Celebrating Birthdays Today:

1. Stanley, Henry Morton - Explorer, born at Denbigh, Wales, and leader of the expedition to find the missing missionary-explorer David Livingstone, who had not been heard from for more than two years. Stanley began the search in Africa on Mar 21, 1871, finally finding the explorer at Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, on Nov 10, 1871, whereupon he asked the now famous question: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" Stanley died at London, England, May 10, 1904.

2. Piccard, Auguste - Scientist and explorer, born at Basel, Switzerland. Made a record-setting balloon ascent into the stratosphere on May 27, 1931, and also ocean-depth descents and explorations. Twin brother of Jean Felix Piccard. Died at Lausanne, Switzerland, Mar 24, 1962.

On This Date:

1. Auschwitz Liberated (1945) - 1945 the Soviet army liberated about 6,000 prisoners of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. It is estimated that 1.5 million inmates were killed at Auschwitz between 1941 and liberation--95 percent of them were Jewish.

2. Apollo I: Spacecraft Fire (1967) - Three American astronauts, Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee, died when fire suddenly broke out at 6:31 PM, EST 1967 in Apollo I during a launching simulation test, as it stood on the ground at Cape Kennedy, FL. First launching in the Apollo program had been scheduled for Feb 27, 1967.

Celebrating Birthdays Today:

1. Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus - One of the world's greatest music makers. Born at Salzburg, Austria, into a gifted musical family, Mozart began performing at age three and composing at age five. Some of the best known of his more than 600 compositions include the operas Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte and The Magic Flute; his unfinished Requiem Mass; his C major symphony known as the "Jupiter" and many of his quartets and piano concertos. He died at Vienna, Dec 5, 1791

2. Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge (Lewis Carroll) - English mathematician and author, better known by his pseudonym, Lewis Carroll, creator of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, was born at Cheshire, England. Alice was written for Alice Liddell, daughter of a friend, and first published in 1886. Through the Looking-Glass, a sequel, and The Hunting of the Snark followed. Dodgson's books for children proved equally enjoyable to adults, and they overshadowed his serious works on mathematics. Dodgson died at Guildford, Surrey, England, Jan 14, 1898.

On This Date:

1. Dental Drill Patent (1875) - George F. Green, of Kalamazoo, MI, patented the electric dental drill.

2. Hitler Youth Deployed (1943) - Due to the need for more men at the front in 1943, the Nazis began manning antiaircraft batteries within Germany with members of the Hitler Youth who were aged 15 and up. This was 10 days after the British had begun the heavy bombing of Berlin and other German cities.

Celebrating Birthdays Today:

1. Philip Jose Farmer - Science fiction writer, born Peoria, IL, Jan 26, 1918.

2. Scott Glenn - Actor (The Right Stuff, Silverado), born Pittsburgh, PA, Jan 26, 1942.

3. Eddie Van Halen - Guitarist, born Nijmegen, Netherlands, Jan 26, 1955.

4. Ellen DeGeneres - Comedienne, actress ("Ellen"), talk-show host ("The Ellen DeGeneres Show"), born New Orleans, LA, Jan 26, 1958.

On This Date:

1. Around The World In 72 Days (1890) - Newspaper reporter Nellie Bly (pen name used by Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman) set off from Hoboken, NJ, Nov 14, 1889, to attempt to break Jules Verne's imaginary hero Phileas Fogg's record of voyaging around the world in 80 days. She did beat Fogg's record, taking 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds to make the trip, arriving back in New Jersey on Jan 25, 1890.

2. Robot Enters World Lexicon (1921) - On this date, the play R.U.R. premiered at the National Theater in Prague, Czechoslovakia. "R.U.R." stood for "Rossum's Universal Robots," and the play concerned artificial human workers who rebel against their human masters. Czech dramatist Karel Capek and his brother, Josef Capek, derived "robot" from the Czech noun robota, which means "labor" and "servitude." As the play became a hit worldwide (with an English translation published in 1923), the concept of the robot took hold. Capek's robots were chemically created; today's real and fictional robots are metallic machines.

Celebrating Birthdays Today:

1. Virginia Woolf - English writer, critic and novelist, author of Jacob's Room and To the Lighthouse. Born at London, England. After completing her last novel, Between the Acts, she collapsed under the strain and drowned herself in the River Ouse near Rodmell, England, on Mar 28, 1941.

2. Dean Jones - Actor (Tea and Sympathy, The Love Bug, Beethoven), born Decatur, AL, Jan 25, 1931

On This Date:

1. California Gold Discovery (1848) - James W. Marshal, an employee of John Sutter, accidentally discovered gold while building a sawmill near Coloma, CA in 1848. Efforts to keep the discovery secret failed, and the gold rush of 1849 was under way.

2. Space Milestone: COSMOS 954 (USSR) Falls (1978) - Nuclear-equipped reconnaissance satellite launched Sept 18, 1977, fell into Earth's atmosphere and burned over northern Canada. Some radioactive debris reached ground on Jan 24, 1978.

3. Space Milestone: DISCOVERY (US) (1985) - Space shuttle Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center, FL. On its secret, all-military mission, Jan. 24-27, 1985, it deployed an eavesdropping satellite.