On This Day:
Thursday August 25, 2011
This is the 237th day of the year, with 128 days
remaining in 2011.
Fact of the Day: archaeology
Archaeology as a discipline has its origins in 15th-16th
centuries in Europe, when people of the Renaissance wanted
to know more about the glories of Greece and Rome. Popes,
cardinals, and noblemen in Italy began to collect
antiquities and to sponsor excavations to find more works of
ancient art. These collectors were imitated by others in
northern Europe who were similarly interested in antique
culture. All this activity, however, was still not
archaeology in the strict sense. Archaeology proper began
with an interest in the Greeks and Romans and first
developed in 18th-century Italy with the excavations of the
Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The first
archaeologists to use scientific principles and organized
excavations included Heinrich Schliemann, Arthur Evans,
Flinders Petrie, and Howard Carter.
Holidays
Feast Day of St. Ebba, St. Genesius the Comedian, St.
Gregory of Utrecht, St. Louis IX, King of France, St. Mennas
of Constantinople, and St. Patricia.
Uruguay:
Independence Day.
Philippines:
National Heroes' Day.
Events
1718
- Hundreds of French colonists arrived in Louisiana,
some settling in what is now New
Orleans.
1825
- Uruguay
declared independence from Brazil.
1875
- Navy Captain Matthew
Webb became the first person to swim across the English
Channel (in 21 hours, 45 minutes).
1916
- The National
Park Service was established.
1944
- Paris
was liberated by Allied forces after four years of Nazi
occupation.
1950
- President Harry
Truman ordered the Army
to seize control of the nation's railroads to avert a
strike.
1980
- The Broadway
musical "42nd Street" opened; the show's director, Gower
Champion, died earlier that day.
1991
- Belarus
declares independence from the Soviet
Union.
2003
- Tennis
champion Pete
Sampras announced his retirement during a news
conference at the U.S.
Open in New
York, having won 64 titles, 14 Grand
Slam titles, and more than $43 million in prize money.
Births
1530
- Ivan
IV "Ivan
the Terrible," Czar of Russia.
1819
- Allan
Pinkerton, American, started first private detective
agency.
1900
- Sir Hans
Adolf Krebs, German-born English Nobel
Prize-winning biochemist.
1909
- Ruby
Keeler, Canadian-born American dancer, actress.
1913
- Walt
Kelly, American cartoonist, creator of the character
Pogo.
1916
- Van
Johnson, American actor.
1918
- Leonard
Bernstein, American conductor, composer.
1921
- Monty
Hall (born Maurice Halperin), Canadian-born game
show host.
1930
- Sean
Connery, Scottish-born Academy
Award-winning actor.
1931
- Hal
Fishman, Los
Angeles television news anchor.
1931
- Regis
Philbin, American television host.
1949
- Gene
Simmons (born Chaim Witz), Israeli-born
musician.
1954
- Elvis
Costello (born Declan Patrick MacManus), English
musician.
1958
- Tim
Burton, American film director.
Deaths
1900
- Friedrich
Nietzsche, German philosopher.
1956
- Alfred
Kinsey, American research biologist.
1967
- Stanley
Bruce, eighth Prime
Minister of Australia.
1984
- Truman
Capote, American novelist, short-story writer, and
playwright.
1998
- Lewis
F. Powell, former Supreme
Court Justice.
2000
- Carl
Barks, a Disney
Studio illustrator
and comic
book creator.
2002
- Dorothy
Hewett, Australian writer.
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