14 September 2018
Interesting tidbits:
1741 – George Frideric Handel completed his oratorio Messiah.
1752 – The British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar, skipping eleven days (the previous day was September 2).
1814 – The poem "Defence of Fort McHenry" was written by Francis Scott Key. The poem was later used as the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner.
1829 – The Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Adrianople with Russia, thus ending the Russo-Turkish War.
1848 - Alexander Stewart opened the first US department store.
1886 - George K Anderson of Memphis, Tennessee patented the typewriter ribbon.
1891 - The "Empire State Express" train went from NYC to East Buffalo, a distance of 436 miles, in a record 7 hours and 6 minutes.
1899 - Henry Bliss became the first automobile fatality in the US (NY).
1901 – U.S. President William McKinley died after an assassination attempt on September 6, and was succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt.
1938 - Graf Zeppelin II, the world's largest airship at the time, made its maiden flight.
1958 – The first two German post-war rockets, designed by the German engineer Ernst Mohr, reached the upper atmosphere.
1959 – The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashed onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it.
1984 – Joe Kittinger became the first person to fly a gas balloon alone across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1960 Kittinger set the record longest skydive from a height greater than 31 kilometres / 19 mi, making him the first man to witness the curvature of the Earth from a balloon. In 2012, at the age of 84, he participated in the Red Bull Stratos project as capsule communicator, directing Felix Baumgartner on his record-breaking 39 kilometer / 24 mi freefall.
Today's birthday crew:
1486 – Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, German theologian, astrologer, and alchemist.
1769 – Alexander von Humboldt, German geographer and explorer.
1867 – Charles Dana Gibson, American illustrator and graphic artist, best known for his creation of the Gibson Girl, an iconic representation of the beautiful and independent American woman at the turn of the 20th century.
1879 – Margaret Sanger, American activist.
1914 – Clayton Moore, American actor best known for playing The Lone Ranger from 1949–1951 and 1954–1957 on the television series of the same name.
1936 – Walter Koenig, American actor known for his roles as Pavel Chekov in Star Trek and Alfred Bester in Babylon 5.
1944 - Rowena Morrill, American artist of science fiction and fantasy illustrations.
Happy birthday guys!
