Scott Allsop's Blog, page 44

15th February 1946: ENIAC, the world’s first programmable general-purpose electronic digital computer, formally dedicated

ENIAC was soon put to use running calculations to help build a hydrogen bomb, and continued to operate until ...

14th February 1939: German battleship Bismarck launched at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg

Bismarck was the first of two of the largest battleships ever built by Germany. Ordered for Nazi Germany’s Kriegsmarine, the ship was a testament to Nazi Germany’s ambitions to build a powerful and modern ...

13th February 1981: The sewers of Louisville, Kentucky, explode after industrial waste makes its way into the tunnels

The explosion wiped out services for thousands of residents, while the stench from the open sewers was ...

11th February 1919: Friedrich Ebert elected as first President of the German Weimar Republic

Although committed to democratic principles, the Weimar Republic and President Ebert faced persistent challenges from both the left and the right amidst the daunting task of guiding Germany through economic turmoil, political polarization, and the drafting of a new ...

10th February 1962: Captured U-2 spy plane pilot Gary Powers freed in a prisoner exchange

Powers had been sentenced to 10 years’ confinement in the USSR but, amidst concerns that he might reveal any remaining secrets to the Soviet authorities, the U.S. government agreed to exchange Powers and imprisoned student Frederic Pryor in return for Soviet Colonel Rudolf ...

9th February 1950: Joseph McCarthy starts the Second Red Scare with a speech claiming Communists were working in the U.S. Department of State

In his address to the Ohio County Women’s Republican Club, McCarthy claimed to possess a list of 205 State Department employees with Communist affiliations. This assertion marked the start of what became known as McCarthyism or the Second Red ...

8th February 1910: The Boy Scouts of America organization incorporated by William D. Boyce in Washington D.C.

Although the organization’s numbers have fallen in recent years, it still has an estimated 2.2 million ...

7th February 1914: Charlie Chaplin’s iconic ‘Tramp’ character makes his first public appearance in the film Kid Auto Races at Venice

The film was an immediate success, and audiences were quick to recognize the arrival of a new and unique talent. Reviewers at the time identified Chaplin as ‘a born screen ...

5th February 1909: Bakelite, the world’s first synthetic plastic, announced by Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland

The commercial success of Bakelite extended beyond its utility as its distinctive appearance, became a hallmark of the Art Deco era and added another layer to Bakelite’s rapid and widespread ...

3rd February 1972: The deadliest recorded blizzard hit northwestern, central and southern Iran

Approximately 4,000 people perished in the blizzard, where the worst affected areas were buried in up to 8 metres (26 feet) of snow that would have covered a two and half story ...