Browsing: January

A Brief History On January 12, 2005, the American space exploration agency known as NASA launched a mission called Deep Impact, a probe designed to violently impact the comet Tempel 1. Digging Deeper The goal of the Deep Impact project was to have an “impactor” strike the comet hard enough to dislodge material from the comet’s core for NASA scientists to study the material that makes up the core. On July 4, 2005, the impactor performed as designed and struck the comet a mighty blow, leaving a crater and dislodging core material.  Analysis of the dislodged material revealed a greater…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on January 11th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On January 11, 532, the seeds of a riot broke out in the capital of the Byzantine Empire (spawn of the Eastern Roman Empire), Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) over competing support of chariot racing teams. On January 11, 1569, the first documented example of a lottery in England took place. On January 11, 1935, American aviatrix Amelia Earhart became the first person to fly…

A Brief History On January 11, 1569, the first documented example of a lottery in England took place.  Although 1569 seems like a long time ago, lotteries actually go back much, much farther! Digging Deeper The first evidence of any sort of government run lottery for money game takes us back to the Chinese Han Dynasty somewhere between 205 and 187 BC.  This money raising scheme was for the purpose of financing public works, including The Great Wall of China. Lotteries first showed up in Europe in the Roman Empire, first in private parties and later under Emperor Augustus as…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on January 10th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On January 10, 49 B.C., Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River as he marched toward the city of Rome with his legions. On January 10, 1776, the pamphlet Common Sense by American patriot Thomas Paine was published. On January 10, 1810, Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, divorced Josephine, Empress of the French, the only woman Napoleon ever really loved. On January 10, 1920,…

A Brief History On January 10, 1927, Fritz Lang’s classic film Metropolis was released in Germany.  This iconic film, made during the “silent film era,” cost the modern equivalent of 21 million Euros and is considered to be among the greatest films ever made. Digging Deeper Oddly enough, Orson Welles, creator of another candidate for “Greatest Movie,” Citizen Kane, called Metropolis, “Silly.” Some of the other films others have called, “The Greatest,” include Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Vertigo, Jaws, The Seven Samurai, The Godfather, Battleship Potemkin, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Obviously, criteria such as biggest…