Browsing: February

A Brief History On February 1, 1998, Lillian E. Fishburne became the first African American woman promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral (2 stars) in the United States Navy.  In keeping with the spirit of Black History Month (every February) and expanding on our previous articles celebrating African American achievements, we take this opportunity to cite even more impressive achievements by African Americans, not just “firsts,” but other great accomplishments as well.  (And see our recent article dated January 18, 2021), “Historic African American Firsts”) Who would you add to this list? Digging Deeper Lillian E. Fishburne, 1st African…

A Brief History On February 28, 1844, a steam powered, sail and propeller (screw) driven US Navy corvette, the USS Princeton, one of the newest and most modern ships in America’s fleet, was sailing on the Potomac River with a large retinue of US Government officials aboard including the President of the United States when she experienced one of those terrible maritime experiences we at History and Headlines call a “Naval Oops Moment.”  Yes, yet another in a long line of ignominious incidents involving incredibly inane ideas and infamy that we have touched upon on several previous articles.  (As noted…

A Brief History On February 26, 1935, British scientist Dr. Robert Watson-Watt performed a demonstration that was to lead directly to the development of radar by the British, a concept long anticipated by previous scientists and first demonstrated by German inventor Christian Hülsmeyer in 1904. Digging Deeper Back in the infancy of radio, researchers were discovering the phenomenon of radio waves echoing off objects, a fact Hülsmeyer used to demonstrate how such reflected radio waves could be used to show the position of ships that could not be seen due to darkness, fog, or distance.  Considered the inventor of radar,…

A Brief History On February 25, 1968, South Korean Marines fighting against the communist Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army alongside Americans and the South Vietnamese committed a terrible atrocity in the town of Hà My in South Vietnam.  Sadly, in virtually any war that can be researched, atrocities are almost sure to be found committed by both sides in the conflict. Digging Deeper The South Korean Marines, renowned for their toughness, had suffered a mortar attack in which an officer, an NCO, and 4 troops had been killed.  The direction the mortar fire came from was deemed to be…

A Brief History On February 23, 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against the Polio virus took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The developer of the vaccine, Dr. Jonas Salk, was hailed as hero and the scourge of Polio was basically eradicated from the United States.  No longer would “iron lungs” be common, and parents did not have to live the nightmare of their children dying or becoming crippled by Polio.  As with other vaccines, the Salk vaccine saved untold millions of lives and prevented untold amounts of misery, and yet in recent years vaccines have been under fire from…