on February 16, 1959, Castro was sworn in as Prime Mininster of Cuba. |  |
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| Explorer 9 was the first in a series of 3.66 m inflatable spheres to be successfully placed into orbit solely for the determination of atmospheric densities. Explorer 9 was the first spacecraft placed in orbit by an all-solid rocket and the first spacecraft successfully launched from Wallops Island. |
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| This was The Beatles first single released in America. The Beatles couldn't get a major label to release it, so It went to a small label called Vee Jay records, who released it as a single 3 times. The Beatles performed this on their second Ed Sullivan Show appearance in 1964. Sullivan was not a fan of many Rock groups, but loved The Beatles and had them on his show whenever he could. |  |
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| Ray Hildebrand and Jill Jackson were attending Howard Payne College in Texas in 1962 when a local DJ asked listeners to come to the studio and sing their songs to help the American Cancer Society. The duo sang a song called "Hey Paula," which Hildebrand wrote, and were encouraged by everyone in town to make a record of it. Shelby Singleton of Mercury Records eventually signed them, but not before changing their professional name to Paul and Paula. |
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| The Beatles sang "She Loves You," "This Boy," "All My Lovin'," I Saw Her Standing There," "From Me to You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand." The Beatles were paid $25,000, half of what Elvis got. |  |
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| Pegasus was a series of three satellites, which were launched 1965 to study the frequency of micrometeorite impacts. All three Pegasus satellites were lauched by Saturn 1 rockets, and remained connected with the upper stage. |
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| On February 16, 1968, Alabama Senator Rankin Fite made the first 911 call in the United States in Haleyville, Alabama. The Alabama Telephone Company carried the call. A week later, Nome, Alaska, implemented a 911 system. In 1973, the White House's Office of Telecommunication issued a national statement supporting the use of 911 and pushed for the establishment of a Federal Information Center to assist government agencies in implementing the system. |
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| Elvis won his first Grammy for this: the 1967 Grammy for the Best Sacred, Religious or Inspirational Recording. Surprisingly, Elvis won only 3 Grammy Awards: for this, the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1970 and another Best Sacred, Religious or Inspirational Recording for his album, “He Touched Me” in 1972. |  |
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| An offensive force second to none, "Wilt the Stilt" is one of only two players who have scored more than 30,000 points in an NBA career. When Chamberlain left the NBA in 1973, he had captured two championships — in 1967 with the Philadelphia 76ers and in 1972 with Los Angeles. Upon retirement, Wilt held numerous records: he scored 50 or more points 118 times, 60 or more points 32 times, and is the NBA's all-time rebounding leader with 23,924. |
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| In the 1970s, Streisand successfully married her musical and film acting interests, first in “The Way We Were,” a hit film with a theme song that became her first number one single; and then with “A Star Is Born, “which featured her second number one single, "Evergreen," a song she co-wrote. |  |
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| On February 16, 1978, their system is complete; they name it the Computerized Bulletin Board System (CBBS). When it finally goes online to the public in 1979, Christensen manages the system under the title "system operator" (soon shortened to "sysop"). CBBS operates like a virtual thumb-tack bulletin board. Participants can post messages to a public "board," and others can read and respond to those messages, creating an ongoing virtual discussion. |
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| Their only hit on Casablanca Records, it was the Captain and Tennille's second #1 hit, and their last Top 40 record. |  |
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| In the US, this was credited to "Wham featuring George Michael." Andrew Ridgeley (the other half of Wham!) helped write it, but Michael was being groomed for a solo career and the record company wanted to get his name out. Michael was 17 when he wrote this. He was taking the bus to his job as an usher at a cinema. That's where the reference to "The silver screen" comes from in the first verse. This was Epic Records first million selling single and it was George Michael's biggest selling single in the UK, either as a solo artist or with Wham! selling 1,365,995 copies. |
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0374 9th recorded perihelion passage
of Halley's Comet
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0659 First known check (£400) - on display
at Westminster Abbey (did it bounce?)
1741 Benjamin Franklin published America’s
second magazine
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1838 Kentucky passes law permitting widows with
children the right to vote in school board elections
1840 American Charles Wilkes discovers Shackleton
Ice Shelf, Antarctica
More ...
1852 Studebaker founded
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1857 Gallaudet College (National Deaf Mute college)
forms (Washington, DC)
More ...
1868 The Jolly Corks organization in New York
City change their name
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1883 "Ladies Home Journal" begins publication
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1887 First newspaper convention (Rochester, NY)
1909 First subway car with side doors goes into
service (New York, NY)
More ...
1923 Howard Carter finds Pharoah Tutankhamen
More ...
1932 First patent issued for a tree
More ...
1937 DuPont Corp patents nylon, developed by employee
Wallace H Carothers
More ...
1943 State record low temperature of --32°
in Falls Village, CT
1946 First commercially designed helicopter tested,
Bridgeport CT
More ...
1948 First newsreel telecast, "20th Century
Fox-Movietone News"
More ...
1952 "Slow Poke" by Pee Wee King topped
the charts
More ...
1953 First man-made diamonds
More ...
1957 "Too Much" by Elvis Presley tossed
to two
More ...
1957 "Young Love" by Tab Hunter topped
the charts
More ...
1959 Fidel Castro named himself Cuba's Prime Minister
after overthrowing Batista
More ...
1961 US satellite Explorer 9 is launched
More ...
1961 China uses it's first nuclear reactor
1963 Beatles top British rock charts with "Please,
Please Me"
More ...
1963 "Hey Paula" by Paul & Paula
topped the charts
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1964 Beatles' 2nd appearance on "Ed Sullivan
Show"
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1965 Pegasus 1 launched
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1968 Country's first 911 phone system went into
service
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1968 Elvis Presley receives gold record for "How
Great Thou Art"
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1972 First NBA to score 30,000 points (Wilt Chamberlain
in 940 games)
More ...
1974 "The Way We Were" by Barbra Streisand's
topped the charts
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1978 First Computer Bulletin Board System (Ward
& Randy's CBBS, Chicago)
More ...
1980 "Do That to Me One More Time" by
Captain & Tennille topped the charts
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1985 "Careless Whisper" by George Michael
topped the charts
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