"Medical science has proven time and again that when the resources are provided, great progress in the treatment, cure, and prevention of disease can occur."
-- Michael J. Fox, actor, diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991
“You look at the large problems that we face —
that would be overpopulation, water shortages,
global warming and AIDS ... all of that needs
international cooperation to be solved.”
-- Molly Ivins,
newspaper columnist, political commentator
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OCTOBER is:
Domestic Violence Awareness Month
LGBTQ+ History Month
National Stop Bullying Month
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October 24th is:
International United Nations Day: October 24, 1945 – celebrates the historic meeting of representatives for 50 governments, at the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco CA, to ratify the U.N. Charter, bringing the organization officially into existence
National Food Day: October 24, 2011 – this day was launched by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, in partnership with a coalition of food movement leaders and organizations, on October 24 annually, to inspire Americans to improve their diets and U.S. food policies
Through-the-Lens Day: October 24, 1632 – Scientist Anthony van Leeuwenhoek born in Delft, Holland, creator of first microscope lenses powerful enough to observe single-celled animals – this day celebrates how this has added to human knowledge
Tony Bennett Day: October 24, 1995 – Tony Bennett Day is declared in New York City
World Development Information Day: October 24, 2012 – The UN General Assembly established this day to draw attention to the interdependent nature of development problems and the need to strengthen international cooperation to solve them
World Polio Day: October 24, 2012 – established by Rotary International to commemorate the birth of Dr. Jonas Salk, developer of the first successful polio vaccine. In 1994, the World Health Organization certified the elimination of the wild poliovirus in the Americas. In 2002, WHO declared the European Region polio-free. But declining rates of immunization, particularly in the U.S. now raise the treat of its return
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Egypt – Suez Day
Iceland – Women’s Strike Anniversary: October 24,1975 – The Women’s Strike: 90% of Icelandic women took part in a national ‘Women’s Day Off’ refusing to work to protest gaps in gender equality in Iceland. The country grinds to a halt, not only because women are missing from work, but because fathers were forced to stay home, taking over childcare. Five years later, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir became the first woman president of Iceland (1980-1996)
Micronesia/Palau – United Nations Day
Russia – Special Forces Day
Zambia – Independence Day
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On This Day in HISTORY:
51 – Domitian born, last of the Flavian dynasty; son of Vespasian and younger brother of Titus, who both preceded him as Roman Emperors; his authoritarian reign (81-96) was extremely unpopular with the Roman Senate, and it ended with his assassination
1260 – Chartres Cathedral dedication is attended by French King Louis IX, whose coat of arms was painted over the apsidal boss (a decorative protrusion of stone or wood at the central junction of the ribs of a vault); the cathedral is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site
1590 – John White, the governor of the second Roanoke Colony, returns to England after an unsuccessful search for its missing colonists
1648 – The Peace of Westphalia, a series of treaties signed by various combinations of the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, France, Sweden, Holland, and assorted Holy Roman Empire princes and sovereigns of free imperial cities, effectively ends the European wars of religion – The Eighty Years’ War for Dutch independence from Spain, and the Thirty Years’ War amongst everybody else
1764 – Dorothea von Schlegel born, oldest daughter of Moses Mendelssohn, a leading figure of the German Enlightenment. She was a German novelist and translator. The novel Lucinde (1799), by poet Friedrich von Schlegel, created a scandal because it was viewed as an account of their affair, which began in 1797, and led her to divorce her Jewish husband (1799), and become a Protestant in order to marry von Schlegel (1804). Her novel Florentin had to be published anonymously in 1801
1788 – Sarah Josepha Hale born, American author and poet; first American woman magazine editor (1841-1877), of the Ladies’ Magazine; now remembered for her song “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” but she was a pioneer in recording women’s achievements, compiling the Woman’s Record; or, Sketches of Distinguished Women, a 36-volume collection of profiles of women, tracing their influence through history on social organization and literature
1795 – The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is divided up between Austria, Prussia, and Russia
1830 – Marianne North born, English botanist, botanical artist, and world traveler; notable for her plant and landscape paintings, her extensive foreign travels, her writings, her plant discoveries, and the creation of her gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew
Marianne North - Australian Parrot Flower painting
1830 – Belva Lockwood born, attorney, the first woman admitted to practice law before Supreme Court (1879). She ran for U.S. President in 1884 and 1888 as the Equal Rights Party candidate
1836 – Alonzo D. Phillips patents the phosphorous friction safety match
1840 – Eliza Pollock born, American archer who won two bronze medals in the 1904 Summer Olympics, and a gold medal as a member of the U.S. Olympic team
1851 – English astronomer William Lassell is first to observe the moons Umbriel and Ariel of Uranus
1861 – The first transcontinental telegraph line across the United States is completed, ending the need for the 18-month-old Pony Express – Justice Stephen Field in California sends the first message to President Lincoln in Washington DC
1868 – Alexandra David-Néel born, Belgian-French explorer, Buddhist, anarchist and author of over 30 books about Eastern religion and her travels, including Magic and Mystery in Tibet; first Western woman to enter the forbidden city of Llasa, disguised as a beggar; her writings influenced ‘beat’ writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, and Alan Watts, who popularized Eastern philosophy and poetry in the West
1871 – California: After rumours spread that a local rancher had been murdered by Chinese, a mob of 500 whites and mestizos stormed Chinatown in Los Angeles, robbing and beating the Chinese residents. An estimated 17 to 20 Chinese immigrants were tortured and lynched. Ten men in the mob were arrested, eight of them convicted of manslaughter, but the convictions were overturned on appeal due to “technicalities,” including a law passed by the state legislature in 1863 that Asians could not testify in court against whites
1885 – Alice Perry born, first Irishwoman to graduate with a degree in engineering, with first class honours, in 1906; she had to return home when her father died, and served temporarily in his position as county surveyor for Galway City Council for several months, but was passed over when she applied for the permanent position; she remains the only woman to have been a County Surveyor in Ireland, so she moved to London and worked as a ‘Lady Factory Inspector’ (1908-1921); retired, became a Christian Scientist, moved to America, and wrote seven books of poetry
1891 – Brenda Ueland born, American journalist, editor, author, essayist, feminist, animal rights advocate, and teacher; noted for If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit (1938), which Carl Sandburg called “the best book ever written on how to write,” and is still in print. She was a freelance writer for a variety of magazines, from the Saturday Evening Post to Sportsman, and a staff writer for Liberty Magazine and the Minneapolis Times newspaper. From 1915 to 1917, she was an editor for Crowell Publishing, which was primarily publishing trade books and biographies at that time. Ueland also wrote scripts for radio shows, including Tell Me More, an advice call-in show, and Stories for Girl Heroes, a children’s program about notable women. She also taught creative writing classes. A collection of her work was published in 1992 under the name Strength to Your Sword Arm, featuring many of her articles and essays on topics like children, feminism, her life in Minneapolis, animals, health and well-being. Ueland said she lived her life by two rules: to tell the truth, and never do anything she didn’t want to
1896 – Marjorie Joyner born, helped develop and manage more than 200 Madam C. J. Walker beauty schools by 1919, added professional status to the occupation, worked with Eleanor Roosevelt and other leaders in civil rights struggles
1901 – Desiring to secure her later years financially and avoid the poorhouse, on her 63rd birthday, American schoolteacher Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel, using a custom-built barrel padded with a mattress – the barrel was tested the previous day, going over the falls with a cat inside, who survived, bloodied and spitting mad
1903 – Charlotte Perriand born, French architect and designer; she was a pioneer modern design, l’esprit nouveau; in designing rooms and furniture, she preferred to use metals, especially steel, with glass, chrome and leather. When she applied to work at Le Corbusier’s studio in 1927, she was rejected – “We don’t embroider cushions here.” But a month later, Le Corbusier visited the Salon d’Automne, where her design, Bar sous le toit (‘Bar under the roof’ – a recreation of a section of her attic apartment), was on display, and he offered her a job designing furniture. She was put in charge of the interiors work and promoting the studio’s designs through a series of exhibitions. But her contributions were credited to the Le Corbusier studio. After WWII, Perriand, an enthusiastic communist, want to turn her hand to low-cost furniture for mass production, and approached Le Corbusier, who wrote in response, “I do not think it would be interesting, now that you’re a mother … to oblige you to be present in the atelier,” he wrote. “On the other hand, I would be very happy if you could contribute to the practical structural aspects of the settings which are within your domain, that is to say the knack of a practical woman, talented and kind at the same time.” He would ultimately have Perriand develop the compact modular kitchens for the acclaimed Marseille project – and claim sole authorship of the result. Her dream of modern furniture for the masses was never fulfilled – only 170 of her chaise longues with curved tubular steel frames were sold in their first decade – today, they are reproduced under a license from Fondation Le Corbusier, and sold in upscale boutiques for over $5,000 USD (over €4,526 Euros)
1904 – Moss Hart born, American playwright and theatre director; You Can’t Take It With You, The Man Who Came To Dinner; directed the first Broadway production of My Fair Lady
1911 – Orville Wright remains in the air for 9 minutes and 45 seconds in his Wright Glider at Kill Devil Hills, NC
1911 – Nathaniel Wyeth born, chemist and inventor; patented the PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the first plastic strong enough to bottle carbonated beverages
1914 – Lakshmi Sahgal born, Indian Independence movement revolutionary, physician, officer in the Indian National Army who was dubbed “Captain Lakshmi” which was her rank when taken prisoner in Burma during WWII, and Minister of Women’s Affairs during Azah Hind (Provisional Government of Free India 1943-1946). She was in Singapore in 1942 during its surrender to the Japanese, and aided wounded prisoners of war, many of them Indian nationalists. She was recruited by Subhas Chandra Bose into the Rani of Jhansi regiment, an all-women brigade of the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army). The INA marched with the Japanese army to Burma, but left them before the Battle of Imphal, where the Japanese suffered heavy casualties and were driven back by an allied army which included several divisions of Indian troops. Captain Lakshmi was arrested by the British, and held in Burma from May 1945 until March 1946, when she was sent to India, where the INA trials were increasing discontent and hastening the end of colonial rule. She returned to medical practice, but also became a prominent Communist politician and labour activist. During both the Partition of India (1947) and the Bangladesh Liberation War (1971), she organized aid and medical care for refugees; one of the founding members of the All India Democratic Women’s Association in 1981
1915 – Letitia Woods Brown born, pioneer in researching and teaching African-American history, completed a Ph.D. at Harvard in 1966. She was a primary consultant for the Schlesinger Library’s Black Women Oral History Project, and
co-authored Washington from Banneker to Douglass 1791-1870
1915 – Bob Kane born, the American cartoonist who created Batman
1915 – Marghanita Laski born, English journalist and science fiction critic, biographer, radio panelist on Any Questions?, novelist and short-story writer, noted for her novels Little Boy Lost and Tory Heaven, and biographies of Jane Austen, George Eliot. and Rudyard Kipling. She was also a prolific contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary, having “carded” almost 250,000 quotations. Laski was a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament activist, and an avowed atheist
1917 – Bolshevik Red Guards begin takeover of buildings in Petrograd, Russia, at the start of the October Revolution
1917 – Marie Foster born, American Civil Rights leader who helped register many African-American voters in Selma, Alabama, and helped start the Dallas County Voters League; she personally was turned away from registering eight times before she succeeded, and then began teaching other black citizens how to pass the tests being used to bar them from registering. Only one person showed up for her first class, a 70- year-old man. She taught how to write his name. Foster was one of the main organizers of the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965; on ‘Bloody Sunday’ she was clubbed by a state trooper across the knees, but despite her injuries, two weeks later, she walked with the others the fifty miles to Montgomery in five days
1918 – Doreen Tovey born, English author and cat lover; she wrote over a dozen books about her fictionalized life with her husband, their Siamese cats and other animals, which have sold over 150,000 copies. She was president of the RSPCA for North Somerset
1923 – Denise Levertov born, British-American poet, her anti-Vietnam war poems include themes of destruction by greed, racism, and sexism in the 1970s; her later poetry reflects her conversion to Catholicism in 1990. She won the Robert Frost Medal in 1990, and the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry in 1993. Her many collections of poetry include: O Taste and See; Breathing the Water; A Door in the Hive; and This Great Unknowing: Last Poems. She died at age 74 in 1997, after a three year battle with lymphoma
1926 – Harry Houdini’s last performance takes place at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit
1929 – Black Tuesday stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange
1931 – The George Washington Bridge, spanning the Hudson River between Manhattan and New Jersey, opens to public traffic
1931 – Sofia Gubaidulina born, Tatar-Russian composer and pianist; she composed several scores for documentary films, but in 1979, she was blacklisted for participation without approval in music festivals in the West. Noted for violin concerto Offertorium, and a T.S. Eliot tribute based on his Four Quartets
1937 – M. Rosaria Piomelli born, Italian architect, author and academic; was a project architect for I.M. Pei and Partners (1971-1974), then opened her own firm in New York City in 1974; member of the American Institute of Architects; organized Women in the Design of the Environment, a 1974 exhibition in New York. Piomelli became the first woman dean of an architectural school in the U.S. when she was appointed as dean of the CCNY School of Architecture in 1980
1939 – Nylon stockings are sold for the first time, in Wilmington Delaware; and Benny Goodman’s orchestra records “Let’s Dance”
1940 – In the U.S., the 40-hour workweek went into effect under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
1941 – Merle Woo born in San Francisco, Chinese-Korean American academic, poet, and activist; a leading member of the socialist feminist group Radical Women and the Freedom Socialist Party. She taught Lesbian Literature and other classes in the late 1960s at San Francisco State University. In 1978, she began teaching at the UC Berkeley, a turbulent period during which she was fired, then rehired, and when her contract was not renewed, she won a union arbitration, and was reinstated in 1989. Later, she went back to teaching at San Francisco State. She was also part of the performance group Unbound Feet. Her essay “Letter to Ma” was included in the 1918 feminist anthology This Bridge Called My Back, and her poetry collection, Yellow Woman Speaks, was published in 1986
1946 – A camera on board the V-2 No. 13 rocket takes the first photograph of earth from outer space
1947 – Walt Disney testifies before the House Un-American Activities Committee, ratting out Disney employees he believes to be communists
1948 – In a speech before the Senate War Investigating Committee, Bernard Baruch coins the phrase “Cold War”
1949 – The cornerstone of the United Nations Headquarters in New York is laid
1950 – Gabriella Sica born, Italian poet and author; director of Prato pagano magazine since 1987
1950 – Maria Teschler-Nicola born, Austrian biologist, anthropologist and ethnologist; noted for her work on a very rare genetic disorder in humans, tetrasomy 12p mosaicism; Director of the Department of Archaeological Biology and Anthropology of the Museum of Natural History of Vienna since 1998
1954 – President Dwight Eisenhower pledges U.S. support for South Vietnam
1957 – U.S. Air Force starts the X-20 Dyna-Soar program
1958 – Nokugcine ‘Gcina’ Mhlophe born, South African storyteller, songwriter and children’s author; she played a large role in keeping Black South African history alive and encouraging children to read
1959 – Michelle Lujan Grisham born, American Democratic politician; Governor of New Mexico since January, 2019; New Mexico Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (2013-2018); New Mexico Secretary of Health (2004-2007). She is pro-choice, favors a ban on assault rifles, opposes discrimination, and is an advocate for elder rights. She was a co-sponsor of the Student Loan Fairness Act, and has pushed for green and renewable legislation and regulation in New Mexico
1960 – Cuba completes nationalizing all American-owned property – it began nationalizing all foreign-owned property on August 6, 1960
1962 – During the Cuban Missile Crisis, U.S. military forces go on the highest alert in the postwar era, preparing for a possible full-scale war with the Soviet Union – the U.S. blockade of Cuba officially begins
1962 – Premiere of The Manchurian Candidate, at the height of the U.S.-Soviet tension over the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1994, the U.S. Library of Congress designated the film as being culturally and historically significant
1964 – Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the U.K., and becomes the Republic of Zambia
1964 – Janele Donna Hyer-Spencer born, American litigation attorney for New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services, and Democratic politician; member of the New York State Assembly (2007-2010); advocate for stronger penalties for child sex abusers, and successfully sponsored legislation to combat domestic violence, as well as a law to eliminate fees for Order of Protection to remove financial roadblocks for victims, and was an advocate for education and healthcare, including opposing increases in state education tuition and Education budget cuts, and increasing income eligibility for prescription drug coverage for seniors; strong advocate on environmental issues, against hydro fracking within New York City’s watershed, and in favor of protection and public access to beaches and waterfronts
1971 – Zephyr Teachout born, American attorney, author and Associate Professor of Law at Fordham University; on the advisory board for Let America Vote, working to end voter suppression, and was treasurer for Cynthia Nixon’s campaign for New York governor in 2018; has been a supporter of Bernie Sanders; author of Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin’s Snuff Box to Citizens United
1980 – The Polish government legalizes the Solidarity trade union
1985 – South Africa ‘Purple Rain’: Hundreds of marchers, most of them women wearing t-shirts with the slogan “Troops Out,” reached the Cape Town city centre to protest troops being permanently stationed in townships, and refused to obey an order to disperse. Cape Town police used water cannons to spray purple-dyed water on them, setting off a riot
1998 – Launch of Deep Space One comet/asteroid mission
2001 – U.S. House of Representatives approves legislation giving police the power to secretly search homes, tap all of any person’s telephone conversation and track people’s use of the Internet
2003 – Concorde takes its last commercial flight, landing in London, ending the era of supersonic passenger travel
2007 – Chang’e 1, first unmanned lunar-orbiting satellite in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, is launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center (Chang’e is the Chinese Moon Goddess)
2008 – Bloody Friday when many of the world’s stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices
2014 – European Union leaders strike a deal on cutting carbon emissions by 40% by 2030, calling for a new global standard in the fight against climate change. The agreement also includes 27% targets for the amount of renewable energy by 2030, and for energy efficiency gains. European Council chair Herman Van Rompuy calls it “the world’s most ambitious, cost-effective, fair climate energy policy ...”
2017 – A U.S. federal appeals court overturned a lower court ruling that had blocked a pregnant undocumented teenage immigrant from getting an abortion. The Trump administration blocked the 17-year-old teen, known only as Jane Doe, from leaving a government-contracted facility to have the procedure. She came to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor, and a few weeks earlier received a state judicial order allowing her to terminate her pregnancy without parental consent. The Trump administration argued in court that it had not “put any obstacle in her path,” but was “refusing to facilitate an abortion.”
2021 – Eleven Picasso paintings and other works that helped turn Las Vegas into an unlikely destination for art have been sold at auction for more than $100m. The Sotheby’s auction was held on Saturday at the Bellagio hotel and casino in Las Vegas, where the works had been on display for years, and took place two days before the 140th birthday of the Spanish artist on October 35th. The Bellagio has always been renowned for its art and five of the paintings had hung on the walls of its fine dining restaurant, which is called Picasso. The restaurant will continue to display 12 other Picasso works. The highest price was fetched by the 1938 painting Femme au Béret Rouge-Orange, which depicts Picasso’s lover and muse Marie-Thérèse Walter. It sold for $40.5m, about $10m over the pre-sale estimate
Femme au Béret Rouge-Orange - Picasso
