THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

November 21

 

1905: The scientific paper, Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?, by Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was published in the journal Annalen der Physik. This paper revealed the relationship between energy and mass, and led to the mass-energy equivalence formula E = mc².

2014: Serena Early and Leslie Burgess of Missoula, Mont., became the first same-sex couple to legally marry in Montana.

 

November 22

 

1954: The Humane Society of the United States was founded in Washington, DC.

1963: In Dallas, Texas, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and Texas Gov. John Connally was seriously wounded. Suspect Lee Harvey Oswald was captured later that day and charged with the murder of the president and Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit.

1986: Mike Tyson defeated Trevor Berbick (1954-2006) to become youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history at age 20 years, four months and two days.

1988: The first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber was unveiled by the U.S. Air Force in Palmdale, Calif.

 

November 23

 

1924: Astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) wrote in a newspaper article that the Milky Way is only one of many such galaxies in the universe.

1936: Life was first published as a photo magazine and enjoyed instant success.

1992: The first Smartphone, IBM Simon, was introduced at a computer expo in Las Vegas, Nevada.

2005: Nobel Laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born 1938) became the first woman to lead an African country when she was elected president of Liberia.

November 24

 

1859: Charles Darwin (1809-1882) published On the Origin of Species, the anniversary of which some call “Evolution Day.”

1863: Thanksgiving was celebrated for the first time as a national holiday.

1932: The FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory (better known as the FBI Crime Lab) officially opened in Washington, D.C.

1944: The first U.S. bombing raid from the east against the Japanese capital of Tokyo during World War II was carried out by 88 American aircraft.

1963: The first live, televised murder in history occurred when Jack Ruby (1911-1967) gunned down Lee Harvey Oswald, 24, the suspected killer of President Kennedy, in the basement of Dallas police department headquarters.

November 25

 

1783: The last defeated British troops left New York City, three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolutionary War.

1922: The first door to King Tut’s tomb was opened by Howard Carter and George Herbert.

1926: The deadliest November tornado outbreak in U.S. history struck on Thanksgiving Day, with 27 twisters in the Midwest, causing 76 deaths and over 400 injuries.

November 26

 

1778: Captain James Cook (1728-1779) became the first known European to visit the Hawaiian islands.

1863: President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed November 26 as a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated annually on the final Thursday of November. (Since 1941, it has been on the fourth Thursday.)

1922: Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon became the first people to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in over 3,000 years.

1942: The classic movie Casablanca premiered in Hollywood, Calif.

2004: The last Po’ouli (Black-faced honeycreeper, Melamprosops phaeosoma) died of Avian malaria in the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Olinda, Hawaii, making the species extinct.

November 27

 

1895:, Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) signed his last will and testament in Paris, setting aside his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after his death.

1924: The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was held in New York City.