Jean-Paul Sartre declines the Nobel Prize in Literature (1964), and Edison tests a carbonised thread filament in a light bulb (1879). Born on this day: Sarah Bernhardt, Doris Lessing and Franz Liszt. Died: Paul Cézanne, Charles Martel and Albert Szent-Györgyi.
28 events, 65 births and 60 deaths on this date.
Sartre turned down the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature, arguing that a writer should not let himself become an institution. The Swedish Academy awarded it anyway, so his refusal made the honour a public statement about independence.
User:T1980 · CC BY 3.0Sartre and Radical FreedomHear the story in ChunksEdison's bulb, lit by a filament of carbonised thread, burned for about thirteen and a half hours before failing. The result showed the design could last long enough to be worth developing into a practical electric light.
Tsar Peter I took the title of emperor after Russia's victory over Sweden ended the Great Northern War, turning a tsardom into a major European power. The new empire would last until the revolution of 1917.
Voters in Veneto and Mantua approved joining the Kingdom of Italy, confirming a takeover completed three days earlier. The vote ended Austrian rule over the region and helped complete Italian unification.
A U-2 photograph revealed Soviet nuclear missile sites under construction in Cuba, pushing the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war. The standoff was resolved after thirteen days of tense negotiation, and it remains the closest the Cold War came to full-scale conflict.
Central Intelligence Agency · Public domain
Hubert Pierlot slipped past Vichy French and Francoist Spanish officials to reach London, where he began Belgium's government in exile. From Britain, that government could keep operating while Belgium lay under German occupation.
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Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage actress famous for playing both female and male roles, including Hamlet. She toured the world, made early sound recordings, and was also an accomplished sculptor and painter.
Napoleon Sarony · Public domain
Doris Lessing was a novelist whose The Golden Notebook became a touchstone of feminist writing. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007, at 87 the oldest laureate in that category.
Oskars Vizbulis · Public domain
Liszt was a Hungarian pianist and composer who became Europe's first true superstar performer, inspiring a craze called Lisztomania. His piano works remain among the most widely played in the repertoire today.
Franz Hanfstaengl · Public domain
Cézanne was a French painter who broke with Impressionism and rethought perspective and form, reshaping modern art. His loose, deliberate brushwork helped lead directly to Cubism and the avant-garde movements that followed.
Unknown; Cézanne was born in 1839 and died in 1906 · Public domain
Charles Martel governed the Franks from behind the scenes for decades, first as mayor of the palace. He is best remembered for stopping an Umayyad army near Tours, and his grandson Charlemagne later became emperor.
Arnaud 25 · Public domain
Hungarian-born biochemist who won the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He was the first to isolate vitamin C and helped map several chemical reactions in the cell's core energy-producing cycle, plus how chemistry drives muscle movement.
J.W. McGuire · Public domain
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