1520 – Martin Luther publicly burned the papal edict. The papacy demanded that he recant or face excommunication. Luther refused
1582 – France begins use of the Gregorian calendar
1684 – Isaac Newton’s derivation of Kepler’s laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper Due motucorporum in gyrum, is read to the Royal Society by Edmund Halley.
1768 – The Royal Academy of Arts was founded in London by George III.
1799 – Metric system adopted in France, the first country to do so
1868 – The first traffic lights are installed outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.
1869 – The first American chapter of Kappa Sigma is founded at the University of Virginia.
1901 – First Nobel Peace Prizes awarded to Jean Henri Dunant, Frederic Passy
1901 – First Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Wilhelm Röntgen for his discovery of X-rays
1926 – 2nd part of Hitler’s Mein Kampf published
1931 – Jane Addams (1st US woman) named co-recipient of Nobel Peace Prize
1984 – 1st “planet” outside our solar system discovered
1990 – The U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved Norplant, a long-acting contraceptive implant.
By: Archa Dave
