Two things: first, National Battery Day is this Sunday, February 18th, and second, nobody seems to really know the true reason Battery Day was chosen to fall on February 18th. (However, we’ve heard that Battery Day falls on February 18th because that is the day Alessandro Volta was born. He is considered the father of the modern electric battery, and you can check out more about him here.)
But, we’re charging up by learning more about the day in history. Check it out:
1519 Hernán Cortés leaves Cuba for the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico with 11 ships and 500 men. That comes out to about 45 men per ship.
1735 1st opera performed in America, “Flora,” in Charleston, South Carolina. Flora translates to “The Birth of the Flowers.”
1856 The American Party (Know-Nothings) nominates its first Presidential candidate, Millard Fillmore. (Fillmore was the 13th President of the United States, and only became President after his predecessor, President Zachary Taylor, died after eating some weird stuff.)
1885 Mark Twain publishes the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in the US.
1908 1st US postage stamps in rolls issued. The first US postage stamp featured none other than Benjamin Franklin.
1930 US astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
1953 Premiere of 1st 3-D feature film, “Bwana Devil” in NYC. It’s about man-eating lions.
1968 David Gilmour joins rock group Pink Floyd.
1979 Snow falls in Sahara Desert. It snowed there as recently as January 2018.
1986 San Antonio’s Alvin Robertson scores NBA 2nd quadruple double-20 pts, 11 rebounds, 10 assists & 10 steals against Phoenix.
1993 Howard Stern’s radio show begins transmitting to Rochester, New York.
2001 Crash during Daytona 500 race on last lap claims life of Dale Earnhardt.
2013 $50 million worth of diamonds is stolen in an armed robbery at Brussels Airport, Belgium.
Source: OnThisDay.com
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