A Brief History On July 9, 1962, the United States Defense Atomic Support Agency and Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) launched a rocket from a remote Pacific Ocean island called Johnston Island (or Johnston Atoll), a rocket carrying a thermonuclear bomb (aka, Hydrogen Bomb) into space. The Thor rocket carried a W49 thermonuclear warhead, a 1.4 megaton yield device, that was detonated 250 miles above the Earth, about 900 miles West-Southwest of the Hawaiian Islands. The blast took place about 11 pm local time in Hawaii. Digging Deeper This particular nuclear test in space was called Starfish Prime, an operation within…
Browsing: July 9
A Brief History On July 9, 1979, the Renault automobile of “Nazi hunters” Serge and Beate Klarsfeld blew up outside their home in France, an unsuccessful assassination attempt by someone who did not want their Nazi hunting to be successful. Every so often, the hunters become the hunted, and today we will examine 5 times investigators or police officers were targeted by the miscreants being investigated. (For the purposes of this article, we will include judges, prosecutors and other investigators or people involved in bringing criminals to justice.) It must be noted that so many (thousands and thousands) of Mexican…
A Brief History On July 9, 1850, US President Zachary Taylor died after consuming mass quantities of fresh fruit and iced milk at a July 4th fund raising and holiday celebration. Taylor, the only President to hail from Louisiana, suffered severe abdominal distress and fever for 5 days before he died, becoming the second President to die in office (after William Henry Harrison) and leaving Vice President Millard Fillmore to finish his term as President (1850-1853). Digging Deeper Taylor represented the Whig Party, and Fillmore became the last Whig to ascend to the Presidency. Curiously, Fillmore did not appoint a…
A Brief History On July 9, 1922, Johnny Weissmuller became the first man to break 60 seconds in the 100 meter freestyle swim, posting a world record time of 58.6 seconds. Weissmuller rode his fame as a swimmer to become the Tarzan of the movies that we think of as the definitive Tarzan. He was the greatest swimmer of his day, but girls routinely beat his best times today. Here we list 10 of the greatest swimmers in the world and in history, some of which may not be what you are thinking of. (Maybe next time we can list the worst swimmers!)…
A Brief History On July 9, 1958, an earthquake (7.9 to 8.3 on the Richter scale) struck Alaska, shaking off a 90 million (long) ton block of rock and ice into Lituya Bay in southern Alaska, resulting in the biggest wave ever recorded. Digging Deeper A megatsunami is created when an impact event occurs, such as a meteor striking the water, a landslide causing large amounts of material to fall into the water, or violent volcanic activity. This differs from normal tsunamis that originate from volcanic or tectonic activity on the sea floor, while megatsunamis events are created by impact…
