Nikola Tesla lectures on equipment for long-distance alternating current power (1888), and Ottoman forces capture the Greek town of Souli (1822). Born on this day: Megan Fox, Henry Fonda and Pierce Brosnan. Died: Joseph Fourier, I.M. Pei and Charles Perrault.
34 events, 64 births and 52 deaths on this date.
Tesla gave a lecture describing apparatus that could generate and use alternating current efficiently, making it practical to carry electric power over great distances. The idea went on to underpin much of the modern electricity grid.
Napoleon Sarony · Public domainNikola Tesla and the War of the CurrentsHear the story in ChunksDuring the Greek War of Independence, Ottoman troops took Souli, a mountain town in Epirus whose defenders had long resisted Ottoman rule. The fall was a sharp blow to the Greek rebels, who had counted on the town's fighters to hold the region.
Kuwait's National Assembly voted 35 to 23 to give women the vote and the right to stand for office. It was a rare step for a Gulf state, though women could only use the right from the next election.
Elizabeth II became the first monarch from Britain to speak before American lawmakers, delivering her remarks to both houses of the US Congress. The visit was a notable moment in her long reign, which began in 1952.
Joan of Arc, the peasant girl who claimed divine guidance and led French forces against the English, was formally declared a saint by the Catholic Church. The honour came about five centuries after her death, cementing her place as a patron saint of France.
Clément de Fauquembergue · Public domain
The treaty ended the Russo-Turkish War and handed Bessarabia, a strip of land between the Prut and Dniester rivers, from the Ottomans to Russia. It gave the tsar a foothold on the Black Sea's western shore.
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Megan Fox is an American actress best known for her breakout role as Mikaela Banes in the blockbuster Transformers, released in 2007. She has also starred in the horror comedy Jennifer's Body and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films.
Kevin Paul · CC BY 4.0
Henry Fonda was an American actor who spent five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood, often playing ordinary, decent men. He is best remembered for Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath and for the lead in 12 Angry Men.
Studio publicity still · Public domain
Irish actor best known for playing James Bond in four films between 1995 and 2002, beginning with GoldenEye. He has also built a career as a film producer and environmental campaigner.
PhilipRomanoPhoto · CC BY 4.0
French mathematician who began the study of Fourier series, a method for breaking complex waves into simple sine waves. The tools built on his work now underpin fields from heat transfer to signal processing and sound.
Julien-Léopold Boilly · Public domain
Pei designed the glass pyramid at the Louvre, the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington and many other landmark buildings. He died in New York in 2019, aged 102.
original work: Unknown author Unknown author derivative work: Yekrats · Public domain
Charles Perrault was a French writer who turned old folk tales into literary fairy tales. His 1697 collection gave the world versions of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty and Bluebeard.
Charles Le Brun · Public domain
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