Born on this day

Saturday, August 16, 1884. :   Hugo Gernsback, the American publisher credited with the establishment of science fiction as an independent literary form, is born.

Hugo Gernsback was born in Luxembourg on 16 August 1884, and immigrated to the USA in 1905. As an inventor, he held 80 patents. He was also a publisher, and the owner of a magazine called Modern Electrics. In 1911, the need to fill in a blank section of the magazine prior to publishing the current issue led him to quickly write the first chapter of a series called ‘Ralph 124C 41+’. The 12-part story, whilst somewhat devoid of any real storyline, detailed a variety of wild inventions unheard of in 1926, including fluorescent lighting, jukeboxes, solar energy, microfilm, vending machines, television and radar.

Following the success of the ‘Ralph’ series, in 1926 Gernsback founded ‘Amazing Stories’, which was the first magazine dedicated to the genre of science fiction. In 1996, Gernsback was one of the inaugural inductees into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Australian Explorers

Friday, August 16, 1861. :   South Australian John McKinlay departs Adelaide to search for the missing Burke and Wills expedition.

The Burke and Wills expedition was supposed to mark the state of Victoria’s greatest triumph: Victoria hoped to be the first state to mount an expedition to cross the continent from south to north. Instead, due to mismanagement and lack of clear communication, three of the four members of the party who finally made the attempt to cross to the gulf and back, never made it back. Robert O’Hara Burke, William John Wills and Charles Gray all died. John King alone survived, after being taken in and nursed by the Aborigines of the Cooper Creek area.

Although the expedition had been financed by the colony of Victoria, several other states mounted their own rescue missions for Burke and Wills, who were long overdue to return. John McKinlay, born at Sandbank on the Clyde in 1819, first came to New South Wales in 1836. He joined his uncle, a wealthy grazier, under whose guidance he soon gained practical bush skills, and then took up several runs in South Australia. McKinlay was chosen to head up the South Australian relief expedition for Burke and Wills, setting out from Adelaide on 16 August 1861. During the course of his search, McKinlay’s journals show that he crossed the continent from south to north, then east and back again, possibly making McKinlay the uncredited first explorer to cross the continent and survive. The remains of Burke and Wills were eventually located by the Victorian relief expedition.

Australian History

Thursday, August 16, 1951. :   The Australian Financial Review is launched.

The Australian Financial Review is a broadsheet newspaper published six days a week by Fairfax Media, one of the largest media companies in Australia and New Zealand. The publication aims to provide an independent source of business, investment, financial and political news.

The Australian Financial Review was launched on 16 August 1951 as a weekly newspaper, and became Australia’s second national newspaper. The first was the shipping newspaper Daily Commercial News, first published in 1891. From October 1961, the Australian Financial Review was produced bi-weekly, and in 1963 it became a daily newspaper from Monday to Friday. In February 1995, a magazine supplement, the Australian Financial Review Magazine, was introduced, and in September 1997, the first Saturday edition of the newspaper was launched.

World History

Sunday, August 16, 1896. :   Gold is found in Alaska, sparking the Klondike goldrush.

Klondike is a region of the Yukon Territory in Northwest Canada, just east of the Alaskan border. On 16 August 1896, rich gold deposits were found in Bonanza (Rabbit) Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River. This sparked the Klondike goldrush of 1897–98. News of the discovery reached the United States in July, 1897, and within a month thousands of people were leaving their homes and jobs and pouring into the north. Over the next six months, approximately 100,000 gold-seekers set off for the Yukon: only 30,000 completed the trip.

World History

Tuesday, August 16, 1898. :   Edwin Prescott patents the roller coaster.

The roller coaster was designed and patented by Edwin Prescott of Arlington, Massachusetts on 16 August 1898. It was named by the U.S. patent office as “the pleasure railway.” The first design was a simple one which included just a single circular loop. The design caused an uncomfortable shock to passengers as the car entered the loop, so was hardly a pleasure to ride. Subsequently, in 1901 a loop-the-loop centrifugal railway was patented by Prescott. The new roller coaster was more comfortable to ride as it replaced the rough approach to the loop with a gentler curve, and had other modifications to improve the overall ride.

World History

Tuesday, August 16, 1977. :   Elvis Presley, king of rock ‘n’ roll, dies.

Elvis Aaron Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on 8 January 1935. He began learning the guitar at age 11, and often busked around the Lauderdale Courts public housing development, where he lived during his teen years. At age 20, he signed with RCA records, and began to make the music charts regularly. During the course of his career, he had 146 Hot 100 hits, 112 top 40 hits, 72 top 20 hits and 40 top 10 hits. A strong television exposure followed, with appearances on shows such as the Ed Sullivan Show. His next step was movies: between 1956 and 1969, Elvis Presley starred in 31 films.

Elvis died at the age of 42 on 16 August 1977. He was found on the floor of his bedroom’s bathroom ensuite, and was rushed to the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis. However, he was pronounced dead on arrival. His post-mortem stated that he had died of cardiac arrhythmia – a form of heart attack. His autopsy results will not be made public until 50 years after his death. Presley was originally buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis next to his mother, but after an attempted theft of his body, his and his mother’s remains were moved to Graceland.

Internet

Wednesday, August 16, 1995. :   Microsoft launches the first version of Microsoft Internet Explorer

The first version of the now ubiquitous Internet Explorer browser, was launched on 16 August 1995. A revised version of the Spyglass Mosaic browser which had been licensed from Spyglass Inc. integrated with the Windows 95 platform and, coming after the original Mosaic browser, it offered a seamless Web browsing experience for the novice and experienced user alike.