January 13 ...

In 1610 Galileo discovered Callisto, the 4th satellite of Jupiter. In 1785 John Walter published the first issue of the London Times. In 1832 Horatio Alger, Jr., was born in Revere, MA. In 1888 The National Geographic Society was founded in Washington, DC. In 1898 Emile Zola's J'accuse was published in Paris. In 1910 Enrico Caruso and Emmy Destinn were broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City by a telephone transmitter that was rigged by DeForest Radio-Telephone Company. In 1915 Winston Churchill presented the plan for the assault on the Dardanelles during WWI. In 1919 future Brooklyn Dodger Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia. In 1920 a New York Times editorial ridiculed Robert Goddard for his belief that rockets would be able to fly in space, saying that it would never happen. In 1928 Ernst F. W. Alexanderson gave the first public demonstration of television. In 1929 Wyatt Earp died in Los Angeles at age 80. In 1941 Irish novelist James Joyce died in Zurich, Switzerland at age 58. In 1957 the first Frisbee, originally called the Pluto Platter, was produced. In 1964 Karol Wojtyla became archbishop of Krakow, Poland. He would later become Pope John Paul II. In 1966 Robert C. Weaver became the first black Cabinet member when he was appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Lyndon Johnson. In 1978 former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey died in Waverly, MN, at age 66. In 1982 an Air Florida Boeing 737 crashed into Washington, DC's 14th St Bridge and fell into the Potomac River, killing 78 people. In 2000 Bill Gates stepped down as CEO of Microsoft, handing the leadership over to Steve Ballmer; Gates remained as chairman of the board. In 2002 Japan and Singapore signed a free trade pact that would remove tariffs on almost all goods traded between the two countries.