30 June 2017
Interesting tidbits:
1859 – French acrobat Charles Blondin crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope, 1,100 ft / 340 m long and 160 ft / 49 m above the water, near the location of the current Rainbow Bridge. This he did on a number of times, always with different theatrical variations: blindfolded, in a sack, trundling a wheelbarrow, on stilts, carrying a man on his back, sitting down midway while he cooked and ate an omelet and standing on a chair with only one chair leg on the rope.
1860 – The 1860 Oxford evolution debate took place at the Oxford University Museum seven months after the publication of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species". Several prominent British scientists and philosophers participated, including Thomas Henry Huxley, Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, Benjamin Brodie, Joseph Dalton Hooker and Robert FitzRoy. The debate is best remembered today for a heated exchange in which Wilberforce supposedly asked Huxley whether it was through his grandfather or his grandmother that he claimed his descent from a monkey. Huxley is said to have replied that he would not be ashamed to have a monkey for his ancestor, but he would be ashamed to be connected with a man who used his great gifts to obscure the truth. The encounter is often known as the Huxley–Wilberforce debate or the Wilberforce–Huxley debate, although this description is somewhat misleading. Rather than being a formal debate between the two, it was actually an animated discussion. However, although they were not the only participants in the discussion, they were reported to be the two dominant parties. No verbatim account of the debate exists, and there is considerable uncertainty regarding what Huxley and Wilberforce actually said.
1894 - London Bridge Opened.
1905 – Albert Einstein published the article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", in which he introduced special relativity. Galileo Galilei had already postulated that all uniform motion is relative, and that there is no absolute and well-defined state of rest, a pricple now called Galileo's principle of relativity. Einstein extended this principle so that it accounted for the constant speed of light, a phenomenon that had been recently observed in the Michelson–Morley experiment. He also postulated that it holds for all the laws of physics, including both the laws of mechanics and of electrodynamics, whatever they may be. This theory has a wide range of consequences which have been experimentally verified.
1908 – The Tunguska event was an enormously powerful explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Russia, on June 30, 1908. The explosion is believed to have been caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 5–10 kilometres above the Earth's surface, although many claim it was the explosion of an alien spacecraft.
1936 - Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone with the Wind" is published.
1937 – The world's first emergency telephone number, 999, is introduced in London.
1938 - Superman first appears in DC Comics' Action Comics Series issue #1.
1939 - The Heinkel He 176 rocket plane flies for the first time.
1953 – The first Chevrolet Corvette rolls off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan.
1971 – The crew of the Soviet Soyuz 11 spacecraft are killed when their air supply escapes through a faulty valve.
1972 – The first leap second is added to the UTC time system.
1987 – The Royal Canadian Mint introduces the $1 coin, known as the Loonie.
Today's birthday crew:
1789 – Horace Vernet, French artist.
1801 – Claude Frédéric Bastiat, French economist.
1864 – Frederick Bligh Bond, English psychic archaeologist. In 1908 the Church of England appointed him as director of excavations at Glastonbury Abbey. Before he was dismissed in 1921, his excavations rediscovered the nature and dimensions of a number of buildings that had occupied the site. His work at Glastonbury Abbey is one of the first documented examples of psychic archaeology. He claimed to have contacted dead monks and the supposed builder of the Edgar Chapel at Glastonbury who he said advised him where to excavate.
1919 – Ed Yost, American inventor, invented the modern hot air balloon. In the 1950s, Yost became interested in reviving the lost practice of manned hot-air ballooning. This technology had first been invented in 1783 by the Montgolfier brothers, but under the Montgolfier system the balloon's air was heated by a ground fire prior to the balloon being released. The inherent danger of this type of balloon flight led to the system being abandoned when hydrogen and later helium became available. One of Yost's key engineering insights was that a hot-air balloon could be made to carry its own fuel. The invention of relatively light burners fueled by bottled propane made it possible for the balloonist to re-heat the air inside the balloon for a longer flight. Yost’s invention improved modern hot-air balloons into semi-maneuverable aircraft. Yost's other hot-air balloon patents included nonporous synthetic fabrics, maneuvering vents, and deflation systems for landing. Yost also designed the distinctive “teardrop” shape of the hot air balloon envelope itself. On October 22, 1960, Yost made the first-ever free flight of a modern hot air balloon. His balloon flew untethered for 1 hour and 35 minutes with the aid of heat generated by a propane burner.
1934 – Harry Blackstone Jr., American magician. In 1985, on the 100th anniversary of his father's birth, Harry Blackstone, Jr. donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. the original floating light bulb — designed and built by Thomas Edison — and the original Casadega Cabinet, used in the "Dancing Handkerchief" illusion. This was the first ever donation accepted by the Smithsonian in the field of magic. His PBS 2-hour special was unique due to the intros by Waldo and Emerson of the Muppets. Blackstone's PBS's Square One TV, where he used magic tricks to teach mathematics to young people was a favorite of his. His recurring segment was known as Backstage with Blackstone. He also designed the illusions used on Sea World's water show featuring the DC Comics super heroes. They included The Joker cutting Batgirl up into multiple pieces, a variation of a classic multi-box illusion, and the first use in many years of the Jarrett pedestal to vanish Wonder Woman. He and his wife Gay created and produced the special effects for "The Magic Summer Tour" for New Kids on The Block, as well well as their " The No More Games Tour". He also did special effects for Alice Cooper and Michael Jackson, Earth, and Wind and Fire. He received the Academy of Magical Arts Magician of the Year Award in 1979 and 1985. At the time of his death he was the most highly awarded magician of all times.
1942 – Robert Ballard, American oceanographer and professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island noted for his work in maritime archaeology and archaeology of shipwrecks. He is best known for the discovery of the wreck of the RMS Titanic in 1985.
1944 – Raymond Moody, American parapsychologist.
1962 - Predrag Bjelac, Serbian actor who portrayed Igor Karkaroff in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Lord Donnon in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
1966 – Marton Csokas, New Zealand actor whose most notable role is Lord Celeborn in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. He made repeated appearances in Xena: Warrior Princess as Xena's past love and ally, Borias. He also played the villain Yorgi in xXx, and played opposite Charlize Theron in Æon Flux, as Trevor Goodchild.
1988 – Jack Douglass, American Internet personality, musician and comedian on YouTube, known for his parodies of infomercials, skits, and the Your Grammar Sucks series.
Happy birthday guys!