On This Day in History

February 9, 1895, William G. Morgan invented the game Mintonette, which was soon renamed volleyball.

Thank you, Mr. Morgan. Thank you thank you thank you!

 

On the Wikipedia page, here's probably the most important single thing that happened on this day: Feburary 10, 1258 – Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed.
That's pretty much the spot where Islam as a culture faltered and began the slide that lead us to the situation that obtains in the middle east today, as opposed to southwest and central Asia and north Africa being one of the or the only dominant intellectual center in the world.

One could argue, but at the very least, Baghdad has never recovered.

 

Also on February 11th In 1945, President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin signed the Yalta Agreement during World War II.

 

February 11, 1922:

Toronto Ontario - Frederick Grant Banting 1891-1941 announces the discovery of insulin, used to treat diabetes, at the University of Toronto; with colleagues C.H. Best (1899-1978), J.B. Collip (1892-1965) and J.J.R. Macleod (1876-1935).

 

On February 13th in 1935, a jury in Flemington, N.J., found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of first-degree murder in the kidnap-death of the infant son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. Hauptmann was later executed.

 

February 13, 1970 – Black Sabbath, arguably the very first heavy metal album, is released.

 

On February 14th in 1929, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre took place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capone’s gang were gunned down.

 

Remember the MAINE!
February 15th, 1898 The U.S. battleship Maine blew up in Havana harbor, killing more than 260 crew members and bringing the U.S. closer to war with Spain over the issue of Cuban independence, and paving the way for Rupert Murdoch to not be laughed out of the room when he claims to run a news organization.

 

February 16, 1971:

FUDDLE DUDDLE DAY
Ottawa Ontario - Pierre Trudeau, under opposition attack in the Commons, utters an apparently unparliamentary expression that he later describes as 'fuddle-duddle.'

 

2/16/1923 – Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. This makes Tut the current historical Hide and Seek Record Holder at 3245 years.