This Day in History

Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500

22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

The race is the direct successor of shorter races held on Daytona Beach. This long square was partially on the sand and also on the highway near the beach. Earlier events featured 200 mile (320 km) races with stock cars

Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera," to a meeting of the Optical Society of America

21 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

The invention of modern instant cameras is generally credited to American scientist Edwin Land, who unveiled the first commercial instant camera, the Land Camera, in 1947, 10 years after founding Polaroid Corporation.

The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington

20 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

William Goddard, a Patriot printer frustrated that the royal postal service was unable to reliably deliver his Pennsylvania Chronicle to its readers or deliver critical news for the paper to Goddard, laid out a plan for the "Constitutional Post"

730 - Printing

18 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Printing invented in China: an essential step in mass communication/ administration/cultural dissemination

Union Major General Sherman burns Columbia, South Carolina

17 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

The burning of Columbia has engendered controversy ever since, with some claiming the fires were accidental, others a deliberate act of vengeance, and still others that the retreating Confederates burned bales of cotton on their way out of town

Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon (toothbrush, stockings, etc)

16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Nylon is one of the most commonly used polymers. It is a thermoplastic silky material, first used commercially in a nylon-bristled toothbrush (1938), followed more famously by womens stockings ("nylons"; 1940).

Canada adopts maple leaf flag.

15 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

In 1921, King George V proclaimed the official colors of Canada as red from Saint George's Cross and white from the French royal emblem. The maple leaf has served as a symbol celebrating the nature and environment of what is now Canada since the 1700s. The number of points on the leaf has no meaning

Valentines Day begins in the High Middle Ages

14 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

The holiday first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

Israel obtains 4 of the 7 Dead Sea scrolls after ad published in Wall Street

13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

By the end of 1948, nearly two years after their discovery, scholars had yet to locate the cave where the fragments had been found. With unrest in the country at that time, no large-scale search could be undertaken

Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, and its first city at Savannah (known as Georgia Day)

12 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

On February 12, 1733, General James Oglethorpe and his settlers landed at Yamacraw Bluff and were greeted by Tomo-Chi-Chi, the Yamacraws, and Indian traders John and Mary Musgrove. (Mary Musgrove often served as a translator.)

Anthracite coal is first burned as a fuel, experimentally.

11 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Anthracite was first experimentally burned as a residential heating fuel in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on an open grate in a fireplace. Anthracite differs from wood in that it needs a draft from the bottom, and Judge Fell proved with his grate design that it was a viable heating fuel.

The IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov for the first time

10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

On February 10, 1996, Deep Blue became the first machine to win a chess game against a reigning world champion (Garry Kasparov) under regular time controls

Sandford Fleming first proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.

8 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

A timescale based on the rotation of the Earth. It is a modern continuation of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). The expression is ambiguous, as there are several versions of it, the most commonly used being UTC and UT1.

The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt

4 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

is an ancient hand-written copy of the Greek Bible.[1] It is an Alexandrian text-type manuscript written in the 4th century in uncial letters

The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, granting voting rights to citizens regardless of race

3 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

This amendment prohibits the states and the federal government from using a citizen's race (this applies to all races[1]), color or previous status as a slave as a voting qualification. The North Carolina Supreme Court upheld this right

Russia establishes a fur trading colony at Fort Ross, California

2 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Before the colonization of the Americas, Russia was a major supplier of fur-pelts to Western Europe and parts of Asia. Fur was a major Russian export as trade developed in the early Middle Ages, first through the Baltic and Black Seas. With the development of railways...

Battle of Marathon [TOP Historical Moment]

1 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Battle of Marathon: the Greeks repel a Persian invasion, securing the survival of Greek culture and science

3M begins marketing Scotch Tape

31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

To cut costs 3M applied the adhesive only to the edges of the tape. A remark was made by a St. Paul automobile detailer that the stingy Scotch bosses needed to put more adhesive on it creating a more robust adhesive.

The worlds first modern suspension bridge is opened

30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

a suspension bridge between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. Designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826, it is one of the first modern suspension bridges in the world.

"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe is published in the New York Evening Mirror.

29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

"The Raven" is a narrative poem by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in January 1845. It is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere

Edward VI is the first Protestant ruler of England

28 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Henry VIII dies. His nine year old son, Edward VI becomes King, and the first Protestant ruler of England. Protestantism was established for the first time in England, with reforms that included the abolition of clerical celibacy and the mass

Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva

27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

As a civilian administrator, Trajan is best known for his extensive public building program, which reshaped the city of Rome and left multiple enduring landmarks such as Trajan's Forum

At the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first official basketball game is played.

20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

After rejecting other ideas, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot elevated track. Balls had to be retrieved manually after each basket or point scored; the peach baskets were used until 1906.

Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.

19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Neon (Greek meaning 'new one') was discovered in 1898 by the British chemists Sir William Ramsay. Chemical element, symbol Ne, is very common in the universe but rare on Earth. Neon gives a distinct reddish-orange glow when used in discharge tubes and neon lamps

US Operation Desert Storm commences

16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Baghdad is pummeled live on CNN. Targeted with smartbombs are "command and control facilities" and Saddam Hussein himself.