| Pope Gregory XIII corrected mistakes on the Julian calendar by dropping 10 days and directing that the day after October 4, 1582 would be October 15. The Gregorian, or New Style calendar, was then adopted by Catholic countries, followed gradually by Protestant and other nations. |
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| President Jefferson did not like one of the appointments made by his predecessor in the Presidency, John Adams. The appointment elevated a man named William Marbury to the position of justice of the peace. Jefferson asked his Secretary of State, James Madison, to dismiss Marbury, and Marbury sued the government so that he might be reinstated in his job. The U.S. Supreme Court, which dismissed Marbury's suit, stating that the court lacked jurisdiction in the case. Moreover, the Supreme Court declared that a section of the Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional. |
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| In 1839, Mr. William Smith Otis, civil engineer of Philadelphia, Penn., was issued a U.S. patent for the steam shovel for excavating and removing earth from railroads or canals. The patent drawing showed the crane mounted on a carriage or railroad car. A load of earth could be taken up by the scraper, raised by the crane and turned to be dumped, such as in railcars, and released. It could move about 380 cubic metres of earth a day, with its 1.1 cubic metre capacity shovel and 180° slewing wooden jib. |
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| Arizona, formerly part of the Territory of New Mexico, was organized as a separate territory on February 24, 1863. The U.S. acquired the region under the terms of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the 1853 Gadsden Purchase. Arizona became the 48th state in 1912. |
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| The House of Representatives voted to impeach President Andrew Johnson. The vote followed bitter opposition by the Radical Republicans in Congress to Johnson's reconstruction policies in the South. However, the effort to remove him failed in the Senate by just one vote. |  |
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| In 1896, Henri Becquerel told the French Academy of Sciences of his investigation of the phosphorescent rays of some "double sulfate of uranium and potassium" crystals. He reported that he placed the crystals on the outside of a photographic plate wrapped in sheets of very thick black paper and exposed the whole to the sun for several hours. When he developed the photographic plate, he saw a black silhouette of the substance exposed on the negative. When he placed a coin or metal screen between the uranium crystals and the wrapped plate, he saw images of those objects on the negative. |
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| On February 24 Britain released the Zimmerman telegram to Wilson, and news of the telegram was published widely in the American press on March 1. This telegram, written by German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann, is a coded message sent to Mexico, proposing a military alliance against the United States. The obvious threats to the United States contained in the telegram inflamed American public opinion against Germany and helped convince Congress to declare war against Germany in 1917. |
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| The Revolution of 1917 grew out of a mounting wave of food and wage strikes in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) during February. On February 23 meetings and demonstrations in which the principal slogan was a demand for bread were held, supported by the 90,000 men and women on strike in the national capital. Encounters with the police were numerous, but the workers refused to disperse and continued to occupy the streets. Tension steadily increased but no casualties resulted. Agitation grew the following day, February 24, until it involved about half the workers of Petrograd. The slogans now were bolder: "Down with the war!" "Down with autocracy!" On February 25 the strike became general throughout the capital. |
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| Built in 1923, the Scotsman ran on the London and North Eastern Railway for 40 years, completing some two million miles of service between London, Newcastle and Scotland before being withdrawn in 1963. It was the first locomotive to achieve an authenticated 100 mph speed in 1934. |  |
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| In 1924, U.S. Navy officials and the media witnessed the 95-sec flight of the latest design of a helicopter - designated No. 5 - built by Henry Berliner. It reached a height of 15-ft and could maneuver in a radius of 150-ft, at a speed up to about 40 mph. The 641-lb aircraft had rigid wings spanning 38-ft with a 13-ft diameter rotor mounted on each winf that provided the power for the flight. This day's test is claimed to be the first controlled helicopter flight. |
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| In 1925, an ice jam was removed using a thermit for the first time in the U.S. It was a 250,000-ton ice jam that had clogged the St. Lawrence River near Waddington, NY. and was broken up a few hours after the reaction of three thermit charges of 90-lb each. Thermit is a mixture of finely divided magnesium and red iron oxide. When properly ignited, a vigorous reaction produces hot molten iron. |
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| Campbell returned to Daytona in 1931 with a "Bluebird" and an aircraft engine. He hit 246.09 mph to establish the record. He was knighted that same year.In 1932, he became the first man to exceed 250 mph with a 253.97 mph clocking, again in Florida. By 1935, he had set the mark of 276.82 at Daytona. |  |
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| In 1938, DuPont began commercial production of nylon toothbrush bristles for the so-called "Miracle Tuft Toothbrush." Before 1938, the world relied on toothbrush bristles of neck hairs from wild swine from Siberia, Poland and China. When DuPont created nylon it was the toothbrush which was the first item to benefit from the use of nylon. There were many advantages in this new brush including a dramatic reduction in production costs and the ability to control bristle texture. |
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| Frances Langford will forever be remembered for her dedication to the war effort during the 1940s. As a regular member of Bob Hope's USO tour she became a favorite of American troops around the world. Her first break came when bandleader Rudy Valee heard her singing on a Tampa radio station. He offered her a guest spot on his radio show. She then gained real prominence performing “I'm In The Mood For Love” in the 1935 movie “Every Night At Eight” starring Alice Fay and George Raft. |
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| Its first broadcast, in German, took place on Feb. 24, 1942, and was intended to counter Nazi propaganda among the German people. By the time World War II ended, the VOA was broadcasting 3,200 programs in 40 languages every week. |
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| Von Braun and his group had large numbers of V-2 parts at their disposal. After three V-2 flights under the auspices of the British Operation Backfire, the plans, parts, and German rocket scientists had all been taken out of Germany and relocated to New Mexico under Operation Paperclip at the end of World War II. The scientists accepted U.S. contracts, and began launching rockets from White Sands, New Mexico. Between April 16, 1946 and September 19, 1952, von Braun and General Electric launched more than sixty V2s from the White Sands Proving Grounds as a part of Project Hermes. |
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| Written by group member Richard Lewis when he was in the US army. When Lewis returned to his Philadelphia home, he joined a church quartet, the Gospel Tornadoes, which evolved into a secular group, the Thunderbirds (later the Silhouettes). When the single started to sell, the master recording was sold to Ember Records, which reissued the record for national distribution. It hit #1 -- the only single by the Silhouettes to make the national charts. |
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| The "Duke" is Earl Edwards, the founder of The Dukays. This was first recorded by The Dukays for Nat Records. Shortly after the release of "Night Owl," Vee Jay Records bought the publishing rights to the song. Its A&R head listened to all the Dukays' tunes and was impressed with "Duke of Earl" to the point of wanting to buy the master and release it as a single right away. |  |
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| In 1968, Nature carried the announcement of the discovery of pulsars (pulsating radio sources). The first pulsar was discovered by a graduate student, Jocelyn Bell, on November 28, 1967, then working under the direction of Prof. A. Hewish. This extraterrestrial pulsating radio source was observed at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, Cambridge University, England. They were using a special radio telescope, a large array of 2,048 aerials covering an area of 4.4 acres. The discovery of these fascinating objects opened new horizons in studies as diverse as quantum- degenerate fluids, relativistic gravity and interstellar magnetic fields. Under extraordinary physical conditions, radiation is generated and appears pulsed with a clock-like precision. |
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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. |  |
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| Johnny Cash recorded his second live prison performance. It followed a concert the previous year at Folsom Prison. The LP "Johnny Cash at San Quentin", with the hit single "A Boy Named Sue", was recorded live as part of a British TV. |  |
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| "Killing Me Softly with His Song" is about Don McLean, a singer/songwriter famous for his hit "American Pie." It was originally recorded by Lori Lieberman in 1971. After being mesmerized by one of his concerts at the Troubadour theater in Los Angeles, Lieberman described what she saw of McLean's performance to Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, who were writing songs for her new album, and they wrote the song for her.Flack heard Lieberman's version on an in-flight tape recorder while flying from Los Angeles to New York. She loved the title and lyrics and decided to record it herself. |
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| Stewart used the title as the name of his 1978 tour. He would wear tight spandex and gyrate on stage. When he sang the title line, hoards of women would scream back, "Yes!"Stewart was known for his soulful blues and folk ballads, but this gave him a new look. Stewart was ahead of his time from a marketing standpoint. Not only did he make a video for this before MTV was even a glimmer, but he also released a limited edition 12" version, which was guaranteed to be a collector's item because only 300,000 were made. |
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| This 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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1582 Pope Gregory XIII corrected
mistakes on the Julian calendar
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1803 Supreme Court first rules a law unconstitutional
(Marbury vs Madison)
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1839 Steam shovel patented by William Otis, Philadelphia
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1857 First perforated US postage stamps delivered
to the government
1863 Arizona Territory created
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1867 The House of Representatives voted to impeach
President Andrew Johnson
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1868 First US parade with floats (Mardi Gras-Mobile,
AL)
1896 Radioactivity reported by Henri Becquerel
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1917 German plan to get Mexican help in WWI exposed
(Zimmerman telegram)
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1917 Russian revolution breaks out
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1923 Flying Scotsman goes into service
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1924 Berliner helicopter flies for 95 seconds
More ...
1925 A thermite reaction was used to break up an
ice jam
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1932 Malcolm Campbell drives record speed (253.96
mph) at Daytona
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1938 Du Pont begins commercial production of nylon
toothbrush bristles
More ...
1940 Frances Langford records "When You Wish
Upon a Star"
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1942 Voice of America begins broadcasting (in
German)
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1943 Texas League announces it will quit for the
duration of WWII
1949 V-2/WAC-Corporal first rocket to outer space,
White Sands NM
More ...
1958 "Get a Job" by the Silhouettes
topped the charts
More ...
1962 "Duke of Earl" by Gene Chandler
topped the charts
More ...
1965 Beatles begin filming "Help" in
the Bahamas
1968 Gary Unger begins NHL consecutive game record
of 914 games
1968 First pulsar discovered (CP 1919 by Jocelyn
Burnell at Cambridge)
More ...
1968 "Love Is Blue" by Paul Mauriat
topped the charts
More ...
1969 Johnny Cash recorded his second live prison
performance
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1973 "Killing Me Softly with His Song"
by Roberta Flack topped the charts
More ...
1978 Kevin Porter, New Jersey, sets NBA record
with 29 assists in a game
1979 Highest price ever paid for a pig, $42,500,
Stamford, TX
1979 "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" by Rod
Stewart topped the charts
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1980 USA Olympics hockey team beats Finland (4-2)
& wins gold medal
1987 Los Angeles Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scores
his 36,000th NBA point
1989 150-million-year-old fossil egg
found
1990 "Opposites Attract" by Paula Abdul
& the Wild Pair topped the charts
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