Other Considerations

1901
The Wright brothers, Wilbur (b Millville, IN, Apr 16, 1867) and Orville (b Dayton, OH, Aug 19, 1871) fly their first glider. Their father, Milton, was a bishop of the United Brthren in Christ (Old
Constitution).

1903
The first successful airplane is launched at Kitty Hawk by Wilbur and Orville Wright on Dec 17; its best flight of the day lasts 59 seconds

1907
William James's "Pragmatism" is his major book on philosophy: he supports an idea of reality based only on experience

1912
Cracker Jacks adds a prize to each package

The "Titanic" sinks on its maiden voyage and 1500 people perish

Charles Dawson finds further fossils of "Piltdown Man;" the skull resembles that of modern man while the lower jaw has characteristics of an ape; although this accords with prejudices of the time, alter discoveries make this combination seem unlikely; in 1953 it will be established that the fossil is a hoax

1916 Grigory Rasputin, Siberian "prophet" was likely murdered

1917
The Russian Revolution occurs in Oct as communists assume control of the government

Clarence Birdseye develops freezing as a way of preserving foods

1918
World War I ends on Nov 11 when the Germans surrender

1924
The spiral-bound notebook is first produced

Photographs are transmitted by radio from New York to London

"Birth of the Internet?" (JSS addition)

1926
The movie "The jazz singer", starring Al Jolson, introduces the era of talking motion pictures

1927
Charles A. Lindbergh (b Detroit, MI, Feb 4, 1902) makes the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, in 33.5 hours

1928
Arthur Stanley Eddington's "The nature of the physical world" argues that the mind can manipulate behavior of matter and so enforce its own free will

1928
Penicillin and other antibiotics
From antiquity people have tried to find substances that would cure disease of heal wounds. Most of the recipes called for exotic ingredients, such as eye of newt. Folk wisdom and early doctors occasionally knew of something that seemed to work some of the time ­ garlic, molds, herbs, even soil ­ but most of the time the substances were ineffective. This did not stop people from looking for what we now think of as "wonder drugs"

1933
Adolf Hitler is appointed chancellor of Germany on Jan 30

1933 Hitler: Nazi attacks on Jews begin [Dachau opened, the Holocaust took
the lives of 11 million Jews]

1935
The beer can is introduced in New Jersey

1939
On Sep 1, German and Soviet forces begin occupying Poland, precipitating World War II

Albert Einstein writes the letter to President Roosevelt, dated Aug 2, that will lead to the US effort to develop an atomic bomb

1945
Germany surrenders to the Allies on May 7, ending the European portion of World War II

The Japanese city of Hiroshima is bombed on Aug 6 with a nuclear fission bomb based on uranium-235; this provides the first knowledge to the world at large of the existence of the "atomic bomb"

A plutonium-based fission bomb is exploded over Nagasaki, Japan on Aug 9; this exhausts the US supply of "atomic bombs," although this is kept secret

Japan surrenders to the Allies on Aug 14, ending the Pacific part of World War II

1946
The first meeting of the United Nations takes place

1948
After a walk in the woods with his dog, Swiss engineer George DeMestral steals an idea from the cockleburs in his socks and the dog's coat and invents the fastener Velcro

1950
Diner's Club introduces the first charge card, a prototype of the credit card

1953
Elizabeth II is crowned queen of the UK and British Commonwealth on Jun 2

1955
The Warsaw Pact links the Soviet Union and the nations of Eastern Europe into an alliance against the West

1956
Citizens and workers in Hungary rise up against Soviet domination, but the rebellion is crushed when Soviet troops invade on Nov 4

Israeli, British, and French forces invade Egypt to prevent nationalization of the Suez Canal

The United States explodes its largest hydrogen bomb in a test at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean; islanders from Bikini are first evacuated to other islands, but are told that they can return to Bikini when the tests are over

1959
The Antarctic Treaty is signed; signatories, including the US and the USSR, promise to keep the continent free from military activities and to use it for scientific research

The first commercial Xerox copier is introduced

1962
The Cuban missile crisis occurs as the US blockades Cuba from Soviet ships bringing guided missiles; the USSR backs down and missiles already in Cuba are dismantled; in return, the US promises not to invade the island

Telstar, the first active communications satellite, is launched on July 10; it relays the first trans-Atlantic television pictures

1963
US President John F. Kennedy is assassinated

Ice age skeletons found in the Romito cave near Cosenza, Italy, include that of a dwarf; later analysis suggests that the 17-year-old dwarf was accepted by the hunter-gatherers despite the fact that he could not have contributed much to the community