TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – MARCH 5
363 Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a campaign that brings about his own death
1616 Nicolaus Copernicus’ revolutionary book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium is banned by the Catholic Church
In the book, Copernicus claimed that the Earth revolves around the sun. The Church maintained Ptolemy’s geocentric system. The book is considered a milestone in the history of astronomy.
1624 Class-based legislation is passed in the colony of Virginia, exempting the upper class from punishment by whipping.
1770 The Boston Massacre, a pre-Revolutionary incident that grew out of anger towards British troops, occurred. Five anti-British rioters were killed.
1821 James Monroe becomes the first president to be inaugurated on March 5, only because the 4th was a Sunday.
1845 Congress appropriates $30,000 to ship camels to western US
1868 US Senate organizes to decide charges against President Andrew Johnson
1872 George Westinghouse Jr patents triple air brake for trains
1912 The Italians become the first to use dirigibles for military purposes, using them for reconnaissance flights behind Turkish lines west of Tripoli.
1918 The Soviets move the capital of Russia from Petrograd to Moscow.
1923 Montana & Nevada become 1st states to enact old age pension laws
1933 Hitler and Nationalist allies win the Reichstag majority. It will be the last free election in Germany until after World War II.
1934 Mother-in-law’s day 1st celebrated (Amarillo TX)
1946 In Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill tells a crowd that “an iron curtain has descended on the Continent [of Europe].”
1956 The U.S. Supreme Court affirms the ban on segregation in public schools in Brown vs. Board of Education.
1959 Iran & US sign economic & military treaty
1968 US launches Solar Explorer 2 to study the Sun
1980 Earth satellites record gamma rays from remnants of supernova N-49
1981 The home computer ZX81 is launched
The British ZX81 was one of the world’s first home computer and was sold over 1.5 million times.
1984 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that cities have the right to display the Nativity scene as part of their Christmas display.
1992 Ethic committee votes to reveal congressmen who bounced checks
1997 North and South Korean representatives met for the first time in 25 years for peace talks.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
