Browsing: January 25

A Brief History On January 25, 2019, the people of Brumadinho, Brazil, found out how dam failure can be a catastrophe when a mining dam broke and 270 people were killed.  The same mining company previously had a dam fail in 2015, at Mariana, Brazil, killing 19 people, far fewer than some other major dam failures. Digging Deeper In the US, the worst dam failure as far as human fatalities, was the South Fork Dam failure in Pennsylvania in 1889, an earthen dam overwhelmed by heavy rains that killed 2,208 people. This dam had failed before!  Another US earthen dam…

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A Brief History On January 25, 1980, India honored the Albanian Nun, known as Mother Teresa, with their highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna.  Born in what is now North Macedonia, Teresa would go on to found the Missionaries of Charity and minister to the poor and dying people of India, eventually becoming a Catholic Saint in 2016 almost two decades after her death. Digging Deeper Did this woman deserve these accolades?  Some say no!  Critics claim that though she received millions of dollars’ worth of contributions, her facilities did not provide medical care or comfort to the dying poor…

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A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on January 25th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On January 25, 1585, Walter Raleigh, an English explorer and adventurer, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I of England, perhaps because he named a region of North America “Virginia” in honor of the Virgin Queen. On January 25, 1881, 2 of the great names in the annals of inventions teamed up to form the Oriental Telephone Company. On January 25, 1915, telephone…

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A Brief History On January 25, 1585, Walter Raleigh, an English explorer and adventurer, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I of England, perhaps because he named a region of North America “Virginia” in honor of the Virgin Queen. Digging Deeper Helping to suppress Irish rebellion, defending England against the Spanish Armada, and being a key figure in the colonization of North America, Raleigh became somewhat of a celebrity of his time, although he also had some problems along the way. Plunked into jail for marrying without the Queen’s permission, Raleigh was released and chased after the mythical city of gold,…

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A Brief History On January 25, 1881, 2 of the great names in the annals of inventions teamed up to form the Oriental Telephone Company.  Harnessing the invention of Alexander Graham Bell for commercial purposes, Bell teamed with Thomas Edison, the Anglo-Indian Telephone Company and the Oriental Telephone Company of New York to form the new enterprise to sell telephones and related equipment in the Mediterranean and Near East areas as well as India and the Far East.  Bell became the first to patent the telephone in 1876, providing the first method of long-distance voice transmission.  Prior to his invention,…

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