Born on this day
Saturday, November 10, 1483. : Martin Luther, German theologian and catalyst to the Protestant Reformation, is born.
Martin Luther was born on 10 November 1483, in Eisleben, Germany. At age 17 he enrolled in the University of Erfurt, gaining a Bachelor’s degree in 1502 and a Master’s degree in 1505. According to his father’s wishes, Luther then enrolled in the law school of that university. A terrifying near-encounter with a lightning bolt in 1505 led Luther to abandon his law studies and enter a monastery, dedicated to serving God.
Luther struggled with the Roman Catholic church’s demands that one could only earn favour with God through good works. Through his in-depth study of the Scriptures, he reached the realisation that salvation is a gift of God’s grace, received by faith alone and by trust in Christ’s death on the cross as the only means to that salvation.
It was this that led him to openly question the teachings of the Roman Catholic church, in particular, the nature of penance, the authority of the pope and the usefulness of indulgences. The Reformation of the church began on 31 October 1517, with Luther’s act of posting his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The document contained an attack on papal abuses and the sale of indulgences by church officials.
Controversy raged over the posting of the 95 Theses. Luther was excommunicated several years later from the Roman Catholic church for his attacks on the wealth and corruption of the papacy, and his belief that salvation would be granted on the basis of faith alone rather than by works. In 1521, the same year in which he was excommunicated, Luther was summoned before the Diet of Worms. The Diet was a general assembly of the estates of the Holy Roman Empire that occurred in Worms, Germany, from January to May in 1521. When an edict of the Diet called for Luther’s seizure, his friends took him for safekeeping to Wartburg, the castle of Elector Frederick III of Saxony. Here, Luther continued to write his prolific theological works, which greatly influenced the direction of the Protestant Reformation movement.
Australian History
Thursday, November 10, 1791. : The whaling industry in Australia, in which whales in Australian waters would be nearly hunted to extinction, begins.
The whaling industry in Australia began on 10 November 1791, just three years after the First Fleet arrived on Australian shores. Samuel Enderby Jnr, born in 1756 in England, was the son of Samuel Enderby, who established the whaling and sealing firm of Samuel Enderby & Sons. In 1791, Enderby Jnr arranged for whalers to carry convicts to Port Jackson in the Third Fleet, following reports from earlier captains of masses of whales in the southern oceans. Thus began the whaling industry which hunted the southern right whale virtually to extinction within just fifty years. One hundred and fifty years later, the humpback whale suffered the same fate.
It is only in more recent years that animal protection laws have allowed the whale numbers to increase. However, whales in southern waters are once again at risk from Japanese whalers who continue to flout the resolutions of the International Whaling Commission.
World History
Friday, November 10, 1871. : Henry Morton Stanley greets missing missionary and explorer David Livingstone in Africa with the immortal words, “Dr Livingstone, I presume?”
Scottish-born David Livingstone spent over 30 years as a missionary in Africa, extensively exploring the continent’s interior. Livingstone was popular among native tribes in Africa because he quickly learned African languages and had a keen understanding and sympathy for native people and their cultures. In 1855, he discovered and named the spectacular Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River.
Livingstone’s lack of contact with the outside world over several years raised concerns for his welfare and prompted the New York Herald to send journalist Henry Morton Stanley to track him down in Africa. On 10 November 1871 Stanley met up with Livingstone, greeting him with the famous words “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” The two men explored together briefly but Livingstone, weakened from dysentery, died less than two years later, on 30 April 1873.
World History
Tuesday, November 10, 1885. : Gottlieb Daimler invents the first gas-engine motorcycle.
The first motorcycle was actually a two-cylinder steam-powered creation, invented by American Sylvester Howard Roper in 1867. The predecessor to the motorcycle, however, was invented by German engine manufacturer Gottlieb Daimler on 10 November 1885. Daimler used the gas-powered four-stroke internal combustion engine invented by engineer Nicolaus August Otto in 1876, and attached it to a wooden bike. The new vehicle had one wheel in the front and one in the back, and a smaller spring-loaded outrigger wheel on each side. Each wheel was an iron-banded wooden-spoked wagon-type.
Daimler later teamed up with Karl Benz to form the Daimler-Benz Corporation, going on to build automobiles, rather than developing the motorcycle further.