1678 Padua, Education. Venetian noblewoman Elena Cornaro Piscopia was awarded a doctorate of philosophy, making her the first woman to earn a PhD. She had been a child prodigy in music and languages and the University of Padua near Venice, after several petitions and some financial considerations, allowed her to study theology so that she might better translator gospel texts.
1847 The city of Melbourne was proclaimed. Governor Bourke in Sydney had discouraged settlement around Port Phillip but John Batman disregarded this edict and persisted and prevailed when in a masterstroke he proposed naming the new settlement after the current British prime minister. No longer could Bourke object. This is the origin of the continuing feud between Sydney and Melbourne, much discussed in the latter and unknown in the former.
1857 Paris, Literature. Gustav Flaubert went on trial for public immortality for his novel Madame Bovary. Today there is more public immortality on show on television at any time. Flaubert was acquitted and used the experience in another of his novels.
1868 The US Congress legislated an eight-hour day for all federal employees, albeit in a six-day work week.
1978 The first use of the rainbow flag in a march in San Francisco. It is much seen around Newtown but I wonder how many who sport it know the interpretation of the colours as below. I didn’t. The Wikipedia entry is so inclusive that it is incoherent.
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