THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― OCTOBER 29

October 29 is the 302nd day of the year (303rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 63 days remaining until the end of the year. 

NATIONAL HERMIT DAY   


529 BC – The international day of Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, who declared the first charter of human rights in the world also known as Cyrus Cylinder. The reign of Cyrus the Great lasted between 29 and 31 years. Cyrus built his empire by conquering first the Median Empire, then the Lydian Empire and eventually the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Either before or after Babylon, he led an expedition into central Asia.


1618 – Sir Walter Raleigh, English adventurer, writer, and favorite courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, is beheaded in London, under a sentence brought against him 15 years earlier for conspiracy against King James I. During Elizabeth's reign, Raleigh organized three major expeditions to America, including the first English settlement in America, in 1587—the ill-fated Roanoke settlement located in present-day North Carolina.  After Elizabeth died in 1603, Raleigh was implicated as a foe of King James I and imprisoned with a death sentence. The death sentence was later commuted, and in 1616 Raleigh was freed to lead an expedition to the New World, this time to establish a gold mine in the Orinoco River region of South America. However, the expedition was a failure, and when Raleigh returned to England the death sentence of 1603 was invoked against him. 


1675 – Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz makes the first use of the long s, ∫, for integral. Leibniz was a German mathematician and philosopher. He occupies a prominent place in the history of mathematics and the history of philosophy. Leibniz developed calculus independently of Isaac Newton, and Leibniz's mathematical notation has been widely used ever since it was published. He also refined the binary number system, which is the foundation of virtually all digital computers.

1692 – The Court of Oyer and Terminer (French, "to hear and to determine") convened for Salem witch trials dissolved. Oyer and Terminer was the first formal court that was brought to Salem. The court Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton, the Chief Magistrate, the Crown’s Attorney Thomas Newton, and Clerk Stephen Sewall headed the court.

1777 – John Hancock resigns his position as president of the Continental Congress, due to a prolonged illness. Hancock was the first member of the Continental Congress to sign the Declaration of Independence and is perhaps best known for his bold signature on the ground-breaking document.

1792 – Mount Hood (Oregon) is named after the British naval officer Alexander Arthur Hood by Lt. William E. Broughton who spotted the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River. Mount Hood, called Wy'east by the Multnomah tribe, is a stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc of northern Oregon. It was formed by a subduction zone on the Pacific coast and rests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.

1901 – President William McKinley's assassin, Leon Czolgosz, is executed in the electric chair at Auburn Prison in New York. Czolgosz had shot McKinley on September 6, 1901; the president succumbed to his wounds eight days later.

1918 – The German High Seas Fleet is incapacitated when sailors mutiny on the night of the 29th-30th, an action which would trigger the German Revolution of 1918–19.

1944 – World War II: The Soviet Red Army enters Hungary. The country would remain under Soviet rule until October 23, 1989. The Hungarian revolution of 1956 was squelched by Soviet troops.

1956 – Israeli armed forces push into Egypt toward the Suez Canal, initiating the Suez Crisis. They would soon be joined by French and British forces, creating a serious Cold War problem in the Middle East.

1972 – The three surviving perpetrators of the Munich massacre of Israeli athletes are released from prison in exchange for the hostages of hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615.

1975 – The "Yorkshire Ripper", Peter Sutcliffe, kills his first victim, Wilma McCann. He carried out a murder spree over a five year period, during which the public were especially shocked by the murders of some women who were not prostitutes. When arrested in January 1981 for driving with false number-plates, police questioned him about the killings and he confessed that he was the perpetrator. The English High Court dismissed an appeal by Sutcliffe in 2010, confirming that he would serve a whole life tariff and would never be released from prison.

1998 – Apartheid: In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities. TRC was a court-like restorative justice body assembled in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid. Witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations were invited to give statements about their experiences, and some were selected for public hearings. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution.

2004 – The Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a 2004 Osama bin Laden video in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election.

2012 – Hurricane Sandy makes landfall in New Jersey resulting in 110 deaths and $50 billion in damage and forces the New York stock exchange to close.


TODAY'S BIRTHS

1466 – Erasmus, Dutch philosopher (d. 1536)

1740 – James Boswell, Scottish biographer of Samuel Johnson (d. 1795)

1793 – Eliphalet Remington, American businessman, founded Remington Arms (d. 1861)

1846 – Auguste Escoffier, French chef and author (d. 1935)

1892 – Dink Johnson, American pianist, drummer, and clarinet player (d. 1954)

1897 – Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda (d. 1945)

1914 – Jonas Salk, American biologist and physician, developed the polio vaccine (d. 1995)

1943 – Karalyn Patterson, English psychologist and academic

From Wikipedia and Google, except as noted.