today.nukz.net: Almanac July 10

Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was an inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, and futurist. He was an important contributor to the use of commercial electricity, and is best known for developing the modern alternating current (AC) electrical supply system. His many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were based on the theories of electromagnetic technology discovered by Michael Faraday. Tesla's patents and theoretical work also formed the basis of wireless communication and the radio.

Towards the end of his life in the 1930s, Tesla became reclusive, living alone in a New York City hotel room and only appearing occasionally to make unusual statements to the press. Because of his pronouncements and the nature of his work over the years Tesla gained a reputation in popular culture as the archetypal "mad scientist". He died penniless and in debt in January, 1943

Events

48 BC – Battle of Dyrrhachium: Julius Caesar barely avoids a catastrophic defeat to Pompey in Macedonia.
138 – Emperor Hadrian dies after a heart failure at Baiae; he is buried at Rome in the Tomb of Hadrian beside his late wife, Vibia Sabina.
988 – Norse King Glun Iarainn recognises Máel Sechnaill II, High King of Ireland, and agrees to pay taxes and accept Brehon Law; the event is considered to be the founding of the city of Dublin.
1212 – The most severe of several early fires of London burns most of the city to the ground.
1460 – Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick defeats the king's Lancastrian forces and takes King Henry VI prisoner in the Battle of Northampton.
1499 – Portuguese explorer Nicolau Coelho returns to Lisbon, after discovering the sea route to India as a companion of Vasco da Gama.
1553 – Lady Jane Grey takes the throne of England.
1584 – William I of Orange is assassinated in his home in Delft, Holland by Balthasar Gérard.
1645 – English Civil War: The Battle of Langport takes place.
1778 – American Revolution: Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1789 – Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Mackenzie River delta.
1806 – The Vellore Mutiny is the first instance of a mutiny by Indian sepoys against the British East India Company.
1821 – The United States takes possession of its newly bought territory of Florida from Spain.
1832 – U.S. President Andrew Jackson vetoes a bill that would re-charter the Second Bank of the United States.
1850 – Millard Fillmore is inaugurated as the 13th President of the United States upon the death of President Zachary Taylor, 16 months into his term.
1877 – The then-villa of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico formally receives its city charter from the Royal Crown of Spain.
1882 – War of the Pacific: Chile suffers its last military defeat in the Battle of La Concepción when a garrison of 77 men is annihilated by a 1,300-strong Peruvian force, many of them armed with spears.
1890 – Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. state.
1911 – The Royal Australian Navy was established by HM King George V of Australia.
1913 – Death Valley, California hits 134 °F (~56.7 °C), the highest temperature recorded in the United States.
1921 – Belfast's Bloody Sunday: 16 people are killed and 161 houses destroyed during rioting and gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
1925 – Meher Baba begins his silence of 44 years. His followers observe Silence Day on this date in commemoration.
1925 – Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called "Monkey Trial" begins with John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
1938 – Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91 hour airplane flight around the world.
1940 – World War II: the Vichy government is established in France.
1940 – World War II: Battle of Britain – The German Luftwaffe begins attacking British convoys in the English Channel thus starting the battle (this start date is contested, though).
1941 – Jedwabne Pogrom: the massacre of Jewish people living in and near the village of Jedwabne in Poland.
1942 – Diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and the Soviet Union are established.
1942 – World War II: An American pilot spots a downed, intact Mitsubishi A6M Zero on Akutan Island (the "Akutan Zero") that the US Navy uses to learn the aircraft's flight characteristics.
1946 – Hungarian hyperinflation sets a record with inflation of 348.46 percent per day, or prices doubling every eleven hours.
1947 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah is recommended as the first Governor-General of Pakistan by British Prime Minister Clement Attlee.
1951 – Korean War: Armistice negotiations begin at Kaesong.
1962 – Telstar, the world's first communications satellite, is launched into orbit.
1966 – The Chicago Freedom Movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., holds a rally at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. As many as 60,000 people came to hear Dr. King as well as Mahalia Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Peter Paul and Mary.
1967 – Uruguay becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
1968 – Maurice Couve de Murville becomes Prime Minister of France.
1971 – Hassan II of Morocco survives an attempted coup d'état, which lasts until June 11.
1973 – The Bahamas gain full independence within the Commonwealth of Nations.
1973 – National Assembly of Pakistan passes a resolution on the recognition of Bangladesh.
1973 – John Paul Getty III, grandson of oil magnate J. Paul Getty, is kidnapped in Rome, Italy.
1976 – The Seveso disaster occurs in Italy.
1976 – One American and three British mercenaries are executed in Angola following the Luanda Trial.
1978 – World News Tonight premieres on ABC.
1978 – President Moktar Ould Daddah of Mauritania is ousted in a bloodless coup d'état.
1980 – Alexandra Palace burns down for a second time.
1985 – Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland, New Zealand harbour by French DGSE agents, killing Fernando Pereira.
1991 – The South African cricket team is readmitted into the International Cricket Council following the end of Apartheid.
1992 – In Miami, Florida, former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega is sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug and racketeering violations.
1997 – In London scientists report the findings of the DNA analysis of a Neanderthal skeleton which supports the "out of Africa theory" of human evolution placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
1997 – Partido Popular (Spain) member Miguel Ángel Blanco is kidnapped in the Basque city of Ermua by ETA members, sparking widespread protests.
1998 – Roman Catholic sex abuse cases: The Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claimed they were sexually abused by former priest Rudolph Kos.
2000 – A leaking southern Nigerian petroleum pipeline explodes, killing about 250 villagers scavenging gasoline.
2000 – EADS, the world's second-largest aerospace group is formed by the merger of Aérospatiale-Matra, DASA, and CASA.
2002 – At a Sotheby's auction, Peter Paul Rubens' painting The Massacre of the Innocents is sold for £49.5million (US$76.2 million) to Lord Thomson.
2003 – A Neoplan bus, owned by Kowloon Motor Bus, collides with a truck, falls off a bridge on Tuen Mun Road, Hong Kong, and plunges into the underlying valley, killing 21 people. This is the deadliest traffic accident to date in Hong Kong.
2005 – Hurricane Dennis slams into the Florida Panhandle, causing billions of dollars in damage.
2006 – Pakistan International Flight PK-688 crashes in Multan, Pakistan, shortly after takeoff, killing all 45 people on board.
2008 – Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boškoski is acquitted of all charges by a United Nations Tribunal accusing him of war crimes.
2011 – Russian cruise ship Bulgaria sunk in Volga near Syukeyevo, Tatarstan, leading to 122 deaths.

Births

1419 – Emperor Go-Hanazono of Japan (d. 1471)
1452 – King James III of Scotland (d. 1488)
1509 – John Calvin, French religious reformer (d. 1564)
1517 – Odet de Coligny, French cardinal and Protestant (d. 1571)
1592 – Pierre d'Hozier, French historian (d. 1660)
1614 – Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, English royalist statesman (d. 1686)
1625 – Jean Herauld Gourville, French adventurer (d. 1703)
1638 – David Teniers III, Flemish painter (d. 1685)
1666 – John Ernest Grabe, German-born Anglican theologian (d. 1711)
1682 – Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, German Lutheran missionary to India (d. 1719)
1682 – Roger Cotes, English mathematician (d. 1716)
1711 – Princess Amelia of Great Britain (d. 1783)
1723 – William Blackstone, English jurist (d. 1780)
1736 – Maria, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (d. 1807)
1792 – George Mifflin Dallas, American politician (d. 1864)
1802 – Robert Chambers, Scottish author and naturalist (d. 1871)
1804 – Emma Hale Smith Bidamon, American religious figure (d. 1879)
1809 – Friedrich August von Quenstedt, German geologist (d. 1889)
1830 – Camille Pissarro, French painter (d. 1903)
1832 – Alvan Graham Clark, American telescope maker and astronomer (d. 1897)
1835 – Henryk Wieniawski, Polish composer (d. 1880)
1839 – Adolphus Busch, German-born brewer (d. 1913)
1856 – Nikola Tesla, Serb-American inventor (d. 1943)
1864 – Sir Austin Chapman, Australian policitian (d. 1926)
1867 – Prince Maximilian of Baden, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1929)
1871 – Marcel Proust, French writer (d. 1922)
1874 – Sergey Konenkov, Russian sculptor (d. 1971)
1875 – Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator (d. 1955)
1883 – Johannes Blaskowitz, German general (d. 1948)
1888 – Giorgio de Chirico, Italian painter (d. 1978)
1895 – Carl Orff, German composer (d. 1982)
1896 – Thérèse Casgrain, French Canadian politician and senator (d. 1981)
1897 – Karl Plagge, German officer (d. 1957)
1897 – Jack "Legs" Diamond, American bootlegger (d. 1931)
1898 – Renée Björling, Swedish actress (d. 1975)
1899 – John Gilbert, American actor (d. 1936)
1899 – Heiri Suter, Swiss cyclist (d. 1978)
1900 – Sampson Sievers, Russian Orthodox priest (d. 1979)
1900 – Mitchell Parish, American lyricist (d. 1993)
1902 – Kurt Alder, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
1903 – John Wyndham, British author (d. 1969)
1903 – Werner Best, German jurist and Nazi leader (d. 1989)
1905 – Mildred Benson, American journalist and author (d. 2002)
1905 – Thomas Gomez, American actor (d. 1971)
1905 – Wolfram Sievers, Nazi physician (d. 1948)
1907 – Blind Boy Fuller, American blues guitarist (d. 1941)
1909 – Donald Sinclair, British hotel manager (d. 1981)
1913 – Salvador Espriu, Spanish poet (d. 1985)
1914 – Joe Shuster, Canadian-born cartoonist (d. 1992)
1917 – Reg Smythe, British cartoonist (Andy Capp) (d. 1998)
1917 – Don Herbert, American television host (d. 2007)
1917 – Hugh Alexander, American baseball player (d. 2000)
1920 – David Brinkley, American television reporter (d. 2003)
1920 – Owen Chamberlain, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2006)
1921 – Harvey Ball, American inventor (d. 2001)
1921 – Jeff Donnell, American actress (d. 1988)
1921 – Jake LaMotta, American boxer
1921 – Eunice Kennedy Shriver, American activist (d. 2009)
1922 – Jean Kerr, American author (d. 2003)
1923 – Earl Hamner Jr., American author and television producer
1923 – G. A. Kulkarni, Indian (Marathi) writer (d. 1987)
1923 – John Bradley, American Navy corpsman (d. 1994)
1924 – Bobo Brazil, American professional wrestler (d. 1998)
1924 – Johnny Bach, American basketball coach
1926 – Fred Gwynne, American actor (d. 1993)
1927 – Grigory Barenblatt, Russian mathematician
1927 – Suzanne Cloutier, Canadian film actor (d. 2003)
1927 – David Norman Dinkins, New York City Mayor, 1990-1993
1928 – Moshe Greenberg, American-Israeli Bible scholar (d. 2010)
1928 – Alejandro de Tomaso, Argentine-Italian racing driver and car manufacturer (d. 2003)
1928 – Bernard Buffet, French painter (d. 1999)
1929 – Winnie Ewing, Scottish politician
1930 – Bruce Boa, Canadian actor (d. 2004)
1931 – Nick Adams, American actor (d. 1968)
1931 – Alice Munro, Canadian writer
1931 – Jerry Herman, American composer and lyricist
1931 – Julian May, American writer
1932 – Carlo Mario Abate, Italian racing driver
1933 – Jan DeGaetani, American mezzo-soprano (d. 1989)
1934 – Jerry Nelson, American puppeteer
1935 – Tura Satana, American actress (d. 2011)
1938 – Paul Andreu, French architect
1938 – Lee Morgan, American hard-bop trumpeter (d. 1972)
1939 – Ahmet Taner Kislali, Turkish politician, journalist, and educator (d. 1999)
1940 – Meghnad Desai, Baron Desai, British economist
1940 – Helen Donath, American soprano
1940 – Tom Farmer, Scottish entrepreneur
1940 – Brian Priestley, English jazz writer and pianist
1941 – David G. Hartwell, American editor and anthologist
1941 – Ian Whitcomb, English songwriter, entertainer and producer
1942 – Ronnie James Dio, American musician (d. 2010)
1942 – Pyotr Klimuk, Soviet cosmonaut
1943 – Arthur Ashe, American tennis player (d. 1993)
1945 – John Motson, British sports (football) commentator
1945 – Jean-Marie Poiré, French film director
1945 – Virginia Wade, British tennis player
1945 – Ron Glass, American actor
1945 – Peter Michalica, Slovak violinist
1945 – Hal McRae American baseball player,
1946 – Sue Lyon, American actress
1947 – Arlo Guthrie, American musician
1948 – Chico Resch, Canadian ice hockey player
1949 – Anna Czerwinska, Polish mountaineer
1949 – Sunil Gavaskar, Indian cricketer
1949 – Greg Kihn, American pop musician & radio personality
1949 – John Whitehead, American singer and record producer (d.2004)
1950 – Prokopis Pavlopoulos, Greek politician
1951 – Phyllis Smith, American actress
1951 – Cheryl Wheeler, American singer and songwriter
1952 – Ludmilla Tourischeva, Russian gymnast
1952 – Kim Mitchell, Canadian guitarist/singer
1952 – Peter van Heemst, Dutch politician
1953 – Zoogz Rift, singer/songwriter and wrestling booker (d. 2011)
1953 – Rik Emmett, Canadian musician (Triumph)
1954 – Neil Tennant, British musician (Pet Shop Boys)
1954 – Andre Dawson, American baseball player
1954 – Tommy Bowden, American football coach
1956 – Tom McClintock, American politician
1957 – Cindy Sheehan, American anti-war/political activist
1958 – Béla Fleck, American musician
1958 – Fiona Shaw, Irish actress
1959 – Ellen Kuras, American cinematographer
1960 – Jeff Bergman, American voice actor
1961 – Jacky Cheung, Hong Kong singer and actor
1963 – Richard Waites, British actor
1964 – Urban Meyer, American football coach
1964 – Wilfried Peeters, Belgian cyclist
1965 – Alec Mapa, Filipino-American actor and comedian
1965 – Ken Mellons, American singer
1965 – Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark
1965 – Scott McCarron, American professional golfer
1966 – Gina Bellman, British actress
1966 – Johnny Grunge, American wrestler (d. 2006)
1966 – Christian Stangl, Austrian mountaineer
1967 – Tom Meents, American monster truck driver
1967 – Silvetty Montilla, Brazilian drag queen
1967 – Rebekah Del Rio, Latin American singer/songwriter
1968 – Hassiba Boulmerka, Algerian athlete
1968 – Jonathan Gilbert, American actor
1969 – Jamie Glover, British actor
1969 – Gale Harold, American actor
1969 – Alexandra Hedison, American actress
1969 – Vicky Morales, Filipina broadcast journalist
1969 – Jonas Kaufmann, German tenor
1970 – Adam Hills, Australian comedian
1970 – Gary LeVox, American singer (Rascal Flatts)
1970 – Jason Orange, UK pop singer and dancer (Take That)
1970 – John Simm, British actor
1970 – Helen Sjöholm, Swedish singer and actress
1971 – Adam Foote, Canadian ice hockey player
1971 – Gregory Goodridge, Barbadian footballer
1972 – Peter Serafinowicz, British comedian and actor
1972 – Sofia Vergara, Colombian actress
1972 – Tilo Wolff, German musician (Lacrimosa)
1973 – Annie Mumolo, American actress
1974 – Chiwetel Ejiofor, English actor
1974 – Sharon den Adel, Singer of Dutch band, Within Temptation
1975 – Andrew Firestone, American TV reality show personality
1975 – Brendan Gaughan, American stock car driver
1975 – Alain Nasreddine, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 – Stefán Karl Stefánsson, Icelandic actor
1976 – Elijah Blue Allman, American musician (Deadsy)
1976 – Adrian Grenier, American actor
1976 – Ludovic Giuly, French footballer
1976 – Lars Ricken, German footballer
1976 – Brendon Lade, Australian rules footballer
1976 – Edmílson Gomes, Brazilian footballer
1977 – Schapelle Corby, Australian convicted drug smuggler
1977 – Jesse Lacey, American musician (Brand New)
1977 – Gwendoline Yeo, American actress
1979 – Mvondo Atangana, Cameroon footballer
1980 – Thomas Ian Nicholas, American actor
1980 – Alejandro Millán, Mexican singer and songwriter
1980 – Adam Petty, American race car driver (d. 2000)
1980 – Jessica Simpson, American singer
1980 – Han Eun-jeong, South Korean actress
1980 – James D. Rolfe, video game reviewer better known as the Angry Video Game Nerd
1981 – Aleksandar Tunchev, Bulgarian footballer
1982 – Alex Arrowsmith, American musician
1982 – Sebastian Mila, Polish footballer
1983 – Giuseppe De Feudis, Italian footballer
1983 – Kim Heechul, Korean singer
1983 – Matthew Egan, Australian rules footballer
1984 – Maria Julia Mantilla Garcia, Miss World 2004
1984 – Nikolaos Mitrou, Greek footballer
1985 – B.J. Crombeen, American ice hockey player
1985 – Mario Gómez, German footballer
1985 – Park Chu-Young, South Korean footballer
1986 – Simenona Martinez, American actress
1987 – Brian Belo, British television personality
1988 – Antonio Brown, American football player
1988 – Heather Hemmens, American actress
1991 – María Chacón, Mexican actress
1991 – Danielle Horvat, Australian actress
1991 – Atsuko Maeda, Japanese actress and singer (AKB48)
1992 – Larissa Marolt, Austrian fashion model
1998 – Haley Pullos, American actress

Deaths

138 – Hadrian, Roman Emperor (b. 76)
649 – Li Shimin, Emperor of China (b. 599)
1099 – El Cid, of Castile (b. 1044)
1103 – King Eric I of Denmark
1290 – King Ladislaus IV of Hungary (b. 1262)
1460 – Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, English military leader (b. 1402)
1480 – King René I of Naples (b. 1410)
1559 – King Henry II of France (b. 1519)
1584 – William I of Orange (b. 1533)
1590 – Archduke Charles II of Austria (b. 1540)
1594 – Paolo Bellasio, Italian composer (b. 1554)
1603 – Joan Terès i Borrull, viceroy of Catalonia (b. 1538)
1621 – Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy, soldier in Habsburg service (b. 1571)
1653 – Gabriel Naudé, French librarian and scholar (b. 1600)
1680 – Louis Moréri, French encyclopedist (b. 1643)
1683 – François-Eudes de Mézeray, French historian (b. 1610)
1686 – John Fell, English churchman (b. 1625)
1776 – Richard Peters, English-born clergyman (b. 1704)
1794 – Gaspard de Bernard de Marigny, French royalist general and counterrevolutionary (d. 1754)
1806 – George Stubbs, British painter (b. 1724)
1848 – Karoline Jagemann, German actor (b. 1777)
1851 – Louis-Jacques Daguerre, French inventor and photographer (b. 1787)
1881 – Georg Hermann Nicolai, German architect (b. 1812)
1884 – Paul Morphy, American chess player (b. 1837)
1908 – Phoebe Knapp, American hymn writer (b. 1839)
1920 – Jackie Fisher, British admiral (b. 1841)
1941 – Jelly Roll Morton, American musician (b. 1890)
1950 – Richard Maury, American naturalized Argentine engineer (b. 1882)
1954 – Calogero Vizzini, Sicilian mafioso (b. 1877)
1956 – Joe Giard, American baseball player (b. 1898)
1962 – Yehuda Leib Maimon, Israeli rabbi and government minister (b. 1875)
1963 – Teddy Wakelam, English sports broadcaster and rugby union player (b. 1893)
1970 – Bjarni Benediktsson, Icelandic foreign and later prime minister (b. 1908)
1971 – Laurent Dauthuille, French boxer (b. 1924)
1972 – Lovie Austin, American jazz pianist (b. 1887)
1978 – John D Rockefeller III, American businessman (b. 1906)
1978 – Joe Davis, English snooker player (b. 1901)
1979 – Arthur Fiedler, American conductor (b. 1894)
1980 – Joseph Krumgold, American writer (b. 1908)
1981 – Ken Rex McElroy, American hog rustler (b. 1936)
1985 – Fernando Pereira, Portuguese-Dutch photographer and victim of the Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior (b. 1950)
1986 – Tadeusz Piotrowski, Polish mountaineer (b. 1940)
1987 – John H. Hammond, American record producer (b. 1910)
1989 – Mel Blanc, American voice actor (b. 1908)
1993 – Sam Rolfe, American screenwriter (b. 1924)
2000 – Vakkom Majeed, Indian politician (b. 1909)
2000 – Justin Pierce, English-American actor and skateboarder (b. 1975)
2002 – Jean-Pierre Côté, French Canadian politician and Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1926)
2002 – Evangelos Florakis, Greek military officer (b. 1943)
2003 – Winston Graham, English writer (b. 1908)
2003 – Bishnu Maden, Nepalese politician
2003 – Hartley Shawcross, British prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials (b. 1902)
2004 – Pati Behrs, Russian-born American actress, grandniece of Leo Tolstoy and first wife of American actor John Derek (b. 1922)
2005 – A.J. Quinnell, English writer (b. 1940)
2005 – Freddy Soto, American comedian and actor (b. 1970)
2005 – Freda Wright-Sorce, American radio performer (b. 1955)
2006 – Shamil Basayev, Chechen rebel (b. 1965)
2007 – Abdul Rashid Ghazi, radical Pakistani cleric (b. 1951)
2007 – Doug Marlette, American cartoonist (b. 1949)
2007 – Zheng Xiaoyu, director of the State Food and Drug Administration of the People's Republic of China (b. 1944)
2008 – Hiroaki Aoki, founder of Benihana (b. 1938)
2008 – Mike Souchak, American golfer (b. 1927)
2011 – Pierrette Alarie, Canadian operatic soprano (b. 1921)
2011 – Roland Petit, French choreographer and dancer (b. 1924)