September 13 - Blue Period

Blue Period

This Day In History

1501

Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David.

1609

Henry Hudson reaches the river that would later be named after him – the Hudson River.

1788

The Philadelphia Convention sets the date for the first presidential election in the United States, and New York City becomes the country's temporary capital.

1814

In a turning point in the War of 1812, the British fail to capture Baltimore, Maryland. During the battle, Francis Scott Key composes his poem "Defence of Fort McHenry", which is later set to music and becomes the United States' national anthem.

1848

Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage survives a 3-foot-plus iron rod being driven through his head; the reported effects on his behavior and personality stimulate thinking about the nature of the brain and its functions.

1899

Henry Bliss is the first person in the United States to be killed in an automobile accident.

1948

Margaret Chase Smith is elected senator, and becomes the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the United States Senate.

1956

IBM introduces the first computer disk storage unit, the RAMAC 305.

1994

Ulysses probe passes the Sun's south pole.

Famous Birthdays

1594

Francesco Manelli, Italian composer, particularly of opera; and theorbo player (d. 1667)

1601

Jan Brueghel the Younger, Flemish Baroque painter (d. 1678)

1775

Laura Secord, Canadian war heroine (d. 1868)

1819

Clara Schumann, German pianist and composer (d. 1896)

1851

Walter Reed, American physician and biologist (d. 1902)

1857

Milton S. Hershey, American confectioner (d. 1945)

1877

Stanley Lord, captain of SS Californian the night of the Titanic disaster (d. 1962)

1903

Claudette Colbert, American actress (d. 1996)

1916

Roald Dahl, British writer (d. 1990)

1925

Mel Tormé, American singer (d. 1999)

1937

Don Bluth, American animator

1944

Jacqueline Bisset, British actress
Peter Cetera, American musician
1946
Frank Marshall, American film producer and director
1975
Joe Don Rooney, American musician (Rascal Flatts)