Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Today in History: April 22

  • 1724 German philosopher Immanuel Kant born; deduced that the Milky Way was a lens shaped collection (galaxy) of stars, that nebulas were similar collections of stars, and that the solar system coelesced from a gaseous nebula; wrote Critique of Pure Reason.
  • 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush: Oklahoma City and Guthrie formed in a single day each with over 10,000 people.
  • 1904 American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer born; scientific director of Los Alamos laboratory during the Manhattan Project which created the atomic bomb. Read Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb.
  • 1919 American chemist Donald Cram born; 1987 Nobel, for synthesizing three-dimensional molecules that could mimic the functioning of natural molecules.
  • 1929 British mathematician Michael Atiyah born; 1966 Fields, for development of K-theory in topology, which led to a deeper understanding of quantum string theories.
  • 1945 In Croatia, Jasenovac death camp prisoners revolt; 520 killed, 80 escape. Before leaving the camp the same day, the guards murdered the remaining prisoners and destroyed the buildings. More than 70,000 people were murdered at this death camp.
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