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Welcome to craigporter.com. The main purpose of the site is to provide a way for family and friends to see what is currently happening in my life - if anything. It contains photographs and stories relating to my life and travels in Europe.

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Today in History :: Tuesday, 9 February 2010

Birthdays:
1409	Constantine XI Palaeologus, Byzantine emperor (1449 - 53). The last reigning emperor of the Byzantine Empire, his downfall began when Sultan Mehmed II began agitating for ownership of Constantinople. He was killed in 1453 while defending the walls of Constantinople in 1453, and his severed head was displayed on a spike for several days before he was buried with full honours in the city. Born in Constantinople (now Istanbul), Turkey.
1773	William Henry Harrison, ninth president (Whig) of the USA (1841). The son of Benjamin Harrison V, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence, he enlisted in the army at the age of 18 and quickly rose through the ranks to become the first military governor of the Indiana territory. Following the War of 1812, he was elected to the House of Representatives and the US Senate, and was the Northern Whig candidate for president in 1836, but lost the election to Martin Van Buren. He won the next general election, largely because of his heroic military record and the fact that the USA had suffered a severe economic downturn. He became the first American president to die in office, serving a total of only 31 days, and he was succeeded by his Vice President John Tyler. Born in Berkeley, Virginia, USA.
1791	Jean Cruveilhier, pathologist, anatomist, physician. First to describe multiple sclerosis and give an account of progressive muscular atrophy, sometimes referred to as Cruveilhier's atrophy or paralysis. Born in Limoges, France.
1846	Wilhelm Maybach, engineer. Joined Gottlieb Daimler and Nikolaus Otto in 1872 and became chief designer of the first Mercedes cars. He formed a partnership with Daimler in 1882 and they produced one of the first petrol engines from their factory in Stuttgart. He also invented the float-feed carburettor in 1893 and was responsible for innovations in timing, gearing, and steering. In 1907 he left Daimler to set up his own factory making engines for Zeppelin airships. Born in Heilbronn, Germany.
1871	Howard Ricketts, pathologist. Discovered the causative organisms and mode of transmission of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and epidemic typhus. Working as a pathologist at the Univeristy of Chicago in 1906, he demonstrated that Rocky Mountain spotted fever is spread by cattle ticks and is caused by a blood-borne 'bipolar bacillus'. In 1910 he showed that typhus is caused by a similar organism carried by lice. Born in Findlay, Ohio, USA.
1897	Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, pioneer aviator. The best-known early Australian aviator, he completed the first non-stop crossing of the Australian mainland and the first flight between Australia and New Zealand. He was also the first to complete the eastward Pacific crossing between Australia and the USA. Born in Hamilton, Queensland, Australia.
1901	Brian Donlevy, actor (Barbary Coast, Glass Key, Wake Island, Dangerous Assignment). Born Waldo Brian Donlevy in Portadown, Ireland (now Northern Ireland).
1910	Jacques Monod, biochemist. Shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1965 for his work to elucidate how genes regulate cell metabolism by directing the biosynthesis of enzymes. He discovered the operon system that controls gene action in bacteria. Born in Paris, France.
1942	Carole King, musician, song writer. Teamed up with friend (and future husband) Gerry Goffin while studying at Queens College, New York and had their first big hit with "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", released by the Shirelles in 1961. The pair later wrote hits such as "Take Good Care of My Baby" (Bobby Vee), "The Locomotion" (Little Eva), "One Fine Day" (The Chiffons), "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (The Monkees), "Up on the Roof" (The Drifters), and "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman" (Aretha Franklin). She acheived success as a solo performer in 1971 with her album, "Tapestry". She is also well known as an environmental activist. Born Carole Klein in Brooklyn, New York, USA.
1943	Joe Pesci, actor (Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Once Upon a Time in America, My Cousin Vinny). Born in Newark, New Jersey, USA.
1957	Gordon Strachan, football player. A midfield player for Leeds United and Manchester United, he also played 43 international matches for Scotland, scoring 5 goals. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Deaths:
1555	John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester and Worcester. Influenced by the Protestant reformers Bullinger and Zwingli, his outspoken criticism of the English Roman Catholic Church forced him to flee to Europe in 1539, settling in Zürich, Switzerland. He later returned to England to continue his work but was arrested on charges of heresy and subsequently burnt at the stake. Died (age unknown).
1881	Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Фёдор Достое́вский), Russian novelist (Crime and Punishment). A former military engineer, he published his first novel "Bednye lyudi" (Poor Folk), in 1846. In 1849 he was arrested for belonging to a radical discussion group and was sentenced to be shot. He was reprieved at the last moment and spent four years at hard labour in Siberia, where he developed epilepsy and experienced a deepening of his religious faith. He later wrote his masterpiece, "Prestupleniye i nakazaniye" (Crime and Punishment) in 1866, considered one of the most powerful and realistic works of fiction ever written. Died in St Petersburg, Russia, aged 60 (28 January according to the old style Julian calendar).
1977	Sergey Vladimirovich Ilyushin (Серге́й Владимирович Илю́шин), Russian aircraft designer. Designed the famous Il-2 Stormovik armoured attack aircraft, the most used airplane by the Soviet Air Force during WW II. Following the war he worked for a short time on jet bombers, designing one of the most successful planes of that time, the Il-28. In the 1950's he stopped working on warplanes and concentrated his studies on turboprop and turbojet powered passenger and transport planes. His designs included the Il-12 twin-engined passenger aircraft in 1946, the Il-18 Moskva four-engined turboprop transport in 1957, the Il-62 turbojet passenger carrier in 1962, and the Il-86 airbus, which made its first flight in 1976. Died in Moscow, Russia, aged 82.
1981	Bill Haley, American musician. A former unsuccessful country music artist, he changed his style, recording cover versions of Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88" and "Rock this Joint", marking the turning point in his career. He is best remembered for the song "Rock Around the Clock". His recording of "Rock this Joint" reportedly inspired radio disk jockey Alan Freed to coin the term "rock and roll". Died of a heart attack in Harlingen, Texas, USA, aged 55.
1984	Yuri Andropov (Ю́рий Андро́пов), General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1982 - 84). Played an important role in the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 and was promoted to the Central Committee Secretariat in 1962, succeeding Mikhail Suslov. In 1967 he was appointed head of the KGB, a position he held until 1982 when he succeeded Leonid Brezhnev as party leader. During his rule he made attempts to improve the economy and reduce corruption. However his reign was marked by the deterioration of relations with the USA, partly due to the strong anti-Soviet stance of Ronald Reagan and exacerbated by the shooting-down of an off-course civilian passenger jet over Russia in 1983 and the deployment of US Pershing missiles in Europe. Died of kidney failure in Moscow, Russia, aged 69.
1994	Howard Temin, American virologist. Shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1975 for the discovery of the enzyme 'reverse transcriptase'. Died in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, aged 59.
2002	Princess Margaret of Kent, English princess. Second daughter of King George VI (1937 - 52) and sister of Queen Elizabeth II of England. Seen as the "black sheep" of the royal family, she was known for her tumultuous private life and her heavy smoking and drinking. Died of a heart ailment caused by a stroke at King Edward VII Hospital, London, England, aged 71.
Events on this day:
1649	Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland, is buried. He was found guilty of treason on 30th January and in order to avoid public disturbances was buried without a funeral, at Windsor rather than Westminster.
1674	The English re-conquer New York City from The Netherlands.
1825	The US House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams as the sixth President of the USA after no presidential candidate received a majority of electoral votes.
1861	Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
1863	A fire extinguisher is patented by Alanson Crane.
1867	Nebraska ratifies the US constitution and becomes the 37th state of the USA.
1885	The first Japanese settlers arrive in Hawaii.
1900	Dwight Davis establishes a new tennis trophy, the Davis Cup.
1926	Teaching of the theory of evolution is forbidden in schools in Atlanta, Georgia.
1941	Nazi collaborators destroy Amsterdam café Alcazar because Alcazar refused to hang "No Entry for Jews" signs in the front of the café.
1943	US forces retake the strategically vital Guadalcanal Island from the Japanese after a six-month battle.
1950	US Senator Joseph McCarthy alleges that the US State Department is infested with 205 communists.
1964	The ninth Winter Olympic Games close at Innsbruck, Austria.
1965	The first US combat troops are sent to South Vietnam.
1969	The world's largest airplane, the Boeing 747, makes its first commercial flight.
1971	Apollo 14 returns to Earth.
1972	The British government declares a state of emergency after the first month of the miners strike.
1986	Halley's Comet reaches its 30th perihelion.
1990	The Galileo space probe flies past Venus.
1991	Voters in Lithuania vote for independence from the Soviet Union.
1991	A pipe in the steam generator of Mihama nuclear power plant in Japan bursts, leaking 55 tonnes of radioactive primary reactor coolant water into the secondary steam-generating circuit resulting in radioactivity being released to the atmosphere.
1996	A team of German scientists led by Peter Armbruster at the Gesellschaft für schwerionenforschung (GSI) facility at Darmstadt, Germany, claims to have created an atom of the element 112, named ununbium, with symbol Uub. Its nucleus has 112 protons and 166 neutrons, giving it a mass number of 277.
1996	The Irish Republican Army declares the end of its 18 month ceasefire by exploding a large bomb in Canary Wharf, London.
1997	The 167th episode of "The Simpsons" goes on air making it the longest-running animated series in cartoon history, surpassing "The Flintstones".
2004	The Mozilla Firebird web browser changes its name to Firefox.