1893 Melbourne, Politics: Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire arrived in Melbourne for a tour that included hunting parties and barbeques. He continued on around the world. His murder later would spark World War I in which millions died including thousands of Australians. Below is an image of his bloodied jacket.
1897 New York City Harbor, Technology. Irish-born inventor John Philip Holland launched a submarine that could travel submerged by using a combination of gasoline and electric engines. He sold it to the navy who christened it the USS Holland. Likewise the first submarine in Briish Royal Navy was called the HMS Holland.
1902 Antikythera Island, Archaeology: Spyridon Stais found the Antikythera mechanism in a shipwreck off the eponymous Greek island. It is a clockwork mechanism from 205 BC with a gear, perhaps to model the movement of objects in the sky.
1954 Topeka (Kansas), Law: The Supreme Court held that segregation violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution in (Linda) Brown V the Board of Education. Note that the leader of this unanimous decision was Republican Chief Justice Earl Warren. The grade school in question is now a Civil Rights museum which I have visited a couple of times. It has some bloodcurdling displays of racial hatred.
1970 Rabat (Morocco), History: Thor Heyerdahl set off across the Atlantic on a raft made of papyrus to sail to the Americas. His contention was the Egyptians had done this millennia before. The raft (pictured below) was called Ra II and crossed four thousand miles of ocean in fifty-seven days to reach Barbados.
Skip to content