On this day September 29, 1954

Eleven countries signed a convention establishing the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), currently the world’s largest particle physics laboratory.

Blue founding members

The acronym CERN originally stood, in French, for Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (European Council for Nuclear Research), which was a provisional council for setting up the laboratory.

The organization was established by the following 11 European governments; Belgium, Denmark, West Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands and United Kingdom.

Today the organization has twenty European member states, and is currently the workplace of approximately 2,600 full-time employees, as well as some 7,931 scientists and engineers (representing 580 universities and research facilities and 80 nationalities).

On this day September 28, 1973

ITT’s headquarters in New York City, New York, was bombed by protesters for alleged involvement in the overthrow of the democratically elected and emerging socialist government in Chile.

In 1970 ITT owned of 70% of Chitelco, the Chilean Telephone Company, and funded El Mercurio, a Chilean right-wing newspaper. Declassified documents released by the CIA in 2000 suggest that ITT financially helped opponents of Salvador Allende’s government prepare a military coup.

After Allende received 36.3% of popular vote in a three way tie and was chosen by the Chilean congress as president, Edwards proceeded to consult the U.S. ambassador to Chile and asked if the U.S. would “do anything militarily, directly or indirectly?”(Kinzer 170).

On this day September 27, 1908

1910 Ford T

The first production Model T was completed at Ford’s Piquette Avenue plant in Detroit.

Henry Ford wanted a car that the average American could afford. The Model T initially sold for $850. The price continued to drop as Ford’s assembly line technology improved production efficiency. According to Willis F. Dunbar and George S. May’s third revised edition of Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State, a Model T touring car cost only $360 by 1916.

The Model T also proved remarkably easy to maintain. Dunbar and May note, for example, that it “was so easy to repair that almost anyone could fix something … with a pair of pliers and a screwdriver.” Gasoline seldom proved an onerous expense, either. On page 45 of The Ford Century author Russ Bahnam notes that the Model T averaged twenty-five miles per gallon – with a gallon of gas typically costing only twenty cents.

The Ford Motor Company produced over 15 million Model Ts between 1908 and 1927. According to The Henry Ford of Dearborn, Mich., the Volkswagen Beetle is the only model with a greater production record!

The Henry Ford’s special Model T Web site

On this day September 26, 1580

Sir Francis Drake finishes his circumnavigation of the Earth when Golden Hind sailed into Plymouth with Drake and 59 remaining crew aboard, along with a rich cargo of spices and captured Spanish treasures.

Drake's statue in Plymouth

The Queen’s half-share of the cargo surpassed the rest of the crown’s income for that entire year. Drake was hailed as the first Englishman to circumnavigate the Earth.

Drake was awarded a knighthood, but not by Queen Elizabeth aboard Golden Hind, as is commonly thought.

He was actually knighted by a French nobleman called Monsieur de Marchaumont, on 4 April 1581, and, in September 1581, became the Mayor of Plymouth.

He was also a Member of Parliament in 1581, for an unknown constituency, and again in 1584 for Bossiney.

The Queen ordered all written accounts of Drake’s voyage to be considered classified information, and its participants sworn to silence on pain of death; her aim was to keep Drake’s activities away from the eyes of rival Spain.

Drake was a navigator, slaver, a renowned pirate, his exploits were legendary, making him a hero to the English but a pirate to the Spaniards , King Philip II was claimed to have offered a reward of 20,000 ducats, about (US$6.5M) by modern standards, for his life.

He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588, subordinate only to Charles Howard and the Queen herself. He died of dysentery in January 1596 after unsuccessfully attacking San Juan, Puerto Rico.

On this day September 25, 2008

China launches the spacecraft Shenzhou 7, the third human spaceflight mission of the Chinese space program. The mission, which included an extra-vehicular activity (EVA) carried out by crewmembers Zhai Zhigang and Liu Boming, marked the commencement of the second phase of the Chinese government’s Project 921.

Shenzhou 7 Launch

The Shenzhou spacecraft carrying the three crewmembers was launched 25 September 2008, by a Long March 2F (CZ-2F) rocket which lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 21:10 CST.

The mission lasted three days, after which the craft landed safely in Siziwang Banner in central Inner Mongolia on 28 September 2008, at 17:37 CST. The EVA carried out during the flight makes China the third country to have conducted an EVA, after the Soviet Union and the United States.

On this day May 21, 2006

The Montenegrin independence referendum was held in Montenegro, with 55.5 percent of the voters favoring independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

Front page of Pobjeda

The total turnout of the referendum was 86.5%. 55.5 percent voted in favor and 44.5 were against breaking the state union with Serbia. Fifty-five percent of affirmative votes were needed to dissolve the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, an option favored by the coalition government (DPS and SDP).

By 23 May, preliminary referendum results were recognized by all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, indicating widespread international recognition of Montenegro once independence would be formally declared.

Montenegro’s referendum commission on Wednesday 31 May, officially confirmed the results of the independence referendum, verifying that 55.5% of the population of Montenegrin voters had voted in favor of independence.

On this day May 20, 1927

By the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognized the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud over Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become Saudi Arabia.

Abdul Aziz Al Saud

Following the defeat of Hussein, the British government signed the treaty which abolished the Darin protection agreement and recognized the independence of the Hejaz and Najd, covering much of what is today Saudi Arabia, with the Al Saud as its rulers.

At this point, Ibn Saud changed his title from Sultan of Nejd to King of Nejd. Initially the two parts of his dominion (Nejd in the east and Hejaz in the west) were administered separately.

From 1927 to 1932 Ibn Saud continued to consolidate power throughout the Arabian Peninsula. In March 1929 he defeated elements of the Ikhwan, which had disobeyed his orders to cease raiding and had invaded Iraq against his wishes, at the Battle of Sbilla. In 1932, having conquered most of the Peninsula, Ibn Saud renamed his dominions “Saudi Arabia” and proclaimed himself “King of Saudi Arabia”.

On this day May 8, 1963

In Huế, South Vietnam, soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam opened fire into a crowd of Buddhists protesting against a government ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesākha, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis.

Buddhism Flag

The incident spurred a protest movement by Buddhists against the religious discrimination perpetrated by the Roman Catholic-dominated Diệm regime, known as the Buddhist crisis, and widespread large-scale civil disobedience among the South Vietnamese.

On November 1, 1963, after six months of tension and growing opposition to the regime, generals from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam conducted a coup, which saw the removal and assassination of Ngô Đình Diệm.