This Week In #History ... May 2nd - 8th
Monday, May 2, 2011 at 1:23PM
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @UlaVovk
May 2
1780 William Herschel discovers 1st binary star, Xi Ursae Majoris
1885 "Good Housekeeping" magazine is 1st published
1887 Hannibal W. Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film
1902 1st science fiction film released, A Trip To The Moon
1919 1st U.S. air passenger service starts
1933 In Germany, Adolf Hitler bans trade unions
1945 Russia takes Berlin; General Weidling surrenders
1952 1st scheduled jet airliner passenger service began with a BOAC Comet
1975 Apple records closes down
1982 Falklands War: Argentine cruiser General Belgrano sunk by British submarine Conqueror, killing more than 350 men
1990 South Africa and African National Congress open talks to end apartheid
1997 Mercury Mail announces its 1 millionth internet subscriber
2010 The European Union and International Monetary Fund present Greece with 120 billion Euro bailout package to help rid them of their sovereign debt
May 3
1494 Jamaica discovered by Columbus; he names it "St. Iago"
1715 Edmund Halley observes total eclipse phenomenon "Baily's Beads"
1765 1st U.S. medical college opens in Philadelphia
1830 1st regular steam train passenger service starts
1886 M A Maclean elected 1st mayor of Vancouver, BC
1919 America's 1st passenger flight (New York - Atlantic City)
1929 Prussia bans anti-fascists
1937 Margaret Mitchell wins Pulitzer Prize for 'Gone With the Wind'
1952 1st landing by an airplane at geographic North Pole
1965 1st use of satellite TV, Today Show on Early Bird Satellite
1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes the 1st woman prime minister of Great Britain
1994 U.S. space probe Clementine launched
2010 United and Continental air lines announce that the two American companies will merge, creating the world's largest airline
May 4
1715 French manufacturer debuts 1st folding umbrella (Paris)
1780 American Academy of Arts and Science founded
1878 Phonograph shown for 1st time at Grand Opera House
1910 Tel Aviv founded
1919 1st legal Sunday baseball game in New York City (Phillies beat Giants 4-3)
1927 1st balloon flight over 40,000 feet (Scott Field, Ill)
1942 Battle of Coral Sea begun (1st sea battle fought solely in air)
1957 Anne Frank Foundation forms in Amsterdam
1959 1st Grammy Awards: Perry Como and Ella Fitzgerald win
1967 Lunar Orbiter 4 launched by U.S.; begins orbiting Moon May 7
1976 Kiss performs their 1st concert
1990 Latvia's parliament votes 138-0 (1 abstention) for Independence
2010 An auction at Christie's in New York sets a record for the most expensive work of art sold at auction when it sells Pablo Picasso's 'Nude, Green Leaves and Bust' for $106 million
May 5
1646 King Charles I surrenders at Scotland
1762 Russia and Prussia sign peace treaty
1809 Mary Kies is 1st woman issued a U.S. patent (weaving straw)
1847 American Medical Association organized (Philadelphia)
1900 "The Billboard" began weekly publication
1922 Construction begins on Yankee Stadium
1936 Edward Ravenscroft patents screw-on bottle cap with a pour lip
1944 Gandhi freed from prison
1956 World championships of judo are 1st held, in Tokyo
1961 Alan Shepard becomes 1st American in space (aboard Freedom 7)
1979 Voyager 1 passes Jupiter
1997 "Married With Children" final episode on Fox TV
2000 Conjunction of Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Moon
May 6
1833 John Deere makes 1st steel plow
1851 Linus Yale patents Yale-lock
1889 Universal Exposition opens in Paris, Eiffel Tower completed
1921 American Soccer League forms
1941 Joseph Stalin became premier of Russia
1950 Liz Taylor's 1st marriage to Conrad Hilton, Jr.
1957 Last broadcast of "I Love Lucy" on CBS-TV
1968 Battle between students and troops in Paris, 1000 injured
1979 Fred Markham set a bicycle speed record of 818 kph over 200 m
1991 Space Shuttle STS-39 (Discovery 12) lands
2010 Ash from the Iceland volcano causes new flight restrictions at airports including Shannon Airport and Ireland West Airport Knock
May 7
1663 Theatre Royal in Drury Lane London opens
1789 1st inaugurational ball (for George Washington in New York City)
1888 George Eastman patents "Kodak box camera"
1904 Flexible Flyer trademark registered
1914 U.S. Congress establishes mother's day
1928 England lowers age of women voters from 30 to 21
1940 Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain
1951 International Olympic committee allows Russia to participate in 1952 Olympics
1958 Howard Johnson sets aircraft altitude record in F-104, 27,810 m
1975 Small Astronomy Satellite Explorer 53 launched to study X-rays
1982 IBM releases PC-DOS version 1.1
1992 Jockey Angel Cordero retires after winning over 7,000 horse races
2010 Abdul Tejan-Cole, head of Sierra Leone's anti-Corruption Commission, resigns
May 8
1834 Charles Darwin's expedition returns to the Beagle
1847 Robert Thompson patents rubber tire
1861 Richmond, Virginia, is named the capital of the Confederacy
1879 George Selden files for 1st patent for a gasoline-driven automobile
1902 Mount Pelee erupts, wipes out St. Pierre, Martinique, kills 30,000
1919 1st transatlantic flight take-off by a Navy seaplane
1929 Jan Mayen island, 500 km NNE of Iceland, incorporated into Norway
1942 German summer offensive opens in Crimea
1951 Dacron men's suits introduced
1962 London trolley buses go out of service
1969 Pope Paul VI publishes constitution Sacra Ritum Congregation
1980 World Health Organization announced smallpox had been eradicated
1989 U.S. space shuttle STS-30 lands
2010 Bolivian president Evo Morales Ayma and United National Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon discuss climate change
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