This Day in History – 25th May

This Day in History is DUE’s daily dose of trivia for all the history buffs out there. So sit back and take a ride to all the fascinating things that happened today!

People are trapped in history and history is trapped in people, and hence, every day has been a significant one in the foibles of History. Let’s take a tour of “This Day in History – 25th of May”.

1721 John Copson becomes America’s 1st insurance agent

On this day in History, John Copson of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania became America’s first insurance agent. At that time, shipping was very important, so Copson offered insurance on ships and their cargo. He did have exemptions for shipwrecks caused by mermaids, Kraken, and albino sperm-whales, although you could purchase a rider for the sperm-whales.

1793 Father Stephen Theodore Badin is 1st US Roman Catholic priest ordained

Stephen Theodore Badin was the first Catholic priest ordained in the United States. He spent most of his long career ministering to widely dispersed Catholics in Canada and in what became the states of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois.

1842 Doppler Effect is born

Christian Doppler presented his idea, on this day in History, to the Royal Bohemian Society, Prague. He was an Austrian physicist who first described how the observed frequency of light and sound waves is affected by the relative motion of the source and the detector. This phenomenon became known as the Doppler effect.

1895 Oscar Wilde sentenced to 2 years imprisonment for gross indecency

The libel trial unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his arrest and trial for gross indecency with men. After two more trials, he was convicted and sentenced to two years’ hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897.

Read more here.

1900 Oldest gold medalist in Olympics for sailing

Retired London fire master Eyre Massey Shaw aged 70 reputedly becomes oldest gold medalist in Olympics for sailing (disputed).

1927 Model T

Henry Ford announces that he is ending production of the Model T Ford.

1989 Mikhail Gorbachev elected Executive President in the Soviet Union

Mikhail Gorbachev was a Soviet official and general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1985 to 1991. In addition, he became the president of the Soviet Union in 1990–91.

2013 Yuichiro Miura of Japan becomes the oldest person to climb Mount Everest at 80

An 80-year-old Japanese man on Thursday became the oldest person to reach the top of Mt. Everest, officials said. Yuichiro Miura reached the top of Everest Thursday morning with his physician son Gota, mountaineering official Gyanendra Shrestha said from the base of Everest.

2000 The Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire for the second time

Designed by Russian engineer Nikolai Nikitin, the tower was built to commemorate the October Revolution. On this day in History, it caught fire for the second time since August 2000, due to sparks from welding work on a balcony which set fire to insulation.

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