This Day in History – June 9

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 – 9th of June”.

68 Emperor Nero commits suicide

Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, imploring his secretary Epaphroditos to slit his throat to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging.

1650 Harvard Corporation is born

The Harvard Corporation, the more powerful of the two administrative boards of Harvard, is established. First legal corporation in the Americas.

1822 Charles Graham of New York patents porcelain false teeth

On this day in History, the first patent for false teeth was given to Charles Graham of New York. Before modern dentistry, rotten teeth were much more common. Since dental drills and fillings weren’t available, and an infected tooth could lead to serious illness or even death, rotting teeth had to be pulled out entirely. And this very patent came as a relief.

Read more here.

1860 1st US “dime novel” published: “Malaseka, The Indian Wife of the White Hunter”

On this day in History, a cheap, popular novel, typically a melodramatic romance with the name “Malaseka, The Indian Wife of the White Hunter” by Mrs. Ann S. Stevens gets published in States. Stephens’ sad tale is about the illicit affair between a Manhattan hunter and a Mohawk woman. Their bi-racial child ends up living in white culture, while Malaeska is first made a servant and then banished.

1931 First rocket-powered aircraft design patented by Robert Goddard

Goddard was granted a patent for the “propulsion of aircraft.” According to NASA, the invention basically used a rocket to create thrust for an aircraft. The patent certainly contributed to Goddard’s pioneering work in rocketry, but for a while, he faced an army of skeptics.

1946 King Bhumibol Adulyadej ascends the throne and reigns till the next 60 years

Bhumibol Adulyadej ascended the throne of Thailand aged 18 in 1946 in mysterious circumstances after the death of his brother King Ananda Mahidol in an accident. The King played a significant role in Thai politics, most notably during the 1993 “Black May” crisis culminating in a TV broadcast where he instructed the Generals Suchinda and Chamlong to work together. The King made another televised appeal during the 2006 coup. In 2006, Bhumibol Adulyadej celebrated 60 years on the throne. He was the longest-ruling Thai monarch and the world’s longest-serving head of state until his death in 2016.

1949 George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” gets published

George Orwell’s classic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is set in a dystopian future Great Britain, now known as Airstrip One, run by a totalitarian government. The novel follows a member of the ruling party in Oceania (the superstate in which Airstrip One is located) named Winston Smith who secretly despises the government, dreams of overthrowing it and enters into a banned relationship with Julia, his colleague. Nineteen Eighty-Four is Orwell’s most famous work and gave rise to the term Orwellian, used to describe anything immensely restrictive and harmful to a free society.

2019 Ali Stroker becAdd Newomes the first actress in a wheelchair to win a Tony award for the musical “Oklahoma!”

Alyson Mackenzie Stroker (a.k.a Ali Stroker), an American actress, and singer became the first actress who uses a wheelchair for mobility to appear on a Broadway stage and to be nominated for and win a Tony Award.

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