Discovering Uranus - It Happened ToDay

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It Happened ToDay

Discovering Uranus

March 13, 1781 - The first planet is discovered in modern times - Uranus.

William Herschel, a German astronomer, discovered the planet Uranus on this day in 1781. Not only was this the first discovery of a new planet in modern times, but it was also the planetary discovery made using the telescope.

Uranus, like the Asteres Planetai, or the Seven Heavenly Objects, composed of the five classical planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn - along with the Sun and Moon, are the closest celestial objects that can be seen with the naked-eye. However, in spite of Uranus being the third largest planet, its glow is so dim that the ancient astronomers dismissed it as a planet thinking it was a distant dying star.

Uranus is the ruling planet of Aquarius. The planet is named for the Greek deity Uranus who rules the Sky and is the father of Kronos (Saturn) and grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter). William Herschel would first propose the name Georgium Sidus, Latin for George's planet, in honor of King George III; but Johann Bode, another German astronomer, would rename the planet Uranus to keep the consistency of the mythology inspired naming system.

On this same day in 1930 Clyde Tombaugh, an astronomer from the Lowell Observatory outside Flagstaff Arizona, would announce the discovery of Pluto, which for the next 70 years would be considered the ninth planet

William Herschel was eventually knighted for his significant contributions to astronomy and the understanding of the solar system.

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Selected other Odd Notable & Historic events that Happened ToDay:

483 - St. Felix III began his reign as Pope.
607 - The 12th recorded passage of Halley's Comet occurred.
1519 - Cortez landed in Mexico.
1639 - Harvard University was named for clergyman John Harvard.
1852 - The New York "Lantern" newspaper published the first "Uncle Sam cartoon". It was drawn by Frank Henry Bellew.
1868 - The U.S. Senate began the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson.
1877 - Chester Greenwood patented the earmuff.
1881 - Tsar Alexander II was assassinated when a bomb was thrown at him near his palace.
1884 - Standard time was adopted throughout the U.S.
1901 - Andrew Carnegie announced that he was retiring from business and that he would spend the rest of his days giving away his fortune. His net worth was estimated at $300 million. A year later on this date - March 13,1902 - Carnegie would approve 40 applications from libraries for donations.
1918 - Women were scheduled to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York due to a shortage of men due to wartime.
1925 - A law in Tennessee prohibited the teaching of evolution.
1935 - Three-thousand-year-old archives were found in Jerusalem confirming some biblical history.
1942 - Julia Flikke of the Nurse Corps became the first woman colonel in the U.S. Army.
1951 - The comic strip "Dennis the Menace" appeared for the first time in newspapers across the country.
1957 - Jimmy Hoffa was arrested by the FBI on bribery charges.
1964 - 38 residents of a New York City neighborhood failed to respond to the screams of Kitty Genovese, 28 years old, as she was stabbed to death.
1969 - The Apollo 9 astronauts returned to Earth after the conclusion of a mission that included the successful testing of the Lunar Module.
1970 - A group calling itself "Revolutionary Force 9" took credit for 3 bombs that exploded in New York City.
1970 - Digital Equipment Corp. introduced the PDP-11 minicomputer.
1974 - The U.S. Senate voted 54-33 to restore the death penalty.
1988 - The board of trustees off Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, chose I. King Jordan to be its first deaf president. The college is a liberal arts college for the hearing-impaired.
1998 - Sgt. Maj. Gene McKinney, at one time the U.S. Army's top enlisted man, was acquitted of pressuring military women for sex. He was convicted of trying to persuade the chief accuser to lie. He was reprimanded and had his rank reduced.
2002 - Fox aired "Celebrity Boxing." Tonya Harding beat Paula Jones, Danny Banaduce beat Barry Williams and Todd Bridges defeated Vanilla Ice.
2003 - A report in the journal "Nature" reported that scientists had found 350,000-year-old human footprints in Italy. The 56 prints were made by three early, upright-walking humans that were descending the side of a volcano.