On This Day:
Wednesday January 25, 2012
This is the 25th day of the year, with 341 days remaining
in 2012.
Fact of the Day: type sizes
The point system was invented by Francois-Ambroise Didot
(1730-1804). He improved on a previous system of
measurement, the Fournier system, and devised the Didot
point system of 72 points to the French inch. He also
introduced the idea of distinguishing type sizes by points,
e.g. 12-point or 24-point, as opposed to the use of
classical names.
Holidays
Feast day of Saints Juventinus and Maximinimus, the
Conversion of St. Paul, St. Apollo, St. Artemas, St.
Publius, St. Dwynwen, St. Poppo, and Saint Praejectus or
Prix.
Events
1533
- Henry
VIII secretly married Anne
Boleyn.
1579
- The Treaty
of Utrecht was signed, marking the beginning of the Dutch
Republic.
1890
- Reporter Nellie
Bly (Elizabeth
Cochrane) of the "New
York World" completed a round-the-world journey in 72
days, six hours, 11 minutes.
1890
- The United
Mine Workers of America was founded.
1915
- Alexander
Graham Bell inaugurated U.S. transcontinental
telephone service.
1917
- The United
States of America purchased the Danish West
Indies (now the Virgin
Islands) for $25 million.
1925
- The first Winter
Olympics opened at Chamonix
in the French
Alps.
1946
- The United
Mine Workers rejoined the American
Federation of Labor.
1959
- American
Airlines flew the first scheduled transcontinental Boeing
707 flight.
1961
- President John
F. Kennedy held the first presidential news conference
carried live on radio and television.
1971
- Charles
Manson and three women followers were convicted in Los
Angeles of murder and conspiracy in the 1969 slayings
of seven people, including actress Sharon
Tate.
1971
- Idi
Amin led a coup that deposed Milton
Obote and became president of Uganda.
1981
- Jiang
Qing, Mao
Tse-tung's widow, was tried for treason and received a
death sentence, which was subsequently commuted to life
imprisonment.
1995
- The defense presented its opening statement in the O.J.
Simpson trial in Los
Angeles.
1999
- An earthquake
measuring 6.0 on the Richter
Scale hits western Colombia
killing at least 1,000.
2004
- Opportunity
rover (MER-B) lands on surface of Mars.
2006
- Three independent observing campaigns announce the
discovery of OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb
through gravitational
microlensing, the first cool rocky/icy extrasolar
planet around a main-sequence
star.
Births
1759
- Robert
Burns, Scottish poet.
1874
- W.
(William) Somerset Maugham, British author.
1882
- Virginia
Woolf, English author.
1919
- Edwin
Newman, American journalist, author.
1941
- Buddy
Baker, American race car driver.
1956
- Andy
Cox, British musician.
1981
- Alicia
Keys (born Alicia J. Augello-Cook), an American
R&B and soul singer, songwriter, and musician.
Deaths
1947
- Al
Capone, American gangster.
1999
- Robert
Shaw, American conductor.
2005
- Philip
Johnson, American architect, museum curator, and
historian.
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