On This Day
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Sent: Friday, April 24, 2009 3:00 AM
Subject: Friday April 24, 2009: Reference.com On This Day
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On This Day:
Friday April 24, 2009
This is the 114th day of the year, with 251 days remaining in 2009.
Fact of the Day: Lunar Eclipse
When the Moon moves through the shadow of the Earth, it loses its bright
direct illumination by the Sun, although its disk still remains faintly
visible. Since the shadow of the Earth is directed away from the Sun, a lunar
eclipse can occur only when there is a full Moon - that is, when the Moon is on
the side of the Earth opposite to that of the Sun. The longest that the total
eclipse can last is about one hour and 45 minutes. During the eclipse, the
surface of the Moon cools, depending on the makeup of the lunar soil, which
varies just like the Earth's soil varies.
Holidays
Feast day of St. Mellitus, St. Egbert, St. Wilfrid, St. Ives, St.
Fidelis, St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, and St. William Firmatus.
Armenia: Armenian Martyrs Day.
Events
1558 - Mary, Queen of Scotland, married the French dauphin, Francis II.
1704 - The first regularly issued American newspaper, "the Boston News
Letter," started publication.
1792 - The national anthem of France, "La Marseillaise," was composed by
Captain Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
1800 - The Library of Congress was established. President John Adams
approved the appropriation of $5,000 for the purchase of "such books as may be
necessary for the use of congress."
1833 - A patent was granted for first soda fountain to Jacob Ebert of
Cadiz, Ohio and George Dulty of Wheeling, West Virginia .
1898 - Spain declared war on the United States, rejecting the U.S.
ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.
1915 - The Ottoman Turkish Empire began a mass deportation of Armenians
during World War I.
1916 - The Irish Republican Brotherhood or Sinn Fein, Irish nationalists
led by Patrick Pearse, launched the so-called Easter Rebellion, an armed
uprising against British rule.
1953 - Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth
II.
1961 - President John F. Kennedy accepted "sole responsibility" for the
failed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
1962 - MIT executed the first satellite relay of a TV signal.
1970 - China launched its first satellite.
1980 - An ill-fated military operation to rescue the 52 American hostages
held in Tehran ended with eight U.S. servicemen dead and no hostages rescued.
1981 - The IBM Personal Computer was introduced.
1990 - The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral,
Florida, carrying the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope.
2004 - The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya for
its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
2005 - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the
Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.
Births
1766 - Robert Bailey Thomas, American founder and editor of "The Farmer's
Almanac."
1904 - Willem de Kooning, Dutch-born American abstract impressionist
painter.
1905 - Robert Penn Warren, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, poet laureate
of U.S.
1911 - Jack E. Leonard (Leonard Lebitsky), American comedian, actor.
1940 - Sue Grafton, American author.
1942 - Barbra Streisand, American award-winning vocalist, actress,
director.
Deaths
1967 - Vladimir Komarov, Soviet cosmonaut, and the first confirmed human
to die during a space mission.
1974 - Bud Abbott, American actor and comedian.
1997 - Pat Paulsen, American comic and presidential candidate.
2004 - Estee Lauder, American cosmetics entrepreneur.
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