In the year 1897, the word “computer” is first used in the journal Engineering (Jan 22), William McKinley becomes the 25th President of the United States (Mar 4), the first Boston Marathon is held (Apr 19), Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria is celebrated in the United Kingdom (Jun 22), the Klondike Gold Rush begins (Jul 17), aspirin is successfully synthesized by Felix Hoffmann (Aug 10), Thomas Edison is granted a patent for Kinetoscope, a precursor of the movie projector (Aug 31) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_339” align=“alignright” width=“306”]1 Manhattan 2 Brooklyn 3 Queens 4 The Bronx 5 Staten Island[/caption] In the year 1898, New York City is divided into five boroughs (Jan 1), Annie Oakley promotes the service of women in combat situations with the United States military (Apr 5), neon is discovered at a laboratory in London (Jun 7), Britain makes a 99 year rent of Hong Kong from China (Jun 9), the United States annexes the Hawaiian Islands (Jul 7), Caleb Bradham names his soft drink Pepsi-Cola (Aug 28), the Treaty of Paris ends the Spanish-American War (Dec 10), Marie and Pierre Curie announce discovery of an element they name radium (Dec 26) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1809, Robert Fulton patents the steamboat (Feb 11), James Madison becomes the 4th U.S.President (Mar 4), King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicates (Mar 29), Sweden restores political power to the Riksdag after authoritarian rule since 1772 (Jun 6), the city of La Paz declares its independence and forms first independent government in Spanish America (Jul 16), Ecuador declares independence from Spain (Aug 10), the Finnish territory of Sweden becomes part of Russia, the Grand Duchy of Finland, in the Treaty of Hamina (Sep 17) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1975, Wheel of Fortune premieres on NBC (Jan 6), Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico (Apr 4), the South African government announces that it will provide all black children with free and compulsory education (May 6), Jaws is released in theaters (Jun 20), Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines (Oct 1), _Saturday Night Live _is aired for the first time (Oct 11), Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody is released (Oct 31), Juan Carlos becomes the King of Spain (Nov 22), Rubik’s Cube is patented, several former Portuguese colonies gain independence from Portugal - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1981, Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, ending the Iran hostage crisis (Jan 20), the first London Marathon starts with 7500 runners (Mar 29), President Reagan survives the assassination in Washington D.C. (Mar 30), Space Shuttle Columbia returns to Earth, the first time for a manned reusable spacecraft to do so (Apr 14), the first game of paintball is played in Henniker, NH (Jun 27), Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer get married in London (Jul 29), France abolishes capital punishment (Sep 18), the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat is assassinated in Cairo (Oct 6), Muhammad Ali boxes for the last time (Dec 11) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1990, Mr. Bean debuts on television (Jan 1), Manuel Noriega is disposed as the leader of Panama (Jan 3), Nelson Mandela is finally released from prison (Feb 11), Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as president (Mar 13), Namibia gains independence (Mar 21), WHO removes homosexuality from its list of diseases (May 17), the first ban of smoking in bars is passed in California, and Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War (Aug 2), East and West Germany reunify into a single Germany (Oct 3), South Africa ends segregation on a wide scale (Oct 15), Akihito is enthroned as the 125th emperor of Japan (Nov 12), the first known web page is written (Nov 13), communism is falling allover Europe and the U. Continue reading

In the year 1949, VW Beetle Type 1 enters the American scene, but the future automotive phenomenon goes yet unrecognized (Jan 17), Australian citizenship comes into being (Jan 26), astronomer Fred Hoyle coins the term Big Bang (Mar 28), NATO is founded (Apr 4), the Republic of Ireland comes into being (Apr 18), Siam changes its name to Thailand (May 11), George Orwell’s 1984 is published (Jun 8), West Germany is established (Sep 7), the People’s Republic of China is officially proclaimed (Oct 1), East Germany is established (Oct 7), the cornerstone of the UN Headquarters is laid (Oct 24), Winston Churchill makes a landmark speech in support of the idea of a European Union (Nov 28) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1933, construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins (Jan 5), Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany (Jan 30), King Kong premieres in New York City (Mar 2), FDR is sworn in as the 32nd U.S. president (Mar 4), the board game Monopoly is invented (Mar 7), the concentration camp Dachau is completed, years before the WWII starts (Mar 20), Gestapo is founded (Apr 26), the first alleged sighting of the Loch Ness monster occurs (May 2), the first drive-in movie theater opens near Camden, New Jersey (Jun 6), all non-Nazi parties are forbidden in Germany (Jun 21), Wiley Post becomes the first person to fly around the world (Jul 22), Einstein arrives in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany (Oct 17), alcohol becomes legal again in the U. Continue reading

In the year 1917, Mata Hari is arrested in Paris for spying (Feb 13), the first jazz recording is commercially released (Mar 7), the Russian Empire comes to an end as Nicholas II abdicates his throne (Mar 15), the Danish West Indies become the US Virgin Islands (Mar 31), Lenin returns to Russia from exile (Apr 16), Our Lady of Fátima apparitions begin, lasting 5 months (May 13), the first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded (Jun 4), the Lions Club International is formed (Jul 7), October Revolution in Russia starts years of turmoil (Nov 7/Oct 25 O. Continue reading

In the year 1901, oil is discovered in the first great Texas gusher at Spindletop in Beaumont (Jan 10), Queen Victoria dies after 63 years of reign (Jan 22), New York State becomes the first to require automobile license plates (Apr 25), Cuba becomes a U.S. protectorate (Jun 12), Hubert Cecil Booth patents an electric vacuum cleaner (Aug 30), the first Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm (Dec 10), Alzheimer’s disease is described for the first time by German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer, Scotland Yard creates a fingerprint archive - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1905, The Trans-Siberian Railway officially opens (Jan 1), Las Vegas, Nevada is founded when 110 acres (0.4 km²), in what later becomes downtown, are auctioned off (May 15), the Japanese fleet destroys the Russian fleet in a 2-day battle (May 27-28), the Norwegian Parliament declares the union with Sweden dissolved, and Norway achieves full independence (Jun 7), Albert Einstein publishes his theory of special relativity (Jun 30), Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway (Nov 18) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1903, Morris and Rose Mitchom introduce the first teddy bear in the United States (Feb 15), Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States “in perpetuity” (Feb 23), the first Tour de France bicycle race commences (Jul 1), Prussia becomes the first country to require mandatory driver’s license for car drivers (Sep 29), Orville Wright makes the first flight with an aircraft with petrol-engine (Dec 17), women’s rights progress around the world - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1915, Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising, and Zeppelins bomb British towns for the first time (Jan 19), Alexander Graham Bell makes the first United States coast-to-coast phone call (Jan 25), Pluto is photographed for the first time (Mar 19), Charlie Chaplin’s The Tramp is released (Apr 11), the Gallipoli Campaign starts (Apr 25), RMS Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat (May 7), Iceland gets its own flag (Jun 19), an enemy aircraft is shot down from the ground for the first time (Sep 30), Einstein’s theory of general relativity is formulated (Nov 25), the WW1 rages on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1923, the very first issue of the Time magazine is published, depicting Joseph G. Cannon on the cover (Mar 3), Lenin resigns for health reasons (Mar 9), the original Wembley Stadium opens its doors for the first time (Apr 28), the Hollywood sign is inaugurated in California, and the first dinosaur eggs are found in Mongolia (Jul 13), the Ottoman Empire ceases to exist (Jul 24), Roy and Walt Disney found The Walt Disney Company (Oct 16), Kemal Atatürk becomes president of the new republic of Turkey (Oct 29), Adolf Hitler is arrested for leading an attack against the Bavarian government (Nov 15) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1916, Paris is bombed by German zeppelins for the first time (Jan 29), Emma Goldman is arrested for lecturing on birth control in the U.S (Feb 11), the automobile company BMW is founded (Mar 7), the toggle light switch is invented (Apr), the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire is declared (Jun 10), the Pacific Aero Products Co., later named Boeing, is incorporated (Jul 15), Robert Baden-Powell publishes The Wolf Club’s Handbook in the U. Continue reading

In the year 1966, Chicago Bulls is officially founded (Jan 16), Indira Gandhi is sworn in as Prime Minister of India (Jan 24), the Soviet space probe Venera 3 crashes on Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet’s surface (Mar 1), Leonid Brezhnev becomes the new Soviet leader (Apr 8), Guyana achieves independence (May 26), groundbreaking takes place for the World Trace Center (Aug 5), Star Trek debuts on NBC (Sep 8), LSD is made illegal in the United States (Oct 6), Ronald Reagan becomes Governor of California (Nov 8), the Vietnam War rages on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

The Tower Bridge in London in 1900 In the year 1894, William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United States (Jan 7), Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time (Mar 12), Blackpool Tower is opened for visitors in Blackpool, England (May 14), the Tower Bridge in London opens for traffic (Jun 30), the First Sino-Japanese War starts (Aug 1), New Zealand enacts the world’s first minimum wage law (Aug 31), Nicholas II becomes Tsar of Russia (Nov 1) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1881, Andrew Watson makes his debut in Scotland to become the first black international football player (Mar 12), tsar Alexander II is assassinated in Russia (Mar 13), Romania is proclaimed a kingdom (May 10), the world’s first regular electric tram service starts in Berlin (May 16), the American Red Cross is established (May 21), Billy the Kid is shot dead in New Mexico (Jul 14), Sioux chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to U. Continue reading

In the year 1874, New York City annexes the Bronx (Jan 1), Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States, granting exclusive trading rights (Mar 18), Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans (May 20), the movement for osteopathic medicine in the U.S. starts (Jun 22), the first public zoo in the U.S. opens in Philadelphia (Jul 1), the first incandescent light bulb is patented in both Canada and the United States, but the U. Continue reading

In the year 1929, the first Academy Awards are announced, with the actual awards being handed out in May (Feb 18), Herbert Hoover becomes the 31st U.S. President (Mar 4), the first public demonstration of color TV is held in New York (Jun 27), a secret decree of the Sovnarkom creates the backbone of the Gulag system in Soviet Union (Jul 11),** Wall Street Crash of 1929** (Oct 24-29) marks the beginning of the Great Depression, the Museum of Modern Art in New York opens to the public (Nov 7), the first light poles appear in London (Dec 2) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading