- 1631 Puritan Roger Williams arrives in Boston from England; founder of the Separation of Church and State; founded Providence town and Rhode Island.
- 1725 Patriot James Otis born; leader of the Stamp Act Congress (1765); championed against no-warrant no-knock police entry; coined "No Taxation without Representation".
- 1840 Scottish inventor John Dunlop born; patented the pneumatic (air-filled) tire.
- 1840 American inventor Hiram Maxim born; patented hundreds of inventions, including the Maxim machine gun.
- 1914 English biophysicist Alan Hodgkin born; 1963 Nobel (with Andrew Huxley & John Eccles) discovering ionic chemical nerve cell excitation mechanism.
- 1962 Planetary "alignment"; the naked-eye planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn seen inside a 17 degree cone of view from Earth; they do so every 57 years inside a 25 degree cone or better. (The Moon is half a degree wide.)
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Today in History: February 5
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