TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – FEB 11
660 BC Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu
0055 Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman Emperorship, dies under mysterious circumstances in Rome. This clears the way for Nero to become Emperor.
1531 Henry VIII is recognized as the supreme head of the Church of England.
1752 The Pennsylvania Hospital opened as the very first hospital in America.
1805 Lewis and Clark’s Shoshone guide Sacajawea gave birth to a son, Jean Baptiste.
1808 Judge Jesse Fell experimented by burning anthracite coal to keep his house warm. He successfully showed how clean the coal burned and how cheaply it could be used as a heating fuel.
1809 Robert Fulton patents the steamboat.
1812 The term “gerrymandering” had its beginning when the governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry, signed a redistricting law that favored his party.
1858 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, a French miller’s daughter, claims to have seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes.
1904 President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims strict neutrality for the United States in the Russo-Japanese War.
1942 “Archie” comic book debuts
1945 The meeting of President Franklin Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Marshal Joseph Stalin in Yalta, adjourns
1951 U.N. forces push north across the 38th parallel for the second time in the Korean War.
1953 Walt Disney’s film Peter Pan premieres.
1959 Iran turns down Soviet aid in favor of a U.S. proposal for aid
1968 Madison Square Garden III closes Madison Square Garden IV opens (NYC)
1974 Libya nationalizes three US oil companies that had not agreed to 51 percent nationalization in September
1975 Mrs. Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman to lead the British Conservative Party.
1979 Iran’s premier Bakhtiar resigns, Ayatollah Khomeini seizes power
1990 South African political leader Nelson Mandela is released from prison in Paarl, South Africa, after serving more than 27 years of a life sentence.
1999 Pluto moves further away from the sun than Neptune regaining its status as solar system’s outermost planet, a title it will retain for 228 years
2011 Egyptian Revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 18 days of protests (Arab Spring)
2013 Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation from February 28, the first pope to resign since 1415
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
