This Day in History Class

On this day in 1860, the Pony Express mail service was founded. / On this day in 1948, leftists launched an uprising on Jeju Island in South Korea.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1979, an accidental anthrax leak in a microbiology facility in Sverdlovsk in the Soviet Union caused dozens of people to fall ill. The Soviet Union would deny a leak happened until years later. / On this day in 1929, Irish mercenary Patrick Murphy unintentionally dropped two bombs over the border town of Naco, Arizona.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1960, the first TV picture from space was taken by the TIROS-1 weather satellite. / On this day in 1940, environmental and political activist Wangari Maathai was born in Kenya.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's the last day of women's history month, and it's our last special Sunday episode celebrating women's contributions to society. Today, we welcome Professor Nora Gilbert, who speaks with me about the ways Motion Picture Production Code censorship wasn't all bad for women's expression and portrayals in film. / On this day in 1878, heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson was born.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Crawford Long, a doctor in Georgia, became the first to use inhaled ether anesthesia in surgery on this day in 1842. / On this day in 1791, the French National Assembly accepted a proposal by the French Academy of Sciences to define the meter. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1857, a 29-year-old sepoy named Mangal Pandey attacked two British officers, which set off more than a year long rebellion. / On this day in 1947, Malagasy nationalists launched an uprising against the French colonial government in Madagascar.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1949, British astronomer Fred Hoyle coined the term "big bang." / On this day in 1979, a failure in a reactor at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station led to a partial meltdown.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1915, domestic cook Mary Mallon was quarantined for the second, and final, time on North Brother Island for being a typhoid carrier. / On this day in 1964, a 9.2 magnitude earthquake hit Alaska.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1812, a headline in the Boston Gazette read "The Gerry-mander", accompanied by a satirical illustration of the district that Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry lived in. / On this day in 1888, Swedish nurse Elsa Brändström was born in St. Petersburg.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory caught fire, and more than 100 workers died. / On this day in 1655, Christiaan Huygens first observed Saturn's largest moon, Titan.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.