What do You know about OCTOBER ?

This month celebrates:  ·        National Cookie Month ·        National Chili Month ·        National Pizza Month ·        National Dessert Month ·        Lupus Awareness Month ·        National Seafood Month ·        Columbus Day - second Monday of October ·        October 31 - Halloween

·       Birthday - “Father of Nation” Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi (1869-1948) was born in Porbandar, India.

·        Birthday - "Father of the Space Age" Robert Goddard (1882-1945) was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. During his lifetime he was ridiculed by the public and the press over his idea of constructing a space flight machine. In 1926, he launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket. Other developments included a steering apparatus for rocket machines, staged rockets to reach high altitudes, rocket fuel pumps, and a self-cooling rocket motor.

·        Birthday - Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was born in Dublin, Ireland. Best known for his comedies including; The Importance of Being Earnest.

·        And his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in which he wrote, "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about."

·        Birthday - American teacher and journalist Noah Webster (1758-1843) was born in West Hartford, Connecticut. His name became synonymous with "dictionary" after he compiled the first American dictionaries of the English language.

·        Birthday   - American jurist William O. Douglas (1898-1980) was born in Maine, Minnesota. He served as an associate justice on the Supreme Court for 36 years and was also a world traveler, conservationist, outdoorsman and author.

·        Birthday – “British navigator “James Cook (1728-1779) was born in Yorkshire, England. He explored New Zealand, Australia, and the Hawaiian Islands.

·        Birthday– “Microsoft founder” Bill Gates was born in Seattle, Washington, October 28, 1955. In 1975, he co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen, designing software for IBM computers. By 1980, Microsoft became the leading software company for IBM compatible computers. Gates became a billionaire by age 31 and remains one of the world's wealthiest individuals.

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·        October 4, 1830 - Belgium gained its independence, after having been a part of the Netherlands since 1815.

·        October 4, 1957    - The “Space Age” began as the Russians launched the first satellite into orbit. Sputnik I weighed just 184 lbs. and transmitted a beeping radio signal for 21 days. The remarkable accomplishment by Soviet Russia sent a shockwave through the American political leadership resulting in U.S. efforts to be the first on the moon.

·        October 3, 1932 - Iraq gained independence from Britain and joined the League of Nations.

·        October 12, 1822 - Brazil became independent of Portugal.

·        October 13, 1775 - The United States Navy was born after the Second Continental Congress authorised the acquisition of a fleet of ships.

·        October 13, 1884 - Greenwich was established as the universal time from which standard times throughout the world are calculated.

·        October 14, 1964 - Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He donated the $54,000 in prize money to the Civil Rights movement.

·       October 21, 1879 - Thomas Edison successfully tested an electric incandescent lamp with a carbonized filament at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, keeping it lit for over 13 hours.

·        October 21, 1915 - The first transatlantic radio voice message was made by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company from Virginia to Paris.

·        October 24, 1945 - The United Nations was founded.

·        October 28, 1636 - Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher learning in America, was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was named after John Harvard, a Puritan who donated his library and half of his estate.

·        October 26, 1951 - Winston Churchill became Britain's prime minister for a second time, following his Conservative Party's narrow victory in general elections. In his first term from 1940-45 he had guided Britain through its struggle against Nazi Germany.

·        October 31, 1984 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by three Sikh members of her bodyguard while walking in the garden of her New Delhi home.
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