1800 Pavia (Italy), Science: Count Alessandro Volta described the discovery of an electric battery in a letter to the Royal Society of London. It was addressed to the president of Society, Joseph Banks.
1804 Paris, Law: After four years of development the Civil Code Napoléon was promulgated to embody the rights of the French Revolution. It was coherent, simple, rational, and clear. The French legal profession has yet to recover. It remains in force in France, Louisiana, and Quebec, and elsewhere i the Francophone world.
1852 Boston: Literature. Harriet Stowe published Uncle’s Tom Cabin. It was the best seller of the age and became a beacon for the abolition movement. It has been described as the match that lit the slow burning fuse of the Civil War.
1985 Vancouver, Sports: Canadian Rick Hansen left on a fundraising trip around the world in his wheelchair. It took two years, traversing thirty-four countries and raising $C 26 million for disability charities. Hansen was a three-time gold medal Paralympian.
2228 Riverside (IA), Science Fiction: James Tiberius Kirk will be born to command the starship Enterprise.
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