Browsing: April 15

A Brief History On April 15, 1923, the hormone insulin became widely available for the treatment of diabetes.  Prior to the discovery of insulin and its adaptation for medical use, diabetes was an often-fatal disease of the inability of the body to process glucose. Digging Deeper Even today, diabetes claims millions of lives per year, as well as causing a variety of related maladies such as kidney failure, blindness, and nerve damage.  Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas, and was discovered in 1921 by Frederick Banting of Canada, a Nobel Prize winning discovery. By 1923, insulin became available…

A Brief History On April 15, 1955, McDonald’s hamburger and fast-food chain claims their founding by Ray Kroc in Illinois when he opened a franchise restaurant of the hamburger stand brand founded by Richard and Maurice McDonald in California.  Since Kroc made McDonald’s the fast-food giant that it is, it is not surprising he would use the date of his involvement as the “founding” date. Digging Deeper Some interesting McDonald’s facts include: Mickey D’s has over 40,000 locations in at least 119 countries. The runners up in most fast-food locations is Subway, followed by Starbucks, KFC, and Burger King. McDonald’s…

A Brief History Today, I wish a Happy Birthday to any of my friends, students, and subscribers who were born on April 15th. Digging Deeper Some notable historical figures who were born on April 15th include Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Empress Catherine I of Russia (1684–1727), the American-British author of the ghost story titled The Turn of the Screw Henry James (1843–1916), French sociologist Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), American actress and star of Bewitched Elizabeth Montgomery (1933–1995), the English actress best known for portraying Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series Emma Watson (born 1990), and the English…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on April 15th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On April 15, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to join the US Army to put down the rebellion known later as the American Civil War. On April 15, 1923, the hormone insulin became widely available for the treatment of diabetes. On April 15, 1952, a milestone in aviation history was crossed when the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress made its first flight, a…

A Brief History On April 15, 2016, we ran an article acknowledging April 15th as the day your income tax return must be filed by each year in the United States, and used that fact to list five days people really look forward to and five other days many people may dread.  Today, we do it all again, with an updated list for both columns that takes into account the changing nature of our society, or as you may have guessed already, coronavirus.  As always, we welcome your input on days we could have added to the list or should…