Sylvester Graham was born on July 5, 1794. An American Presbyterian minister, Graham preached
nutrition and wanted to reform the eating habits of America and the world. He advocated
vegetarianism and the use of only coarse, whole grain flour. He also strongly recommended the reduction, if not total exclusion, of fats from one's daily diet. By 1838 Sylvester Graham was America's premier health-food promoter.
Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy, the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous 1831-36 voyage to the Pacific was born on July 5, 1805. He is also known as the man who invented the
weather forecast. When The Royal Charter sank in an 1859 storm, Fitzroy established fifteen land stations to use the telegraph to transmit to him daily reports of weather at set times leading to the first gale warning service. His warning service for shipping was initiated in February 1861.
British businessman, mining magnate and politician
Cecil Rhodes was born on July 5, 1853 in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England. At the age of 17 tuberculous prevented Rhodes from entering Oxford University so he went to South Africa where the active lifestyle restored his health. Rhodes joined the gold rush at Kimberley. Over the next two decades Rhodes gained near-complete domination of the world diamond market.
Harvard student and keen
tennis player, Dwight Filley Davis, was born on July 5, 1879. The Davis Cup was named after him after in 1900 he bought a trophy made of 217oz of sterling silver and invited male tennis players from Britain to play against the U.S. America won the first tournament.
For more July 5 anniversaries, including the publication of Isaac Newton's
PhilosophiƦ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, the introduction of spam luncheon meat and the birth of the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, check out
OnThatDay.