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Today in History :: Friday, 27 January 2012

International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Designated by the United Nations General Assembly in memory of the victims of The Holocaust and to encourage the development of educational programs about Holocaust history to help prevent future acts of genocide.

Birthdays:
1756	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer. A child prodigy, he was a renowned composer and accomplished keyboard performer by the age of six and produced his first operas by the age of twelve due to his intensive musical training. He toured Europe extensively, earning a reputation as a keyboard performer as well as a composer and improviser. He left a rich body of chamber and orchestral music, and a series of operas that are generally regarded as some of the finest ever written, especially "The Marriage of Figaro", "Don Giovanni", and "The Magic Flute". Although he made smaller contributions to the development of new musical forms than Bach, Beethoven, and Haydn, the perfection of his execution is such that he is usually ranked alongside them as one of the greatest composers of all time. He died of exhaustion in 1791, almost destitute, caused by his constant working, and of kidney failure. Born in Salzburg, Austria.
1832	Lewis Carroll, author (Alice in Wonderland, Jaberwocky). A former mathematics lecturer at Christ Church College, Oxford and author of mathematics text books, he is best remembered for his children's adventure story "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and its sequel. Born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in Daresbury, Cheshire, England.
1859	Kaiser Wilhelm II, German emperor (1888 - 1918). Grandson of Queen Victoria of England. He became the ninth King of Prussia and third Emperor of Germany in 1888. He was an autocratic leader, known as a strong opponent of socialism, and a passionate supporter of German militarism and imperialism. Born in Berlin, Germany.
1889	Balthasar van der Pol, physicist. A pioneer of chaos theory who carried out studies in the field of circuit theory and electromagnetic wave propagation phenomena. Born in Utrecht, Holland.
1900	Hyman Rickover, naval officer. Emigrated to the USA at the age of six and graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1922. He became an admiral in the US Navy and was known as the Father of the Nuclear Navy for his leadership in building the atomic-powered submarine USS Nautilus in 1954. He served on active duty with the US Navy for more than 63 years. Born in Makow, Russia (now Poland).
1903	Sir John Carew Eccles, physiologist. Shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1963 for his discovery of the chemical means by which impulses are communicated or repressed by nerve cells and also showed how signals pass between nerves and muscles. He observed living cells in action by planting exceptionally tiny electrodes in them. Born in Melbourne, Australia.
1907	Henry Cotton, golfer. Three-time winner of the British Open. A flamboyant and stylish player from an upper-class, public school background, he actively campaigned against the golfing establishment's poor treatment of professionals. Born in Cheshire, England.
1912	Francis Rogallo, aeronautical engineer. Known as the father of hang gliding for inventing the flexible lightweight wing that was a precursor to the modern hang glider. His invention also led to other forms of non-powered flight including paragliding. Born in Sanger, California, USA.
1933	Mohamed Fayed, CEO (Harrods). Received his first big break when he married the sister of the up-and-coming international trader and arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. He eventually became a financial adviser to the then world's richest man, the Sultan of Brunei. He then allegedly embezzled the best part of $1 billion from the Sultan's bank accounts and used it to buy House of Fraser, the parent company of Harrods department store in London, England. Born in Alexandria, Egypt.
1936	Samuel Ting, physicist. Shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1976 for his discovery of a new subatomic particle named the J particle. Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
1945	Nick Mason, drummer (Pink Floyd). The only member of Pink Floyd that performed on every album. Born in Birmingham, England.
1948	Mikhail Baryshnikov, ballet dancer. Widely hailed as one of ballet's greatest performers. He defected while on tour in Canada in 1974 and danced with the American Ballet Theatre until 1978, winning enormous acclaim. He served as its artistic director from 1980 to 1989. Born in Riga, USSR (now Latvia).
1964	Bridget Fonda, actress (Scandal, Single White Female). Daughter of Peter Fonda (Easy Rider, Hired Hand, Lilith). Born in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Deaths:
1901	Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer. Born of humble, rural origin, he became the leading and most prolific operatic composer of the latter 19th century and was regarded as one of the most important figures in Italian music. A fervent nationalist, he was regarded as a great national figure. He is best known for his operas such as "Rigoletto", "Il trovatore", "La traviata", "Don Carlos", "Otello", "Nabucco", and "Aïda". Died in Milan, Italy, aged 87.
1967	Roger Chaffee, US Air Force lieutenant commander, astronaut (Apollo I). One of the third group of pilots to be selected by NASA in 1963 to become astronauts was subsequently selected to be one of the pilots for Apollo 1. He was killed in the Apollo 1 launch pad fire along with Gus Grissom and Edward White, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, aged 31.
1967	Virgil (Gus) Grissom, US Air Force lieutenant colonel, astronaut (Mercury 4, Gemini 3, Apollo 1). Chosen with the first group of astronauts in 1959 and was selected as commander of the first Apollo flight (Apollo 1). He was one of the first casualties of the US space program, killed in a launch pad fire along with Roger Chaffee and Edward White in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, aged 41.
1967	Edward White II, US Air Force lieutenant colonel, astronaut (Apollo I, Gemini 4). First American astronaut to walk in space during the four-day orbital flight of Gemini 4 in 1965. He was one of the first casualties of the US space program, killed in a launch pad fire along with Virgil (Gus) Grissom and Roger Chaffee. Died in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, aged 36.
1972	Mahalia Jackson, gospel singer (He's Got the Whole World in His Hands). Known as "the Queen of gospel", she sang at the inaugural party for US President John F. Kennedy and at the funeral of Martin Luther King. Died of heart failure in Chicago, Illinois, USA, aged 60.
1989	Sir Thomas Sopwith, English aircraft designer. Founder of the Sopwith Aviation Company in 1912, building many of the aircraft used by the British Air Force in WW I such as the Sopwith Camel. He also held the chairmanship of the Hawker-Siddeley Group from 1935, and was president from 1963. He was knighted in 1953. Died in Compton Manor, near Winchester, Hampshire, England, aged 101.
2008	Suharto, second President of Indonesia (1967 - 98). Joined the Dutch colonial forces during WW II and by 1965, he'd risen to the rank of army chief of staff. In that same year, he led a coup d'etat to overthrow the government of Sukarno, allegedly receiving CIA backing. He became acting president in 1967, immediately increasing military funding, cancelling diplomatic ties with China, increasing press censorship, and becoming the final arbiter of all political decisions. He ruled through military control and media censorship, and he controlled the nation's finances to such as extent that when he was finally forced out of office, his family fortune was estimated at US $15 billion. He was placed under house arrest in 2000 when authorities began to investigate corruption during his regime and he was accused of embezzling US $571 million of government donations. According to the World Bank, between 20% and 30% of Indonesia's development budget had been embezzled over the years. State prosecutors have not yet been able to bring him to trial because of his allegedly declining health. Died after suffering multiple organ failure following a long illness in Pertamina hospital, Jakarta, Indonesia, aged 86.
Events on this day:
1606	The trial of Guy Fawkes and his conspirators for their plot to blow up the English Parliament begins.
1880	Thomas Edison applies for a patent for his electric incandescent lamp that he invented on 21 November 1879.
1886	The first British government of Lord Salisbury resigns.
1888	The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington DC, USA.
1908	Pasiphaë, a satellite of Jupiter, is discovered by Melotte.
1916	Conscription is introduced for the first time in Britain with the National Military Service Act.
1924	Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin's body is placed in the Mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow.
1926	John Logie Baird gives the first public demonstration of what would become the modern television system in London, England.
1927	The Harlem Globetrotters play their first game.
1945	The Red Army arrives at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland and find the Nazi concentration camp where more than 1 million people were murdered. The evacuation of prisoners begins.
1950	Science magazine announces the new antibiotic terramyacin. Manufactured by Pfizer, it was found to be effective against pneumonia, dysentery, and other infections.
1967	Apollo 1 catches fire on the launch pad and kills astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee.
1967	More than 60 nations sign the Outer Space Treaty, banning nuclear weapons in space.
1967	The Beatles sign a 9 year worldwide contract with EMI records.
1973	The Paris Peace Accords declare a ceasefire between the US and Vietnam, ending the longest war in American history.
1991	Somali Dictator Muhammad Siyad Barre flees his compound in Mogadishu.
1992	Mike Tyson goes on trial charged with raping a 1991 Miss Black America contestant.
1998	Roland Clarkson discovers 2^3021377-1, the 37th known .
2008	The US Federal Reserve Bank cuts interest rates by ¾% to 3.5%, its biggest cut in 25 years, to try and prevent the economy from slumping into recession.