Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's four moons in 1610

On January 7, 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo made the earthshaking discoveries that four moons revolve around Jupiter and that the telescope reveals many more stars than are visible to the naked eye. 

Ludwig III Birth Anniversary

Ludwig III (Ludwig Luitpold Josef Maria Aloys Alfried), born on 7 January 1845, was the last king of Bavaria, reigning from 1913 to 1918. He served as regent and de facto head of state from 1912 to 1913, ruling for his cousin, Otto. After the Bavarian parliament passed a law allowing him to do so, Ludwig deposed Otto and assumed the throne himself. He led Bavaria into World War I, and lost his throne along with the other rulers of the German states at the end of the war.

On 7 November 1918, Ludwig fled from the Residenz Palace in Munich with his family and took up residence in Schloss Anif, near Salzburg, for what he hoped would be a temporary stay. He was the first of the monarchs in the German Empire to be deposed. The next day, the People's State of Bavaria was proclaimed.

On 12 November 1918, a day after the Armistice, Prime Minister Dandl went to Schloss Anif to see the King. Ludwig gave Dandl the Anif declaration (Anifer Erklärung) in which he released all government officials, soldiers and civil officers from their oath of loyalty to him. He also stated that as a result of recent events, he was "no longer in a position to lead the government." The declaration was published by the newly formed republican government of Kurt Eisner when Dandl returned to Munich the next day. Ludwig's declaration was not a statement of abdication, as Dandl had demanded. However, Eisner's government interpreted it as such and added a statement that Ludwig and his family were welcome to return to Bavaria as private citizens as long as they did not act against the "people's state." This statement effectively dethroned the Wittelsbachs and ended the family's 738-year rule over Bavaria.

Russian Christmas

 

Christmas in Russia is normally celebrated on January 7 (only a few Catholics might celebrate it on December 25). The date is different because the Russian Orthodox Church uses the old 'Julian' calendar for religious celebration days.

Currently, the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the Julian calendar is 13 days. Starting in 2100, the difference will increase to 14 days, and Russian Christmas will thus be celebrated on January 8 from then onwards, until the next increase.

During the celebration, one can still observe ancient elements of Russian holiday as fortune-telling on Christmas Eve, koliada, and singing carols (kalyadki), while worshippers follow a strict fast, which ends when the first star appears in the sky on the night of Christmas Eve.

Traditional Russian cuisine includes Christmas dishes like Olivier salad, Deviled eggs, Pirozhki (stuffed buns), Dried mushroom soup, Kulebyaka (Russian salmon pie), Peljmeni (Russian meat dumplings), Kutya/sochivo and Priyaniki (Russian spice/gingerbread cookies).

Josef Stefan Death Anniversary

Josef Stefan, who passed away on 7 January 1893, was a Carinthian Slovene physicist, mathematician, and poet of the Austrian Empire.

In 1879, Stefan formulated a law which states that the radiant energy of a blackbody - a theoretical object that absorbs all radiation that falls on it—is proportional to the fourth power of its temperature. His law was one of the first important steps toward the understanding of blackbody radiation, from which sprang the quantum idea of radiation.

 

Johann Philipp Reis Birth Anniversary

Johann Philipp Reis, born on 7 January 1834, was a self-taught German scientist and inventor. In 1861, he constructed the first make-and-break telephone, today called the Reis telephone.

In 1878, four years after his death and two years after Bell received his first telephone patent, European scientists dedicated a monument to Philip Reis as the inventor of the telephone.

Documents of 1947 in London's Science Museum later showed that after their technical adjustments, engineers from the British firm Standard Telephones and Cables (STC) found Reis' telephone dating from 1863 could transmit and "reproduce speech of good quality, but of low efficiency".

Sir Frank Gill, then chairman of STC, ordered the tests to be kept secret, as STC was then negotiating with AT&T, which had evolved from the Bell Telephone Company, created by Alexander Graham Bell. Professor Bell was generally accepted as having invented the telephone and Gill thought that evidence to the contrary might disrupt the ongoing negotiations.

First Known Mail Delivered by Air on 7 January 1785

On January 7, 1785, mail was carried by an air vehicle for the first time. The honour of flying that first airmail delivery went to Jean-Pierre Blanchard of France.  Blanchard was a balloon flight pioneer.

Blanchard wanted to become the first person to fly across the British Channel.  John Jeffries, a wealthy doctor from Boston covered the expenses but also wanted to take part in the flight. Though Blanchard didn’t want to share the honour, they eventually decided to fly together.  On January 7, 1785, they piloted the balloon up over Dover, England to cross the channel.  Blanchard had printed pamphlets about himself beforehand and dropped them over the English countryside.

The flight over land had been peaceful, but once they reached the sea, the balloon continuously dropped nearer and nearer to the water.  Blanchard and Jeffries frantically threw whatever they could overboard, including the bag of mail they were supposed to deliver and most of their clothes.

However, after about two and a half hours, they reached their destination, Calais, France, and landed safely.  Though they had dumped most of the letters into the sea, they carried one all the way to France.  It was a letter sent from American loyalist William Franklin to his son William Temple Franklin. The younger Franklin was serving as a diplomat in France with his grandfather, Benjamin Franklin.

For his accomplishment, Blanchard received a pension from King Louis XVI.  He went on to make the first balloon flights in America, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland.

Heinrich Wilhelm von Stephan Birth Anniversary

Heinrich Wilhelm von Stephan, born on 7 January 1831, was a general post director for the German Empire who reorganized the German postal service. He was integral in the founding of the Universal Postal Union in 1874, and in 1877 introduced the telephone to Germany.

When Stephan began his work as a postal worker, Germany was divided into 17 independent states, each with its own separate policies and fees. He worked early on to establish a uniform postage rate throughout Germany, to facilitate easier mailing. His general goal of standardization and internationalization is evident in his work to combine the postal service with the telegraph service in Germany, and in his efforts to organize the International Postal Conference in Bern in 1874, in which the Universal Postal Union was established. He introduced the postcard (which he had initially suggested in 1865) to Germany after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck promoted him in 1870: the postcard came into widespread use in the subsequent Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 as a method of communication between units in the field. He is also credited with having introduced the telephone to Germany.

Nikola Tesla Death Anniversary

Nikola Tesla, who passed away on 7 January 1943, was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist who is best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.

Tesla had a photographic memory and was fluent in several languages, including Serbian, Czech, English, French, German, and Hungarian. He was also a prolific writer and was known for his vivid and imaginative descriptions of his inventions and ideas. Tesla was known for his obsessive attention to detail and his single-minded dedication to his work, which sometimes made it difficult for him to connect with others.

The development of the modern electrical power business was significantly aided by Tesla’s efforts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was also renowned for his strange nature and inclination to pursue ambitious and occasionally controversial undertakings, such as his ideas for long-distance wireless electrical power transmission. Tesla held over 300 patents for his inventions and is renowned for his pioneering work in the field of electrical engineering. Tesla is regarded as one of the greatest scientists and inventors of the 20th century.

The most important inventions of Tesla include:

1.      Tesla coil

2.      Shadowgraph 

3.      Neon lighting 

4.      Alternating current (AC) 

5.      Radio Control Boats 

6.      The Tesla Turbine 

7.      Radio

8.      Hydroelectric Power

9.      Induction Motor 

10.  Magnifying Transmitter