On This Day March 1

Four and a half years after journalist Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention he called the "Type-Writer," he sold his patent rights for $12,000 to E. Remington and Sons of New York state. An arms manufacturer seeking to diversify, they were a firm well equipped with the machinery and skill to carry out the development work. On March 1, 1873 E. Remington and Sons began the manufacturing of the first practical typewriter in Ilion, New York.

Sholes typewriter, 1873. Buffalo History Museum.

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On This Day February 28

Organic chemist Wallace Carothers began working at the DuPont Experimental Station in 1928. One day, a team of researchers, led by Carothers discovered an molten substance: it would stick to a glass rod and form a fine strand. As soon as the strand met the cold air, it solidified and formed a long continuous fiber that was both flexible and strong. The fiber was stronger and elastic than silk. The first example of what would become nylon was produced on February 28, 1935.

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On This Day February 27

The Argentina population rose against Spanish rule in 1810. In May the Primera Junta, the first independent government in Argentina, was established in an open cabildo in Buenos Aires. The Argentine flag was first raised at the city of Rosario on February 27, 1812. On July 9, 1816 a congress of deputies meeting at San Miguel de Tucumán declared the country's independence and designated it as the national flag.

Argentina national flag

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On This Day February 26

In early January 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt declared the Grand Canyon a national monument, protecting its 800,000 acres from private development. Congress did not officially outlaw private development in the Grand Canyon until February 26, 1919, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Grand Canyon National Park Act, establishing most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park.

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On This Day February 25

Phoenix, Arizona, became a city on February 25, 1881. At that time it had a population of about 2,500 people. It was Englishman Lord Darrell Duppa, one of the original settlers, who suggested the name "Phoenix". He saw the prehistoric ruins of the native Hohokam people, who had lived on the land for two thousand years, and predicted that another civilization would rise from them, like the mythological fire bird which was born again from its own ash after it died.

Northern skyline, downtown Phoenix,

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On This Day February 24

Roman emperor Diocletian's first "Edict against the Christians" was published on February 24, 303, beginning the Diocletianic Persecution, the last and most severe episode of the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Diocletian's systematic intense persecution against the Church,  climaxed in early 304 when all Christians were required to make sacrifice to the empire on the pain of death. An estimated 3,000–3,500 Christians were martyred in the persecution.

The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer, by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1883)

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On This Day February 23

The Gutenberg Bible was the first major book printed using mass-produced movable type. The traditional date for its publication was February 23, 1455. 42 lines were printed on each of the 1,242 pages in a gothic typeface which was as near as its German inventor, Johannes Gutenberg could get to the handwriting of the day. It was printed on paper made from cloth, rags and vellum.

Gutenberg Bible of the New York Public Library. By NYC Wanderer (Kevin Eng) 

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On This Day February 22

The USA ice hockey team defeated the Soviets 4-3 in the “Miracle on Ice" game. The match took place during the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, on February 22, 1980 and the Americans went on to win the gold medal. The United States national team, made up of amateur and collegiate players had not been expected to defeat the Soviet Union national team, which had won the gold medal in six of the seven previous Olympic Games.

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On This Day February 21

Built by Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick, the first self-propelling steam locomotive made its debut outing on February 21, 1804. Trevithick took the world into the railway age when his seven-tonne locomotive hauled 10 tonnes of iron, 70 passengers, and five wagons from the Pen-y-darren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil, to Abercynon in South Wales., reaching a top speed of almost 5mph during its nine-mile journey.

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On This Day February 20

On February 20, 1998, ice skater Tara Lipinski of the U.S. became the youngest gold medalist in Winter Olympics history when she won the ladies’ figure skating title in Nagano, Japan, aged 15 years and 8 months. The previous year Tara Lipinski was the youngest champion women's World Figure Skating Champion at the age of 14 years and 10 months.

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On This Day February 19

The phonograph was accidentally invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison while trying to record telegraph signals. His device was the first machine that was able to both capture and reproduce analog sound. He patented the device on February 19, 1878. Edison's first phonograph recorded onto tinfoil cylinders had low sound quality and destroyed the track during replay so that one could listen only once.

Thomas Edison with his second phonograph, photographed April 1878

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On This Day February 18

The non-conformist preacher John Bunyan's Christian allegory Pilgrim's Progress was published on February 18, 1678. An allegory based on Bunyan's own spiritual life, it was partly written by the author during his time in Bedford jail for preaching without a licence. Pilgrim's Progress has been translated in over 100 languages and for the next 150 years following its publication, Bunyan's books, like the Bible, were found in every English home.

Title page of Pilgrim's Progress Date: 1678 

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On This Day February 17

Thomas Jefferson was elected the third president of the United States on February 17, 1801 after 35 indecisive ballot votes. For his presidential inauguration, Jefferson walked from his boarding house to the Capitol to demonstrate "Republican simplicity."  Jefferson hated public speaking so much that he only gave two speeches in his presidency, one per term.

Thomas Jefferson

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On This Day February 16

On February 16, 1937, the du Pont company patented their synthetic textile fiber calling it nylon. The letters "nyl" were arbitrary and the "on" was copied from the suffixes of other fibers such as cotton and rayon. One of the first products to be made with this new material was a new type of toothbrush- Dr. West's miracle toothbrush with nylon bristles. Other early uses were for fishing lines and surgical sutures.

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On This Day February 15

On February 15, 2013, a meteor burst into a fireball 30 times brighter than the sun over central Russia. Shock waves from the explosion of the meteorite over the Chelyabinsk region, injured more than 1,000 people, mainly due to widespread broken glass. It was the largest recorded impact event on Earth since the Siberian Tunguska event in 1908.

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On This Day February 14

Alexander Graham Bell filed his patent for a "telephone" (Greek for sound) on February 14, 1876. The inspiration for the device came when Bell was working to improve the telegram in Boston, Massachusetts. Bell filed his application for a patent knowing a rival, Elisha Gray was working on a similar project. A representative of Bell filed his patent for a "telephone" at New York Patent Office at 12.00 PM. The now forgotten Gray got there two hours later.

Alexander Graham Bell's telephone patent drawing, 

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