Born on this day

Tuesday, January 27, 1756. :   Austrian Classical composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is born.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 in Salzburg, Austria. At the age of three, it was apparent that Mozart was a musical prodigy and he was taught to play the harpsichord, violin, and organ by his father. Because of his unusual ability, however, he was also somewhat exploited as a “Wunderkind” in the courts of Europe. He composed his first symphony at the age of eight.

As well as being influenced by the work of composer Johann Christian Bach, who befriended Mozart as a child in London in 1764-5. Mozart became friends later with Josef Haydn, and each had some influence upon the other’s musical style. Mozart is widely regarded as one of history’s greatest composers, and his repertoire of over 600 compositions includes 41 symphonies, 27 piano concertos, 16 operas, 19 piano sonatas, and other orchestral and chamber works. Among his more famous works are the short orchestral work, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music), and the operas Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute).

Mozart died in the early hours of 5 December 1791 while he was working on his final composition, the Requiem, which remained unfinished when he died. However, though his life was short, his influence endured through the work of later composers such as Rossini and Beethoven, and his music is often part of the standard concert repertoire today.

Australian History

Monday, January 27, 1919. :   The 1918-1919 influenza pandemic reaches New South Wales.

The 1918-1919 Spanish Influenza pandemic, also known as “Spanish Flu” or “La Grippe”, is regarded as one of the world’s worst natural disasters. The exact death toll is unknown, but it is estimated to have been between 40 million and 100 million people worldwide – a greater toll than that resulting from World War 1.

According to New South Wales Government state records, the pandemic reached the state on 27 January 1919, entering via Victoria. Three waves of the Spanish ‘flu hit NSW over an eight month period. Within one year, over 6000 people had died in NSW alone; more than 4000 of these were in Sydney. Across Australia, over 12,000 people died. Although Australia’s death rate was lower than that of many other countries, the pandemic was a major demographic, economic and social disaster, given Australia’s relatively small population.

World History

Friday, January 27, 1606. :   Guy Fawkes is convicted of attempting to blow up the English Parliament.

Guy Fawkes (later also known as Guido Fawkes) was born on 13 April 1570, in Stonegate, York, England. He embraced Catholicism while still in his teens, and later served for many years as a soldier gaining considerable expertise with explosives; both of these events were crucial to his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

From 1563, legislation evolved which demanded citizens recognise the King as Supreme Governor of the Church. Refusal to submit was punishable by death. The Gunpowder Plot was an attempt by a group of Catholic extremists to assassinate King James I of England, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in one hit by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening. A group of conspirators rented a cellar beneath the House of Lords and filled it with 2.5 tonnes of gunpowder. However, one of the conspirators, who feared for the life of fellow Catholics who would have been present at parliament during the opening, wrote a letter to Lord Monteagle. Monteagle, in turn, warned the authorities. Fawkes, who was supposed to have lit the fuse to explode the gunpowder, was arrested during a raid on the cellar early on the morning of 5 November 1605. Fawkes was tortured into revealing the names of his co-conspirators. Those who were not killed immediately were placed on trial, during which they were sentenced to be hanged, then taken from the gallows while they were still alive, drawn and quartered. The trial occurred on 27 January 1606.

Four days later, on January 31, climbing up to the hanging platform, Fawkes deliberately leapt off the ladder, breaking his neck and dying instantly. His body was still drawn and quartered. November 5 came to be known as Guy Fawkes Day. At dusk, citizens across Britain light bonfires, set off fireworks, and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes, celebrating his failure to blow up Parliament and James I.

World History

Wednesday, January 27, 1926. :   Scottish Inventor John Logie Baird gives the first demonstration of television.

John Logie Baird was born on 13 August 1888 in Helensburgh, Scotland. He was educated at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College, which later became the University of Strathclyde, and the University of Glasgow, but the eruption of WWI prevented him from completing his degree. Baird experimented with the transmission of both static and moving pictures using ventriloquists’ dummies. The first moving image was transmitted on 30 October 1925. Baird’s first public demonstration of successful transmission, on 27 January 1926, showed two dummies’ heads moving.

Baird called his pictorial-transmission machine a “televisor,” and it used mechanical rotating disks to scan moving images into electronic impulses. A number of inventors including Paul Gottlieb Nipkow and Boris Rosing contributed towards the development of television, but Baird was the first to transmit clearly discernible images.

World History

Friday, January 27, 1967. :   The Outer Space Treaty is opened for signature in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union.

The Outer Space Treaty is more formally known as the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. The Treaty was opened for signature in the USA, United Kingdom and the Soviet Union on 27 January 1967, and came into force on 10 October 1967. As of January 2008, 99 countries were states-parties to the treaty, while another 26 had signed the treaty but had not completed formal ratification.

The Outer Space Treaty forms the basis of international space law. Included among its principles are:

• That no state or party to the Treaty may claim territory for occupation or exploitation in space or on any celestial body.
• That no state or party to the Treaty may place nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction in orbit of Earth, on the Moon or any other celestial body, or elsewhere in outer space.
• That outer space remain free for all parties to explore, and that such exploration and use of outer space should only be done for the benefit of all countries and in the interests of all mankind.
• That all states and parties to the Treaty will be liable for damage caused by their space objects, and that they will avoid harmful contamination of space and the celestial bodies.

Essentially, the Outer Space Treaty is designed to protect outer space as a resource, and to protect the people of earth from the consequences of mismanagement of outer space.

World History

Friday, January 27, 1967. :   Three astronauts are killed when a fire destroys the Apollo 1 spacecraft during a training exercise.

The Apollo 1 Command Module was built for space flight but never intended for a trip to the moon, as it lacked the necessary docking equipment. The three astronauts selected for the initial Apollo program mission were Command Pilot Virgil I Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger B Chaffee. On 27 January 1967, the crew were going through a checklist when fire broke out in the command module. The fire is believed to have been caused by a spark in the wiring of the capsule.

The design of the hatch prohibited the crew from opening it quickly: indeed, the inner section of the hatch was designed to open inwards in order to use the cabin’s air pressure to help tighten the hatch seal during spaceflight. The hot gases of the fire held the hatch shut, and within a few seconds the air pressure had risen enough to prevent the crew from escaping. Ultimately, the air pressure rose so high as to rupture the capsule. The three men died of smoke inhalation prior to the burns they received, but the fire was intense enough to melt and fuse two of the crew’s spacesuits together.

The site of the fire bears two plaques in memory of the astronauts, and three stars were named in their honour: Navi, Dnoces and Regor, which are the names of “Ivan,” “Second” and “Roger” spelled backwards. Ivan was Grissom’s middle name and White was Edward H White the Second. The crew used the stars to calibrate their equipment and, as a practical joke, recorded the names in official NASA documentation. The names remained in posthumous honour of the men.