Alfred Nobel draws up will funding the Nobel Prizes (1895), and Spain declares a protectorate over northern Morocco (1912). Born on this day: Bruce Lee, Jimi Hendrix and Anders Celsius. Died: Ada Lovelace, Eugene O’Neill and Clovis I.
28 events, 58 births and 56 deaths on this date.
Nobel left most of his estate to a foundation that would fund prizes for work that helps humanity most. The chemist and dynamite inventor's decision meant the Nobel Prizes would be awarded every year after his death.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domainSpain took control of the northern coastal strip of Morocco under a protectorate agreement with France, giving it a foothold in North Africa alongside its enclaves at Ceuta and Melilla. The arrangement was formalised by treaty and lasted until Moroccan independence in 1956.
Astronomers detected sodium in the air around HD 209458 b, a planet orbiting a distant star. It was the first time anyone had measured the atmosphere of a planet outside our Solar System.
Phocas, who had seized the throne from him, forced Maurice to watch as his five sons were executed. Maurice was then beheaded, ending a reign shaped by long and costly wars with Persia.
The Senate voted to confirm Gerald Ford, a Michigan Republican congressman, as vice president after Spiro Agnew resigned. Ford would later become the only American to hold both offices without winning a national election.
David Hume Kennerly · Public domain
Marcus Aurelius raised his young son Commodus to imperator and gave him overall command of the Roman legions. It was a clear sign that Commodus was being groomed to succeed his father as emperor.
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Hong Kong-raised martial artist who became one of the first Chinese actors to win international fame on screen. He founded Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid fighting philosophy, and starred in five feature films that helped popularise martial arts cinema in the 1970s.
National General Pictures · Public domain
Hendrix was an American guitarist and songwriter who transformed electric guitar playing in the late 1960s. Remembered for flamboyant, inventive performances with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, he is often regarded as one of the greatest rock musicians ever.
A. Vente (VPRO) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Anders Celsius was a Swedish astronomer and mathematician who proposed the centigrade temperature scale in 1742, later renamed the Celsius scale in his honour. He also founded the Uppsala Astronomical Observatory and taught astronomy at Uppsala University.
Olof Arenius · Public domain
Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician who wrote notes on Charles Babbage's proposed analytical engine, a mechanical general-purpose computer. Her notes included what is often seen as the first published computer program, earning her the title of first programmer.
Antoine Claudet · Public domain
An American playwright who brought realism to the US stage, and the only dramatist to win four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. He also won the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature, and wrote Long Day's Journey into Night.
Nobel Foundation · Public domain
Clovis I united the Frankish tribes under a single king and founded the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled for two centuries. His conquests and conversion to Catholicism shaped the future kingdom of France.
Jean Du Tillet http://mandragore.bnf.fr/ · Public domain
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