1630s

• 1639: HARVARD UNIVERSITY WAS NAMED FOR CLERGYMAN JOHN HARVARD

1730s

• BORN 1733: JOSEPH PRIESTLEY (SCIENTIST)

1750s

• 1759: HALLEY’S COMET REACHED PERIHELION

1780s

• 1781: THE PLANET URANUS WAS DISCOVERED BY ENGLISH ASTRONOMER SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL

1790s

• BORN 1798: ABIGAIL FILLMORE (U.S. FIRST LADY)

1850s

• 1852: FIRST POLITICAL CARTOON DEPICTING “UNCLE SAM” PUBLISHED
• BORN 1855: PERCIVAL LOWELL (ASTRONOMER)

1860s

• BORN 1860: HUGO WOLF (COMPOSER)
• 1865: CONFEDERATE CONGRESS AGREED ON THE RECRUITMENT OF SLAVES INTO THE ARMY (U.S. CIVIL WAR)

1870s

• 1877: CHESTER GREENWOOD PATENTED EARMUFFS

1880s

• 1882: EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE’S ZOOPRAXISCOPE, AN EARLY MOVIE PROJECTOR, DEBUTED IN LONDON

1890s

• BORN 1892: JANET FLANNER (JOURNALIST)

1900s

• DIED 1901: BENJAMIN HARRISON (23RD U.S. PRESIDENT)
• DIED 1906: SUSAN B. ANTHONY (REFORMER)

1910s

• BORN 1910: SAMMY KAYE (BANDLEADER)
• BORN 1911: L. RON HUBBARD (AUTHOR)

1920s

• 1925: TENNESSEE BANNED TEACHING EVOLUTION
• BORN 1928: DOUGLAS RAIN (CANADIAN ACTOR)

1930s

• 1930: THE DISCOVERY OF PLUTO, THE NINTH PLANET, WAS OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED ON THIS DATE, WHICH WAS PERCIVAL LOWELL’S BIRTHDAY. LOWELL WAS FOUNDER OF LOWELL OBSERVATORY IN FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA, WHERE CLYDE W. TOMBAUGH DISCOVERED PLUTO ON FEBRUARY 18, 1930. (MUCH LATER, PLUTO’S “PLANET” DESIGNATION CHANGED!)
• 1938: HITLER TOOK FORMAL POSSESSION OF VIENNA (WWII)
• BORN 1939: NEIL SEDAKA (SINGER)

1950s

• BORN 1950: WILLIAM H. MACY (ACTOR)
• BORN 1953: DEBORAH RAFFIN (ACTRESS)
• 1954: THE VIET MINH BEGAN A SUCCESSFUL SIEGE OF THE FRENCH-HELD DIEN BIEN PHU IN VIETNAM

1960s

• BORN 1960: ADAM CLAYTON (BASS GUITARIST FOR U2)
• 1968: OIL DISCOVERED IN PRUDHOE BAY IN ALASKA
• 1969: U.S. APOLLO 9 SPLASHED DOWN IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN AFTER A 10-DAY FLIGHT TESTING THE LUNAR MODULE

1970s

• BORN 1971: ANNABETH GISH (ACTRESS)
• 1979: THE COMMON MARKET OFFICIALLY INAUGURATED THE NEW EUROPEAN MONETARY SYSTEM

1980s

• 1988: IRVING KING JORDAN, JR., BECAME THE FIRST DEAF PRESIDENT OF GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY
• 1989: SOLAR FLARE CAUSED POWER GRID FAILURE OF HYDRO-QUEBEC IN CANADA

1990s

• DIED 1990: BRUNO BETTELHEIM (CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST)
• 1992: MOSCOW’S NEWSPAPER, PRAVDA, ANNOUNCED THAT IT WAS SUSPENDING PUBLICATION
• 1997: UFOS SEEN OVER ARIZONA, NEVADA, AND SONORA, MEXICO

2000s

• 2004: FOR 15 MINUTES, LUCIANO PAVAROTTI TOOK IN BRAVOS AFTER THE NIGHT’S PERFORMANCE OF TOSCA AT THE METROPOLITAN OPERA. IT WAS HIS FINAL NIGHT OF STAGED OPERA; THE END OF A CAREER THAT BEGAN 43 YEARS EARLIER. IT WAS THE BIGGEST FAREWELL OVATION AT THE MET SINCE SOPRANO LEONIE RYSANEK SAID GOODBYE IN JANUARY 1996.
• DIED 2006: MAUREEN STAPLETON (ACTRESS)
• DIED 2006: PETER TOMARKEN (GAME SHOW HOST)
• DIED 2006: ROBERT C. BAKER (FOUNDED CORNELL UNIVERSITY’S INSTITUTE OF FOOD SCIENCE AND MARKETING. HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR MANY INNOVATIONS INCLUDING CHICKEN NUGGETS AND CHICKEN HOT DOGS)

2010s

• 2012: TWENTY-FIVE YEAR OLD DALLAS SEAVEY BECAME THE YOUNGEST WINNER OF THE IDITAROD TRAIL SLED DOG RACE
• 2013: ROMAN CATHOLIC CARDINALS ELECTED THE CHURCH’S FIRST SOUTH AMERICAN LEADER, ARGENTINE CARDINAL JORGE MARIO BERGOGLIO. HE TOOK THE NAME POPE FRANCIS I.

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