Month: November 2017

Basketball Star Earvin “Magic” Johnson Announces He Has HIV (1991)

Johnson had been a basketball star for more than a decade when he announced, at a press conference, that he had tested positive for HIV and would retire. He vowed to battle the disease, while confirming that neither his pregnant wife nor their unborn child was infected. As a popular athlete, Johnson helped combat the stigma of HIV, which was then predominantly associated with disproportionately affected groups such as drug addicts and homosexuals. Did Johnson ever return to basketball?

Source: The Free Dictionary

Lise Meitner (1878)

An eminent Austrian physicist, Meitner fled Nazi Germany for Sweden in 1938. There, she formulated the concept of nuclear fission and proposed the term for the process. Though the Nobel Prize for the discovery went to physicist Otto Hahn, the element meitnerium was named in her honor. She was critical of scientists who remained in Germany during the Nazi era yet staunchly refused to participate in the atomic bomb research that resulted from her work. Why did Hahn once give her a diamond ring?

Source: The Free Dictionary

El Gran Capitán

Known to his contemporaries as “El Gran Capitán“, or “the Great Captain,” Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba was a Spanish general who made Spain the world’s preeminent military power. Born in 1453, de Córdoba was one of the founders of modern warfare. He formed the first modern standing army and was the first European general to organize the pursuit of defeated armies after a victory in order to destroy the retreating enemy. Historians refer to him as the father of what kind of warfare?

Source: The Free Dictionary

Kepler data reveals existence of 20 promising exoplanets ‘hiding in plain sight’

A large international team of researchers working with data sent back from NASA’s Kepler space telescope has found evidence of 20 previously unknown, promising exoplanets. In their paper uploaded to the arXiv preprint server, the team describes the exoplanets …

Source: The Free Dictionary

The Green March Begins (1975)

Extremely arid and almost entirely sand and gravel, the sparsely populated territory of Western Sahara was a protectorate of Spain until the 1970s. Despite internal calls for independence, the king of neighboring Morocco led a march of more than 300,000 unarmed Moroccans into the territory as a show of support for annexation. Known as the Green March, the mass demonstration led to Spanish withdrawal, but control of the region is still contested. What other group claims the territory?

Source: The Free Dictionary

Joanna the Mad (1479)

Joanna was the first queen regnant of both Castile and Aragon, which would become modern Spain. Though Joanna likely suffered from depression, the extent of her mental illness may have been exaggerated for political reasons. Throughout much of Joanna’s reign, her father, husband, and son vied for power, each ruling on her behalf by attesting to her insanity. Joanna remained confined for much of her life. How old was she when she died?

Source: The Free Dictionary

Mayday, Mayday!

“Mayday” is a code word used internationally as a radio distress signal for a life-threatening emergency. It is derived from the French phrase venez m’aider, meaning “come help me.” “Mayday” should be repeated three times, followed by the vessel’s call sign, also repeated three times. “Mayday” and the call sign should then be stated again, followed by details about the emergency and position of the craft. What code word can be used for situations that are urgent but not life-threatening?

Source: The Free Dictionary