325 The Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church. was called by the Emperor Constantine in 325 to deal with the first major doctrinal controversy of the Christian Church. Arius of Alexandria was denying the divinity of Christ but Alexander, the Bishop of Alexandria, maintained the orthodox view that the Son is one substance with the Father. Both had their supporters. It opened on May 20, 325 in present-day Iznik, Turkey.
1498 King Manuel I of Portugal sent explorer Vasco da Gama out to discover a trade route into the Indian Ocean via the southern tip of Africa. In July 1497 da Gama led a fleet of four ships with a crew of 170 men from Lisbon. They arrived at the city of Calicut on the southwest coast of India on May 20, 1498. Da Gama became the first man to sail the passage from Europe to India using the newly discovered route round Africa.
1506 Christopher Columbus made four explanatory voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that opened the New World for European colonization of the Americas. His expeditions were the first European contact with the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. Columbus' body was twisted by arthritis in his last years and he suffered from what is probably Reiter's syndrome. His last residence was a modest home in Valladolid, Spain, where he died in poverty on May 20, 1506
1521 On May 20, 1521 Ignatius of Loyola took part in the Battle of Pamplona fighting the French, when a cannonball shattered his right leg. The fracture was badly repaired and Ignatius' surgeons were forced to break his leg again to set it correctly. He was left with a permanent limp. During a long and painful convalescence from his painful leg wound, Ignatius read about the lives of the saints. Inspired by their heroic lives, he committed himself to a spiritual life.
1570 The first modern atlas was the Theatrum orbis terrarum, by cartographer Abraham Ortelius. It was published on May 20, 1570 by Gilles Coppens de Diest at Antwerp. The atlas contained virtually no maps from the hand of Ortelius, but 53 bundled maps of other masters, with the source as indicated. Demand for the Theatrum orbis terrarum was immediate and persisted for decades, during which time dozens of editions were published in several languages.
1604 A plot led by Robert Catesby was hatched to blow up King James I together with the House of Lords and the House of Commons when they were assembled for the opening of Parliament. The first meeting of the conspirators took place on May 20, 1604, at an inn called the Duck and Drake, in the Strand district of London. Eventually there were thirteen plotters - three of whom - Guy Fawkes and the brothers John and Christopher Wright were school-fellows at St Peter's School in York.
1609 The Sonnets were the last of William Shakespeare's non-dramatic works to be printed. They were first published in London on May 20, 1609, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets dedicated to a mysterious WH. They were written during a great plague and were circulated amongst colleagues of the Earl of Southampton. 1-126 addressed to a fair young man, 127-154 to a “dark lady.”
1620 The Dutch artist Rembrandt was enrolled as a student at the University of Leiden on May 20, 1620. Rembrandt had no scientific leanings preferring to paint and he studied less than a year at the University of Leiden.
1639 The Mather School, the oldest public elementary school in North America, was established on May 20, 1639 in the Dorchester region of Boston, Massachusetts and named after English-born Puritan minister Richard Mather. The first building was a one room schoolhouse and was located on what had been known as "Settlers' Street," near the corner of the present Pleasant and Cottage Streets. In 1798 the town voted to sell the old school and build a new one of brick on Meeting House Hill.
1806 English economist and political philosopher John Stuart Mill was born on Rodney Street in the Pentonville area of London on May 20, 1806. John Stuart was a notably precocious child. At the age of three, he was taught the Greek alphabet and long lists of Greek words with their English equivalents. By the age of eight, he had read Aesop's Fables, Xenophon's Anabasis, the whole of Herodotus and other great Greek and Roman authors.
1825 Antoinette Blackwell, the first ever Protestant woman minister, was born on May 20, 1825. Blackwell was inspired by evangelical revivals to enrol at the Presbyterian Oberlin College and study theology, but as a woman she was refused a degree and ordination. After lecturing on women's rights and occasionally preaching at progressive churches, she was appointed in 1853 pastor by the First Congregational Church in South Butler, New York.
1837 London’s first railway station opened in Euston Grove on May 20, 1837 as the terminus of the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR). The station was named after Euston Hall in Suffolk, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Grafton, the main landowners in the area.
1873 Jacob Davis was a tailor who often bought denim cloth from the Levi Strauss & Co to make working pants. In 1872, Davis wrote to Strauss asking to partner with him to patent and sell his pants reinforced with small metal rivets as well as the usual stitching. Levi accepted Davis's offer, and the two men received an US patent for an "Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings" on May 20, 1873. The Levi Strauss blue jeans with copper rivets were priced at $13.50 per dozen in 1874.
 |
| 16th-century fresco depicting the Council of Nicaea |
1498 King Manuel I of Portugal sent explorer Vasco da Gama out to discover a trade route into the Indian Ocean via the southern tip of Africa. In July 1497 da Gama led a fleet of four ships with a crew of 170 men from Lisbon. They arrived at the city of Calicut on the southwest coast of India on May 20, 1498. Da Gama became the first man to sail the passage from Europe to India using the newly discovered route round Africa.
1506 Christopher Columbus made four explanatory voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that opened the New World for European colonization of the Americas. His expeditions were the first European contact with the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. Columbus' body was twisted by arthritis in his last years and he suffered from what is probably Reiter's syndrome. His last residence was a modest home in Valladolid, Spain, where he died in poverty on May 20, 1506
1521 On May 20, 1521 Ignatius of Loyola took part in the Battle of Pamplona fighting the French, when a cannonball shattered his right leg. The fracture was badly repaired and Ignatius' surgeons were forced to break his leg again to set it correctly. He was left with a permanent limp. During a long and painful convalescence from his painful leg wound, Ignatius read about the lives of the saints. Inspired by their heroic lives, he committed himself to a spiritual life.
 |
| Ignatius wounded at Pamplona |
1570 The first modern atlas was the Theatrum orbis terrarum, by cartographer Abraham Ortelius. It was published on May 20, 1570 by Gilles Coppens de Diest at Antwerp. The atlas contained virtually no maps from the hand of Ortelius, but 53 bundled maps of other masters, with the source as indicated. Demand for the Theatrum orbis terrarum was immediate and persisted for decades, during which time dozens of editions were published in several languages.
1604 A plot led by Robert Catesby was hatched to blow up King James I together with the House of Lords and the House of Commons when they were assembled for the opening of Parliament. The first meeting of the conspirators took place on May 20, 1604, at an inn called the Duck and Drake, in the Strand district of London. Eventually there were thirteen plotters - three of whom - Guy Fawkes and the brothers John and Christopher Wright were school-fellows at St Peter's School in York.
1609 The Sonnets were the last of William Shakespeare's non-dramatic works to be printed. They were first published in London on May 20, 1609, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets dedicated to a mysterious WH. They were written during a great plague and were circulated amongst colleagues of the Earl of Southampton. 1-126 addressed to a fair young man, 127-154 to a “dark lady.”
 |
| Title page of Shakespeare's Sonnets (1609) |
1620 The Dutch artist Rembrandt was enrolled as a student at the University of Leiden on May 20, 1620. Rembrandt had no scientific leanings preferring to paint and he studied less than a year at the University of Leiden.
1639 The Mather School, the oldest public elementary school in North America, was established on May 20, 1639 in the Dorchester region of Boston, Massachusetts and named after English-born Puritan minister Richard Mather. The first building was a one room schoolhouse and was located on what had been known as "Settlers' Street," near the corner of the present Pleasant and Cottage Streets. In 1798 the town voted to sell the old school and build a new one of brick on Meeting House Hill.
 |
| Photo of the oldest School House still standing (in 1913). Wikipedia |
1806 English economist and political philosopher John Stuart Mill was born on Rodney Street in the Pentonville area of London on May 20, 1806. John Stuart was a notably precocious child. At the age of three, he was taught the Greek alphabet and long lists of Greek words with their English equivalents. By the age of eight, he had read Aesop's Fables, Xenophon's Anabasis, the whole of Herodotus and other great Greek and Roman authors.
1825 Antoinette Blackwell, the first ever Protestant woman minister, was born on May 20, 1825. Blackwell was inspired by evangelical revivals to enrol at the Presbyterian Oberlin College and study theology, but as a woman she was refused a degree and ordination. After lecturing on women's rights and occasionally preaching at progressive churches, she was appointed in 1853 pastor by the First Congregational Church in South Butler, New York.
1837 London’s first railway station opened in Euston Grove on May 20, 1837 as the terminus of the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR). The station was named after Euston Hall in Suffolk, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Grafton, the main landowners in the area.
 |
| An early print of Euston showing the wrought iron roof of 1837. |
1873 Jacob Davis was a tailor who often bought denim cloth from the Levi Strauss & Co to make working pants. In 1872, Davis wrote to Strauss asking to partner with him to patent and sell his pants reinforced with small metal rivets as well as the usual stitching. Levi accepted Davis's offer, and the two men received an US patent for an "Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings" on May 20, 1873. The Levi Strauss blue jeans with copper rivets were priced at $13.50 per dozen in 1874.
1875 The Metre Convention is an international treaty that was signed in Paris on May 20, 1875 by representatives of 17 nations. Prior to the convention, different countries used their own measurement systems, leading to confusion and difficulty in international trade and scientific collaboration. The Metre Convention unified measurement under the metric system.
1891 Dickson Greeting was directed, produced by and starred Thomas Edison's assistant William Dickson. The film is a three-second clip of Dickson passing a hat in front of himself, and reaching for it with his other hand. It was filmed on May 20, 1891 in the Photographic Building at Edison's Black Maria studio. The film was played for viewers at the National Federation of Women's Clubs, the first public presentation of a motion picture in America.
1899 The first speeding infraction in the U.S. was committed by New York City taxi driver Jacob German in an electric car. German was caught driving his taxi on May 20, 1899 at a blistering 12 MPH (19.3 km/h) down Lexington Street in Manhattan.
1902 The British captured Cuba in 1762 but a year later gave it to Spain in exchange for Florida.
Cuba was a Spanish colony until the Spanish–American War of 1898. After the war, it was part of the United States for four years. Cuba gained independence from the United States on May 20, 1902. Tomás Estrada Palma was the country's first President.
1910 A fortnight after the death of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom he was buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on May 20, 1910. On the night before Edward's funeral near panic gripped Londoners as the Earth passed through the tail of Halley's Comet.
1913 The first Chelsea Flower Show took place on May 20, 1913, in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, England. It was organized by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and showcased a wide variety of flowers, plants, and garden designs. The show was a great success, attracting approximately 200,000 visitors who came to admire the displays and exhibits.
1916 President Woodrow Wilson officially proclaimed June 14th "Flag Day" as a commemoration of the "Stars and Stripes” on May 20, 1916. Wilson's proclamation was the culmination of efforts by a number of individuals and organizations who had been advocating for a national day to commemorate the American flag.
1920 Montreal, Quebec radio station XWA, Canada's first and oldest broadcasting station, began test transmissions in 1919. Their first documented entertainment broadcast was made on the evening of May 20, 1920. It was a concert for a Royal Society of Canada audience 110 miles (175 kilometers) away at the Château Laurier in the city of Ottawa. At the time these radio broadcasts received little publicity beyond a few local newspaper reports.
1935 Uruguayan politician José Mujica was born on May 20, 1935. A former left-wing guerrilla leader who spent almost 15 years in prison during the country's military rule, Mujica served as the 40th President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. He was called "the world's 'poorest' president" as he donated around 90 percent of his $12,000 monthly salary to charities to help poor people and small entrepreneurs.
1970 The flag of Sudan was adopted on May 20, 1970. It consists of a horizontal red-white-black tricolor, with a green triangle at the hoist. The flag is based on the Arab Liberation Flag shared by Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, that uses a subset of the Pan-Arab colors in which green is less significant.
 |
| Flag of Sudan |
1975 The national flag of Cameroon was adopted in its present form on May 20, 1975 after Cameroon became a unitary state. The center stripe stands for unity (red is the color of unity), and the star is referred to as "the star of unity". The yellow stands for the sun, and the savannas in the northern part of the country, while the green is for the forests in the southern part of Cameroon.
1983 A team of researchers led by French virologist Luc Montagnier published their discovery of HIV on May 20, 1983. At the time they were uncertain that it caused AIDS. However, further research by Montagnier and others soon confirmed that HIV was the cause of AIDS.
2000 On May 20, 2000 Tony Blair became the first sitting UK Prime Minister in over 150 years to father a child when his wife Cherie gave birth to their youngest son Leo. Tony and Cherie Blair have four children: Euan, Nicholas, Kathryn, and Leo. All four children have Irish passports, by virtue of Blair's mother Hazel.
2002 East Timor became a sovereign state on May 20, 2002. In late 1975, East Timor declared its independence but on December 7th it was invaded and occupied by Indonesia and was declared Indonesia's twenty seventh province the following year. In 1999, following the United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory, and three years later, East Timor became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century.
2002 East Timor became a sovereign state on May 20, 2002. In late 1975, East Timor declared its independence but on December 7th it was invaded and occupied by Indonesia and was declared Indonesia's twenty seventh province the following year. In 1999, following the United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory, and three years later, East Timor became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century.
Comments
Post a Comment