NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS (continued):
UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS James Madison
4.
Scan to Learn More
1809-1817
MOMENTS IN TIME • On March 17, 1834, Gottlieb Daimler, who in 1890 founded an engine and car company bearing his name, is born in Germany. In 1885, he and Wilhelm Maybach developed a new version of the four-stroke internal-combustion engine, which they attached to a wooden bicycle, creating what has been referred to as the world's first motorcycle. • On March 19, 1842, French writer de Balzac's play "Les Ressources de Quinola" opens to an empty house, thanks to a failed publicity stunt. Hoping to create a buzz, the writer circulated a rumor that tickets were sold out. Unfortunately, most of his fans stayed home. • On March 20, 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," is published. The book was so widely read that when President Abraham Lincoln met Stowe, he reportedly said, "So this is the little lady who made this big war." • On March 22, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Beer and Wine Revenue Act. The law levied a federal tax on all alcoholic beverages to raise rev-
The History Channel
enue for the federal government and gave individual states the option to impose further regulations. • On March 18, 1942, the War Relocation Authority is created to "take all people of Japanese descent into custody." Earl Warren (who would go on to become chief justice of the Supreme Court) claimed that a lack of evidence of sabotage among the Japanese population proved nothing, as they were merely biding their time. • On March 21, 1963, Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco Bay closes down and transfers its last prisoners. At its peak use in 1950s, "The Rock," or "America's Devil Island," housed more than 200 inmates at the maximum-security facility. • On March 23, 1983, Barney Clark dies, 112 days after becoming the world's first recipient of a permanent artificial heart. The 61-year-old dentist spent the last four months of his life at the University of Utah Medical Center attached to a 350-pound console that pumped air in and out of the aluminum-and-plastic implant through a system of hoses.
• Diabetics across the world can be grateful for the tremendous research of Sir Frederick Grant Banting and John James Rickard Macleod. Banting was a scientist, doctor, and painter who was the primary discoverer of insulin. Macleod worked alongside Banting and spent much of his career researching carbohydrate metabolism. Banting was just 32 years old when he was awarded the prize and received a lifetime annuity from the Canadian government to continue his research. King George V knighted Banting in 1934. In 2004, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program The Greatest Canadian declared Banting as fourth on their list of the greatest Canadians of all time. • Lester Bowles Pearson was sixth on The Greatest Canadian list. This Toronto-born professor, historian, statesman, diplomat, and politician won the Peace prize in 1957 for his efforts in organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis. The Suez Canal, completed in 1869, was the shortest link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, and immediately became strategically important in the trade industry. In 1956, the Egyptian government seized control of the canal from the British and French-owned company that managed it, which threated to cut off Europe’s oil supply. A conflict erupted between Israeli and Egyptian forces. The United Nations resolution called for a cease-fire and evacuation of troops. In 1963, Pearson was elected as the 14th Prime Minister of Canada and served until 1968. He is considered one of the 20th century’s most influential Canadians.
© 2014 King Features Synd., Inc.
Tell ‘Em You Saw Their Ad in Tidbits! Advertisers make Tidbits possible
Tidbits of Grand Forks/ East Grand Forks is Locally Owned and Operated.