Louis Armstrong (1901)

Armstrong was an innovative trumpeter and singer who strongly influenced the melodic development of jazz in the 1920s. He began playing in marching, riverboat, and cabaret bands as a youth in New Orleans and later joined King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band in Chicago and the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra in New York City. Between 1925 and 1929, he made his classic Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings, which established the preeminence of the virtuoso jazz soloist. What style of singing did he popularize? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Sonoluminescence

Accidentally discovered in 1934 while scientists were experimenting with sonar, sonoluminescence is the emission of short bursts of light from the implosion of bubbles formed in a liquid medium as sound waves pass through it. Scientists have since theorized that the temperatures inside the bubbles are hot enough to melt steel. In 2001, the first known instance of an animal producing light by sonoluminescence was reported. What creature exhibited such behavior? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

US Senate Ratifies the Antiballistic Missile Treaty (1972)

The Antiballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty of 1972 limited the number of defensive antiballistic missile systems allowed to the US and USSR. Effective ABM systems had been sought since the Cold War, when the nuclear arms race raised the specter of complete destruction by unstoppable ballistic missiles. In the West, the treaty was seen as a deterrent to nuclear war, since neither side would be able to fully protect against nuclear attack. Why then did the US withdraw from the treaty in 2002? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Leon Uris (1924)

Uris was an American novelist known for his many popular novels, especially the 1958 bestseller Exodus, a fictional account of Israel’s early history that was eventually translated into dozens of languages. Meticulously researched, much of his fiction is set in historical periods of the 20th century. Uris also wrote screenplays, notably for the classic Western Gunfight at the OK Corral, and many of his novels were made into films. Who starred in the film version of Exodus? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The Derveni Papyrus

The Derveni Papyrus, Europe’s oldest surviving manuscript, is an ancient Greek papyrus scroll dating to approximately 340 BCE. Found in Derveni, in northern Greece, in 1962, the scroll is an allegorical commentary on a poem ascribed to the mythic poet Orpheus which discusses the birth of the gods. It begins with the words “Close the doors, you uninitiated,” a famous admonition to secrecy. The text was officially published how many years after its discovery in 1962? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Potsdam Conference Concludes (1945)

The Potsdam Conference was an Allied conference held in the Berlin suburb of Potsdam after Germany’s surrender in World War II. Representing the US, USSR, and UK, respectively, Harry Truman, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill met there to discuss European peace settlements and reparations, the administration of Germany, the demarcation of Poland, the occupation of Austria, the USSR’s role in eastern Europe, and the war against Japan. Who replaced Churchill during the conference? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary