Today in History July 15

1099 – The first Crusaders capture, plunder Jerusalem

1381 – John Ball, a leader in the Peasants’ Revolt, is hung, drawn and quartered in the presence of Richard II of England.

1741 – Alexei Chirikov sights land in Southeast Alaska. He sends men ashore in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to visit Alaska.

1783 – First steamboat, Pyroscaphe was an early experimental steamship built by Marquis de Jouffroy d’Abbans in 1783. The first demonstration took place on 15 July 1783 on the river Saône in France. It was not really successful, since the machinery of the ship failed after fifteen minutes of work.

The Pyroscaphe was propelled by a double-acting steam machine and sidewheels, and was therefore a paddle steamer.

The Rosetta Stone

1799 – The Rosetta Stone was found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign. The stone is a granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek. Because it presents essentially the same text in all three scripts, it provided the key to the modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

1815 – Napoleon surrenders to Captain Frederick Maitland of HMS Bellerophon at Rochefort after his earlier defeat at the Battle of Waterloo

1922 – First duck-billed platypus publicly exhibited in a New York zoo

1932 – President Hoover cuts own salary 15%

1933 – Wiley Post began first solo flight around world

1959 – The steel strike of 1959 begins, leading to significant importation of foreign steel for the first time in United States history

1964 – Barry M Goldwater (Sen-R-Az) nominated for president by Republicans

1965 – “Mariner IV” sends back first pictures of Mars

2002 – “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and to possession of explosives during the commission of a felony.

2003 – AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day.

1458 – Juan Ponce de Leon, Spanish Explorer (d. 1521)

1606 – Rembrandt van Rijn, Leiden Netherlands, (Night Watch), (d. 1669)

1796 – Thomas Bulfinch, mythologist (Bulfinch’s Mythology)

1906 – Rudolf “Rudi” Uhlenhaut, German automotive engineer and test driver (Mercedes Benz) (d. 1989)

1950 – Arianna Huffington, creator of The Huffington Post

1996 – Prince Charles and Princess Diana sign divorce papers

1881 – Billy the Kid [William H Bonney], shot by sheriff Pat Garrett at 21

1883 – Tom Thumb, famous small person (40″), dies of a stroke at 44

1948 – John J. Pershing, US general (Mexico, WW I), dies at 87

1958 – Julia Lennon, mother of Beatle John, dies in an auto accident

1997 – Gianni Versace, fashion designer, killed by Andrew Cunanan at 50