October 15 - Calling

Calling

This Day In History

1582

Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.

1764

Edward Gibbon observes a group of friars singing in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, which inspires him to begin work on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

1783

Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier makes the first (tethered) human ascent, in the Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon.

1878

The Edison Electric Light Company begins operation.

1910

The airship America is launched from Atlantic City, New Jersey in the first attempt to cross the Atlantic by a powered aircraft.

1928

The airship Graf Zeppelin completes its first trans-Atlantic flight, landing at Lakehurst, NJ.

1939

The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed La Guardia Airport) is dedicated.

1951

The first episode of I Love Lucy airs on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).

1956

Fortran, the first modern computer language, is shared with the coding community for the first time.

1997

The first supersonic land speed record is set by Andy Green of the UK in ThrustSSC.

2001

NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io.

Famous Birthdays

70 BC

Virgil, Roman poet (d. 19 BC)

1608

Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist (d. 1647)

1762

Samuel Adams Holyoke, American composer and teacher of vocal and instrumental music (d. 1820)

1814

Mikhail Lermontov, Russian author (d. 1841)

1829

Asaph Hall, American astronomer (d. 1907)

1858

John L. Sullivan, American boxer (d. 1918)

1881

P. G. Wodehouse, British novelist (d. 1975)

1909

Jesse Leonard Greenstein, American astronomer (d. 2002)

1920

Mario Puzo, American novelist (d. 1999)

1924

Lee Iacocca, American automotive executive
Mark Lenard, American actor (d. 1996)

1926

Michel Foucault, French philosopher (d. 1984)

1942

Penny Marshall, American actress and film director
1953
Larry Miller, American actor and comedian
1959
Emeril Lagasse, American chef
1969
Paige Davis, American television personality and actress