Important dates:
January 15: Martin Luther King
Day
First day of classes is 1/17/07 (the
date on which Capt. James Cook crossed the antartic circle,
in 1773 - this is also the date on which the flush toilet was patented by Mr Thomas Crapper) , the class meets in Bowman 104 MW at 2:00 PM
January 14: In 1960 the US Army promoted Elvis Presley to the
rank of Sergeant
January 27: In 1967 the crew of Apollo 1
was killed while performing tests on the launch pad. Almost exactly 19 years
later, on January 28, 1986 the Challenger space shuttle exploded, killing the
7-person crew.
January 31: In 1958 the first successful U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, was
launched. Explorer 1 was used to discover the Van Allen belts, zones of
electrically charged particles surrounding the Earth. Apollo 14 was launched
on this date 13 years later (1971).
February 1: In 1851 Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, dies at age 53.
February 3: In 1966 Luna 9, sent by the Soviets, became the first
spacecraft to make a soft landing on the moon.
February 5: In 1901 Pierpont Morgan forms US Steel Corp.
February 15: In 1564 Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy.
February 19: No classes - President's Day
(The date on which, in 1473, Nicholas Copernicus was born in Torun, Poland).
February 20: In 1962 John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth.
February 28: In 1854 Slavery opponents meet in Ripon, WI, calling
for a new political group (which became the Republican Party).
March 1: In 1781the US Continental Congress adopts its Articles of Confederation
March 2: In 1927 Babe Ruth becomes highest paid baseball player ($70,000 per
year)
March 10 - Mar 18: No classes - Spring Break - classes resume on March 19th.
March 14: In 1879 Albert Einstein was born.
March 21: Vernal equinox. First day of spring.
March 25: In 1655 Christian Huygens discovered Titan, Saturn's largest moon.
March 29: In 1848 At about 5 am, the Niagara Falls stops flowing for 30 hours
due to an ice jam on Lake Erie at the entrance to the River; the only time in
recorded history this has happened.
April 1: April Fool's day. Prior to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar
in 1582, April 1 was the beginning of the new year, but many countries did
not change to January 1 as the new calendar required. This eventually led to
pranks and so became April Fool's day.
April 10: In
1790 the U.S. Patent system was established. In
1849 the Safety pin was patented by Walter Hunt (NYC). He later sold the rights
for $100.
April 16: No classes - Patriot's Day
April
24: In 1990
the 66th U.S. manned space mission STS 31 (Discovery 10) was launched into
orbit.
May 1: Classes end - Get ready for the final exam!