On Dec. 5, 2014, NASA successfully test launched its Orion spacecraft, its hope for the future of manned space travel and an eventual trip to Mars. Dec. 5 (UPI) — On this date in history: In 1776, the first scholastic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at William and …
On Dec. 4, 2009, an Italian jury found U.S. exchange student Amanda Knox and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, guilty of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher. Knox and Sollecito were acquitted in 2011. Dec. 4 (UPI) — On this date in history: In 1881, the Los Angeles Times published its first …
On Dec. 3, 1989, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared the Cold War over during a summit in Malta. Dec. 3 (UPI) — On this date in history: In 1818, Illinois was admitted as the 21st state in the United States. In 1833, Oberlin College in …
On Dec. 2, 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency was formed with Indianapolis lawyer William Ruckelshaus as its administrator. Dec. 2 (UPI) — On this date in history: In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself emperor of France. In 1823, during his annual address to the U.S. Congress, President James Monroe proclaimed a new …
On Dec. 1, 1959, the United States and the Soviet Union signed a treaty banning military activity on Antarctica, reserving the continent for scientific research. Dec. 1 (UPI) — On this date in history: In 1891, the game of basketball was invented when James Naismith, a physical education teacher at the …
On Nov. 28, 2004, Ken Jennings lost on the U.S. game show Jeopardy! after winning 74 games and $2.5 million. In 1782, preliminary peace articles formally ending the American Revolutionary War were signed in Paris. In 1913, Charles Chaplin made his screen debut in Mack Sennett’s short film Making a Living. …
LONDON (Reuters) – Elizabeth I, one of England’s best-loved monarchs, has been revealed to be the translator behind an English version of an ancient text by Tacitus who described the high politics, treachery and debauchery of the Roman elite. A 16th Century translation of the first book of Tacitus’s Annals …
On Dec. 29, 1890, the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry opened fire on hundreds of Native Americans in one of most shameful and bloody acts of violence against indigenous people in American history. “I have never heard of a more brutal, cold-blooded massacre than that at Wounded Knee,” wrote Maj. Gen. …
On Nov. 29, 1963, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson appointed the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President John Kennedy. Nov. 29 (UPI) — On this date in history: In 1877, Thomas Edison demonstrated a hand-cranked phonograph that recorded sound on grooved metal cylinders. Edison shouted verses of “Mary Had a …
On Nov. 28, 1919, Virginia-born Nancy Astor became the first woman member of the British Parliament. Nov. 28 (UPI) — On this date in history: In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan entered the Pacific Ocean on his way around the world. He was the first European to sail the Pacific from the east. …
On Nov. 27, 1989, Virginia certified Douglas Wilder as the first elected U.S. African-American governor by a margin of 0.38 percent of the vote. Nov. 27 (UPI) — On this date in history: In 1901, the U.S. War Department authorized creation of the Army War College to instruct commissioned officers. It …
In 1948, the first commercial Polaroid camera was sold. The inventor of the device and founder of Polaroid Corp., Edwin H. Land, obtained some 533 patents before his death in 1991. Nov. 26 (UPI) — On this date in history: In 1789, U.S. President George Washington declared Nov. 26, 1789, to …
