Today everything is coming in pairs, including two national days celebrating independence, in Laos and the United Arab Emirates. Then we have a pair of Anglo-Italian items, the first newspaper published in the English language hit the streets on this day, reporting news of Italy. Much later, we have an English churchman visiting Italy.
The crown signifying sovereignty has always been placed on the head of the new king, queen, or emperor in a serious and solemn ceremony, with few exceptions. Although there are legends that Charlemagne crowned himself, probably because Pope Leo was blind and mute (adversaries had cut out his tongue and torn out his eyes) when the coronation took place, the historical record seems clear that Leo placed the crown on Charles' head. On this day, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself emperor, despite the presence of a pope quite willing to do it in the normal way. Some years later, Napoleon's cousin was angered by restrictive term limits and staged a coup, a pair of Napoleon items.
Finally, today includes a pair of nuclear milestones. The first chain reaction was initiated and stopped in Chicago, and the first nuclear power was delivered to homes in central Pennsylvania.
1620 - The first English-language newspaper, "The new tydings out of Italie," was published at Amsterdam. (The first to be printed in a an English-speaking country was apparently published by Nathaniel Butter at London in 1621, exact date and title of first issue unknown.)
1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte became the first French emperor in the cathedral of Notre Dame at Paris. Pope Pius VII was performing the expected coronation when Napoleon grabbed the crown in his own hands, waved the Pope aside, and crowned himself.
1851 - Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, staged a coup d'etat and seized power. He had been the elected president of the republic but was denied a second term by the constitution. In November the next year the Second Empire was established, and Louis was crowned Napoleon III.
1942 - At 3:25 pm George Weil, a member of Enrico Fermi's experimental group, extracted a cadmium-plated control rod from a "graphite pile" and initiated the first nuclear chain reaction, which was shut down 28 minutes later. The pile, an assembly of graphite blocks, uranium fuel rods, and control rods, had been built in an abandoned handball court under the grandstand at the University of Chicago's Stagg Field Stadium.
1957 - Duquesne Light connected a 60 megawatt nuclear power plant at Shippingport, Pennsylvania to the electrical grid, the first time electricity from a nuclear plant was delivered to consumers.
1960 - Geoffrey Fisher, Primate of the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury, paid a visit to Pope John XXIII at the Vatican. The last previous visit by an archbishop of Canterbury to a pope was in 1397, long before the English church broke with Rome at the behest of Henry VIII in 1534.
Republic Day, Laos - Anniversary of the establishment of the people's republic in 1975, following the resignation of King Sisavang Vatthana.
National Day, United Arab Emirates - Commemorates independence from Great Britain and the federation of six largely autonomous sheikdoms or emirates, essentially city-states. A seventh emirate joined the following year.
The energy produced by the breaking down of the atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformations of these atoms is talking moonshine.
- Ernest Rutherford
Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Duty then is the sublimest word in the English language. You should do your duty in all things. You can never do more, you should never wish to do less.
- Robert E. Lee
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
- Ronald Wilson Reagan
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Copyright 2000 G. Armour Van Horn, all rights reserved. This document may be distributed freely. Please forward the complete message including this copyright notice.