Colombia Battle of Boyacá Day

Colombia, known as New Granada in the early part of the 19th century, was then ruled by Spain. Simón Bolívar, the leader of the independence movement in South America, began a military campaign to liberate Colombia in 1817. He achieved a major victory at the Battle of Boyacá on August 7, 1819, when he surprised the Spanish forces crossing a bridge and routed them. Colombians celebrate this national holiday with parades and festivals throughout the country. Ceremonies take place at the cemeteries where the fallen soldiers of the battle are buried. Discuss

Mata Hari (1876)

Born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, this Dutch courtesan, dancer, and alleged spy went by the stage name Mata Hari. During World War I, she had intimate relationships with high-ranking Allied military officers and government officials. Though details are unclear, she apparently spied for Germany from 1916. In January 1917, French intelligence intercepted German messages about a spy they identified as Mata Hari, and she was executed by the French on espionage charges. What happened to her corpse? Discuss

Hemophilia

Hemophilia is a sex-linked genetic disease in which the body’s ability to control bleeding is impaired due to the absence or abnormality of a clotting factor in the blood. The two most common forms of the disease are caused by a genetic defect present on the X chromosome. Because females have two X chromosomes, whereas males have only one, females are more commonly carriers of the recessive disease while males tend to be the hemophiliacs. Why is hemophilia also called “the royal disease”? Discuss

End of the Holy Roman Empire: Francis II Abdicates (1806)

Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, came to power just before the outbreak of war with Napoleon’s France. His armies were defeated, and he ceded the left bank of the Rhine to France in exchange for Venetia and Dalmatia. In 1798, he joined the Second Coalition against France, but he was again defeated. He eventually consented to the virtual dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and assumed the title of emperor of Austria. Though he despised Napoleon, Francis allowed him to marry whom? Discuss

Feast of the Transfiguration

As described in the first three Gospels, Jesus took his three closest disciples to a mountaintop to pray. While he was praying, his face shone like the sun and his garments became glistening white. Then a bright cloud came over them, and a voice from within the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” This feast is observed by Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Lutherans, and Anglicans. The mountaintop on which the Transfiguration took place is traditionally believed to be Mount Tabor, a few miles east of Nazareth in Galilee. Discuss

Alexander Fleming (1881)

Motivated by the devastating infections he saw in hospitals during World War I, Fleming, a Scottish bacteriologist, began searching for an effective antiseptic. In 1922, he discovered lysozyme, an antibacterial enzyme present in saliva and tears. In 1928, he isolated the substance penicillin, which became the first successful antibiotic for human bacterial infections. His work earned him a Nobel Prize and has forever changed modern medicine. In what accidental way did he discover penicillin? Discuss

Toothpaste

Though toothpaste as we know it today is only about a century old, dental hygiene has long concerned human beings. The ancient Greeks and Romans cleaned their teeth with abrasive mixtures using crushed bones and oyster shells, a far cry from the hydrogen peroxide-and-baking soda formulas of the 19th century. In 1892, American dentist Washington Sheffield became the first to sell toothpaste in a tube—today the standard in toothpaste packaging. What had inspired him to package it like that? Discuss