July 14
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1850: A Florida doctor invents the ice machine
On this day in 1850 machine-made ice debuted at a Florida party, astonishing guests accustomed to imported natural ice. Its inventor, physician John Gorrie, had originally created the machine to cool yellow fever patients. Although he was mocked during his lifetime, his breakthrough became a crucial step toward modern refrigeration and air conditioning.
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Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C. (MC.285397); Photo Illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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On this day in 1789 a mob advanced on the Bastille in Paris, demanding the arms and munitions stored there. When the guards resisted, the crowd captured the prison, an act that symbolized the end of the ancien régime. [How much do you know about French history?]
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
My eyes has been my camera taking pictures of the world and my songs has been messages that I tried to scatter across the back sides and along the steps of the fire escapes and on the windowsills and throughout the dark halls.
American singer and composer Woody Guthrie, born this day in 1912, wrote politically charged songs of common people and their struggles, especially during the Depression, and his classics include This Land Is Your Land.
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2017
Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani—the first woman and first Iranian to be awarded a Fields Medal, cited for “her outstanding contributions to the dynamics and geometry of Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces”—died at age 40. [Take our mathematics quiz.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
2016
In France’s third major terrorist attack in 18 months, a man drove a truck through a crowd of revelers celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing more than 80 people and injuring hundreds. [Test your knowledge of French history.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
2013
The world’s last telegram was sent as India’s state-run telecommunications company ended its telegraph service. [Take our quiz about communications firsts.]
© Columbia Pictures Corporation
1969
Easy Rider was released in U.S. theaters, becoming a classic of the counterculture and propelling Jack Nicholson to stardom. [Sort fact from fiction in our film quiz.]
Pictorial Parade
1968
American baseball great Hank Aaron hit his 500th career home run. [See where Hank Aaron ranks on our list of the 10 greatest baseball players of all time.]
Michael Neugebauer/the Jane Goodall Institute
1960
British ethologist Jane Goodall first arrived at what became Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania; there she conducted her groundbreaking research on chimpanzees. [Explore Jane Goodall’s life in pictures.]
Pictorial Parade—Hulton Archive/Getty Images
1946
Benjamin Spock’s Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care is published. Conversational in tone and revolutionary in approach, the book encouraged parents to trust their instincts over expert advice and became the definitive child-rearing manual for millions of American parents. [Learn more about the people, places, and events that shaped the 1940s.]
BBC Hulton Picture Library
1865
British mountaineer Edward Whymper became the first person to climb the Matterhorn. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about mountains.]