In 1715 a total solar eclipse was visible over northern Europe and northern Asia, as predicted by Edmond Halley to within 4 minutes of accuracy. In 1802 Washington DC was incorporated as a city. In 1837 the University of Athens was founded in Athens Greece. And in 1948 the US Supreme Court ruled, in Shelley v Kraemer, that covenants that prohibit the sale of real estate to blacks or other minorities are unenforceable.
This was a day of firsts – the first full-length Indian feature film was released – the beginning of the Indian film industry (1913); West Virginia become the first state to levy a state tax (1921); the Kentucky Derby was televised nationally for the first time (1952); and Margaret Thatcher became the first female English Prime Minister (1979(.
This was the birthdate of Scottish chemist Charles Tennant (1768) who discovered bleaching powder; Dutch philosopher, theologian, and apologist Cornelius Van Til (1895); Ukrainian- Israeli educator Golda Meir (1898) who became Israel’s 4th Prime Minister; and boxed Sugar Ray Robinson (1921).
There were three music icons born this date: Folk singer and activist Pete Seeger(1919), Godfather of Soul James Brown (1933); and melodic easy listening crooner Christopher Cross (1951).
We bid farewell to pioneering trans woman Christine Jorgenson (1989), Astronaut Wally Schirra (2007), and child star Jackie Cooper (2011) who survived to star as an adult as well (Perry White in the Superman films).
Today in Japan it is Constitutional Memorial Day – post WWII constitution adopted in 1947. It is also International Sun Day and World Press Freedom Day.
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