Scott Allsop's Blog, page 66

12th August 1865: Joseph Lister conducts the world’s first antiseptic surgery using phenol, also known as carbolic acid

On 12 August Lister used a piece of lint doused in carbolic acid to cover the compound fracture wound of a seven-year-old boy. Over a period of six weeks the wound healed without developing ...

11th August 3114 BCE: Start of the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar

The Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar, most famously used by the Maya civilisation, ...

10th August 1792: French revolutionaries storm the Tuileries Palace in “the Second Revolution”

Approximately 800 people on the king’s side were killed and Paris was put in the hands of the ...

9th August 1173: Construction begins on the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Construction began on the campanile of the Cathedral of Pisa, now better known as the Leaning Tower of ...

8th August 1963: The Great Train Robbery takes place when a gang of 15 men attack a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London

The robbers succeeded in stealing over £2.6 million in cash. Worth £50million today, the vast majority of the money was never ...

7th August 1909: Alice Ramsey makes the first female transcontinental car journey

Alice Huyler Ramsey became the first woman to drive an automobile across a continent when she completed a 59-day road trip from New York to San ...

6th August 1890: William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by electric chair

William Kemmler became the first person to be executed using an electric ...

5th August 1861: Abraham Lincoln signs US income tax into law to help pay for the American Civil War

The Revenue Act of 1861 was signed into law by Abraham Lincoln, imposing U.S. federal income tax for the first ...

4th August 1944: First Allied jet pilot to achieve a combat victory by ‘tipping’ a V-1 doodlebug

RAF Flight Officer T. D. Dean became the first Allied jet pilot to achieve a combat victory when he 'tipped' a Nazi German V-1 ‘doodlebug’ flying bomb with his Gloster Meteor jet ...

3rd August 1936: Jesse Owens wins his first gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

American athlete Jesse Owens won the first of four gold medals at the Berlin ...