Scott Allsop's Blog, page 50

19th January 1920: Foundation of the American Civil Liberties Union

The organization now boasts more than 1.2 million members and continues to provide legal support where individual rights and liberties are ...

18th January 1911: Eugene Ely lands the first aircraft on a ship when he touches down on USS Pennsylvania

Following a brief flight, Ely executed a successful landing on USS Pennsylvania in a Curtiss Model D 'Pusher', despite being caught off-guard by the sudden updraft that struck the aircraft as he reached the temporary wooden landing ...

17th January 1966: Palomares incident sees a B-52 break apart after a mid-air collision, dropping four nuclear bombs

The B-52 bomber was taking part in Operation Chrome Dome when it collided with a KC-135 Stratotanker and broke apart, resulting in the deaths of 8 airmen and dropping 4 thermonuclear bombs onto the Spanish fishing village of ...

16th January 1919: Nebraska becomes the vital 36th of the 48 states to approve prohibition in the 18th Amendment

Nationwide prohibition began on 17 January the following year, and existed until its repeal by the Twenty-first Amendment in ...

15th January 1892: Rules for basketball published for the first time by James Naismith

On 15 January, 1892, Naismith published his original list of thirteen rules in the Springfield College school newspaper, The Triangle. According to documents found after his death, these were inspired by a game he played as child called ‘duck on a rock’ and he was nervous about whether the game would catch on since he had previously introduced games that his students did not ...

14th January 1967: The Human Be-In takes place in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park

The Human Be-In was conceived by Visionary artist Michael Bowen as a "Gathering of the Tribes" to unite various counterculture factions, from the emerging hippie movement to activists advocating for social ...

13th January 1910: First public radio broadcast features a live performance from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York

The broadcast included performances of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci featuring acclaimed Italian tenor Enrico ...

12th January 1848: The first of the Revolutions of 1848 begins in Palermo on the island of Sicily

Beginning in Sicily, revolutions quickly spread across the continent and by the end of the year a series of uncoordinated uprisings had broken out in dozens of countries including France, Germany, and the Austrian ...

11th January 1964: US Surgeon General publishes groundbreaking report on the health effects of tobacco smoking

The report drew three main conclusions focused on the effect of smoking on the functioning of the respiratory ...

10th January 1776: Thomas Paine publishes the pamphlet Common Sense advocating American independence

The 47-page pamphlet is credited with having a dramatic impact on public opinion in the colonies, and helped to consolidate the idea of independent ...