TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: AUGUST 25
1609 Galileo demonstrates his 1st telescope to Venetian lawmakers
1718 Hundreds of French colonists arrive in Louisiana; New Orleans, founded
1765 In protest over the stamp tax, American colonists sack and burn the home of Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson.
1830 The “Tom Thumb” steam locomotive runs its famous race with a horse-drawn car. The horse wins because the engine, which had been ahead, breaks down.
1835 First Installment of the Great Moon Hoax is Published. The New York-based newspaper The Sun published a series of articles, starting on this day, that detailed the discovery of civilization on the Moon.
1894 Japanese scientist Shibasaburo Kitasato discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet
1902 “Al-Hoda” began publication in New York City making it the first Arabic daily newspaper in the U.S.
1916 The National Park Service is established as part of the Department of the Interior.
1921 The United States, which never ratified the Versailles Treaty ending World War I, finally signs a peace treaty with Germany.
1941 British and Soviet forces enter Iran, opening up a route to supply the Soviet Union.
1944 General Charles de Gaulle walks the Champs Elysees in Paris after the liberation of the city from Nazi occupation
1948 The House Un-American Activities Committee holds first-ever televised congressional hearing.
1950 President Harry Truman orders the U.S. Army to seize control of the nation’s railroads to avert a strike.
1981 Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn.
1983 The U.S. and the Soviet Union signed a $10 billion grain pact.
1989 NASA scientists receive stunning photographs of Neptune and its moons from Voyager 2.
1991 Croatian War of Independence: Battle of Vukovar begins, an 87-day siege of a Croatian city by the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), supported by various Serbian paramilitary forces.
1991 Linux is born when Linus Torvalds sends off an email announcing his project to create a new computer operating system
1997 The tobacco industry agreed to an $11.3 billion settlement with the state of Florida.
1998 A survey released said that 1/3 of Americans use the Internet.
2012 First Spacecraft to Enter Interstellar Space. NASA’s Voyager 1, which was launched on September 5, 1977, left the heliosphere – the part of space that is not influenced by our Sun on this day.
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
