http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Feb 28, 1953: Watson and Crick discover chemical structure of DNA
On this day in 1953, Cambridge University scientists James D. Watson and Frances H.C. Crick announce that they have determined the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule containing human genes.
Though DNA--short for deoxyribonucleic acid--was discovered in 1869, its crucial role in determining genetic inheritance wasn't demonstrated until 1943. In the early 1950s, Watson and Crick were only two of many scientists working on figuring out the structure of DNA. California chemist Linus Pauling suggested an incorrect model at the beginning of 1953, prompting Watson and Crick to try and beat Pauling at his own game. On the morning of February 28, they determined that the structure of DNA was a double-helix polymer, or a spiral of two DNA strands, each containing a long chain of monomer nucleotides, wound around each other. According to their findings, DNA replicated itself by separating into individual strands, each of which became the template for a new double helix. In his best-selling book, The Double Helix (1968), Watson later claimed that Crick announced the discovery by walking into the nearby Eagle Pub and blurting out that "we had found the secret of life." The truth wasn’t that far off, as Watson and Crick had solved a fundamental mystery of science--how it was possible for genetic instructions to be held inside organisms and passed from generation to generation.
Watson and Crick's solution was formally announced on April 25, 1953, following its publication in that month’s issue of Nature magazine. The article revolutionized the study of biology and medicine. Among the developments that followed directly from it were pre-natal screening for disease genes; genetically engineered foods; the ability to identify human remains; the rational design of treatments for diseases such as AIDS; and the accurate testing of physical evidence in order to convict or exonerate criminals.
Crick and Watson later had a falling-out over Watson's book, which Crick felt misrepresented their collaboration and betrayed their friendship. A larger controversy arose over the use Watson and Crick made of research done by another DNA researcher, Rosalind Franklin, whose colleague Maurice Wilkins showed her X-ray photographic work to Watson just before he and Crick made their famous discovery. When Crick and Watson won the Nobel Prize in 1962, they shared it with Wilkins. Franklin, who died in 1958 of ovarian cancer and was thus ineligible for the award, never learned of the role her photos played in the historic scientific breakthrough.
Feb 28, 1987: Gorbachev calls for nuclear weapons treaty
In a surprising announcement, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev indicates that his nation is ready to sign "without delay" a treaty designed to eliminate U.S. and Soviet medium-range nuclear missiles from Europe. Gorbachev's offer led to a breakthrough in negotiations and, eventually, to the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in December 1987.
Gorbachev and President Ronald Reagan had been wrestling with the issue of nuclear arms reduction in Europe since 1985, when they first met face-to-face to discuss the matter. A subsequent meeting in 1986 started with high hopes for an agreement, but the discussions broke down when Gorbachev linked the issue of the elimination of U.S. and Soviet INF in Europe to U.S. termination of its development of the Strategic Defense Initiative (the so-called "Star Wars" anti-missile defense system). However, both Reagan and Gorbachev faced pressures to reach a settlement. Reagan was under assault by "no-nuke" forces both in the United States and in western Europe. By late 1986 and early 1987, he was also faced with the fallout from the Iran-Contra scandal, when his administration had become involved in illegal arms dealings with both Iran and the Contra forces in Central America. Gorbachev wanted to achieve a cut in nuclear armaments, both to bolster his prestige on the world stage and to provide some much-needed relief for a Soviet economy sagging under the burden of massive military expenditures.
In February 1987, Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union was willing to proceed with negotiations on the INF Treaty. This time, he suggested that "the problem of medium-range missiles in Europe be singled out from the package of issues and that a separate agreement on it be concluded, and without delay." In other words, he was dropping his insistence on including SDI in the negotiations. The timing of Gorbachev's offer was interesting to many observers in the United States. Some suggested that it was not coincidental that his statement was released just days after a high-level presidential review board had issued a stinging report critical of the Reagan administration's involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal. Perhaps, they concluded, Gorbachev felt that Reagan would be anxious for a settlement. The two men met in December 1987 and signed the INF Treaty, by which the Soviets eliminated about 1,500 medium-range missiles from Europe and the United States removed nearly half that number.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
202 BC - Coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of
Han takes place, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty's rule over China
364 - Valentinian I becomes Roman Emperor.
870 - 8th Ecumenical council ends in Constantinople
1570 - Anti-Portugese uprising on Ternate, Moluccas
1638 - Scottish Presbyterians sign National Convent,
Greyfriars, Edinburgh
1646 - Roger Scott was tried in Mass for sleeping in church
1653 - -Mar 3] 3 Day Sea battle English beats Dutch
1667 - English colony Suriname in Dutch hands
1692 - Salem witch hunt begins
1700 - Today is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating
the Swedish calendar.
1704 - Elias Neau, a Frenchman, opens a school for blacks in
NYC
1704 - Indians attack Deerfield, Mass, kill 40, kidnap 100
1708 - Slave revolt, Newton, Long Island NY, 11 die
1710 - In the Battle of Helsingborg, 14,000 Danish invaders
under Jørgen Rantzau are decisively defeated by an equally sized Swedish force
under Magnus Stenbock.
1728 - George F Handel's opera "Siroe, re di
Persia," premieres in London
1730 - Tsarina Anna Ivanovna leads autocracy
1749 - 1st edition of Henry Fieldings' "Tom Jones"
published
1759 - Pope Clement XIII allows Bible to be translated into
various languages
1778 - Rhode Island General Assembly authorizes enlistment
of slaves
Evangelist John WesleyEvangelist John Wesley 1784 - John
Wesley charters Methodist Church
1787 - The charter establishing the institution now known as
the University of Pittsburgh is granted.
1794 - US Senate voids Pennsylvania's election of Abraham
Gallatin
1810 - 1st US fire insurance joint-stock company organized,
Philadelphia
1819 - 1st public performance of a Franz Schubert song,
"Schäfers Klageleid"
1826 - M Biela, an Austrian officer, discovers Biela's Comet
1827 - 1st commercial railroad in US, Baltimore & Ohio
(B&O) chartered
1828 - Franz Grillparzer's "Ein Treuer Diener,"
premieres in Vienna
1835 - Dr Elias L"nnrot publishes Finnish poem
"Kalevala"
1838 - Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the
independence of Lower Canada (today Québec)
1844 - 12-inch gun aboard USS Princeton explodes
1847 - US defeats Mexico in battle of Sacramento
1849 - 1st boat load of gold rush prospectors arrives in SF
from east coast
1850 - The University of Utah opens in Salt Lake City, Utah.
1854 - Republican Party formally organized at Ripon, Wisc
Composer Franz SchubertComposer Franz Schubert 1859 -
Arkansas legislature requires free blacks to choose exile or slavery
1861 - Territories of Nevada & Colorado created
1862 - Opera "La Reine de Saba," premieres in
Paris
1863 - Confederate raider "Nashville" sinks near
Fort McAllister Georgia
1864 - -Mar 3rd] Skirmish at Albemarle County Virginia
(Burton's Ford)
1864 - -Mar 4th) Raid at Kilpatrick's Richmond
1870 - The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of
Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire.
1871 - 2nd Enforcement Act gives federal control of
congressional elections
1878 - US congress authorizes large-size silver certificate
1879 - "Exodus of 1879" southern blacks flee
political/economic exploitation
1882 - 1st US college cooperative store opens, at Harvard U
1883 - 1st US vaudeville theater opens (Boston)
1888 - Ferry in San Pablo Bay explodes
1888 - Vincent d'Indy's Wallenstein-trilogy, premieres
1891 - Oscar Grundén skates world record 500m (50.8 sec)
1893 - Edward Acheson, Penn, patents an abrasive he names
"carborundum"
1896 - France dismisses Queen Ranavalona of Madagascar
1900 - General Buller's troops relieve Ladysmith Natal
1902 - Jules Massenets opera premieres in Monte Carlo
1903 - Barney Dreyfuss & James Potter buys Philadelphia
Phillies for $170,000
1904 - Vincent d'Indy's 2nd Symphony in B, premieres
1906 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Queen's U
(Kingston Ont) in 2 games
1908 - Failed assassination attempt on Shah Mohammed Ali in
Teheran
1912 - Victor Trumper's last Test Cricket innings c Woolley
b Barnes 50
1913 - 6.8-m, 4000-kg elephant seal killed, South Georgia (S
Atlantic)
1914 - Construction begins on Tower of Jewels for the Exposition
(SF)
1917 - AP reports Mexico & Japan will allie with Germany
if US enters WW I
1917 - Russian Duma sets up Provisional Committee; workers
set up Soviets
1920 - Maurice Ravel's "Le tombeau de Couperin,"
premieres
1922 - Egypt regains independence from Britain, but British
troops remain
1922 - KHQ-AM in Spokane WA begins radio transmissions
1923 - Swedish king Gustaaf V begins state visit to
Netherlands
1924 - US begins intervention in Honduras
1925 - "Tea For Two" by Marion Harris hit #1
1925 - Congress authorizes a special handling stamp
1925 - Longest win streak in Toronto Maple Leaf history (9
games)
1925 - Theater Museum of Amsterdam forms
1929 - Chic Black Hawks lose record NHL 15th straight game
at home
1931 - Canadian Rugby Union adopts the forward pass
1931 - Oswald Mosley founds his New Party
1933 - 1st female in cabinet: Francis Perkins appointed
Secretary of Labor
1933 - German Pres Von Hindenburg abolishes free expression
of opinion
Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi Germany
Adolf Hitler 1933 - Hitler disallows German communist party (KPD)
1935 - Amsterdam Hotel of the Red Lion gets sidewalk permit
1935 - Wallace Carothers manufactures 1st nylon polymer
1939 - Great-Britain recognizes Franco-regime in Spain
1939 - The first issue of Serbian weekly magazine Politikin
zabavnik is published.
1939 - The erroneous word "Dord" is discovered in
the Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an
investigation.
1940 - 1st televised basketball game (U of Pitts beats
Fordham U, 50-37)
1940 - Richard Wright's "Native Son" published
1940 - US population at 131,669,275 (12,865,518 blacks
(9.8%))
1941 - 39 U Boats (197,000 ton) sunk this month
1941 - British-Italian dogfight above Albania
1942 - 1st weapon drop on Netherlands
1942 - Japanese land in Java, last Allied bastion in Dutch
East Indies
1942 - Race riot, Sojourner Truth Homes, Detroit
1943 - "Porgy & Bess" opens on Broadway with
Anne Brown & Todd Duncan
1943 - 63 U Boats (359,300 ton) sinks this month
1947 - Anti Kuomintang demonstration on Taiwan
1947 - 228 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down
with the loss of 30,000 civilian lives.
1950 - "Alive & Kicking" closes at Winter
Garden Theater NYC after 46 perfs
1951 - French government of Pleven dissolves
1951 - Senate committee reports of at least 2 major US crime
syndicates
Soviet Union Premier Joseph StalinSoviet Union Premier
Joseph Stalin 1953 - Stalin meets with Beria, Bulganin, Khrushchev &
Malenkov
1954 - Patty Berg/Pete Cooper wins LPGA Orlando Mixed Golf
Tournament
1954 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island
1956 - 13 die in a train crash in Swampscott Mass
1956 - Forrester issued a patent for computer core memory
1957 - Jockey Johnny Longden's 5,000th career victory
1958 - West Indies 1-504 in reply to Pakistan 328, day 3 of
3rd Test Cricket
1959 - "Goldilocks" closes at Lunt Fontanne
Theater NYC after 161 perfs
1959 - Ice Dance Championship at Colo Springs USA won by
Denny & Jones of GRB
1959 - Ice Pairs Championship at Colorado Springs won by
Wagner & Paul of CAN
1959 - Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Colo Spr won by
Carol Heiss USA
1959 - Launch of Discoverer 1 (WTR)-1st polar orbit
1959 - Men's Figure Skating Championship in Colo Spr won by
David Jenkins USA
1959 - NFL trade, Chicago Cards trade Ollie Matson to LA
Rams for 9 players
1960 - 8th winter Olympic games close at Squaw Valley, Cal
1960 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Tampa Golf Open
1960 - US wins Olympic hockey gold medal by defeating Canada
Politician, statesman Henry KissingerPolitician, statesman
Henry Kissinger 1961 - JFK names Henry Kissinger special advisor
1962 - WMGM-AM in New York City changes call letters to WHN
1966 - Cavern Club (Beatles hangout) in Liverpool closes
1966 - Sandy Koufax & Don Drysdale begin a joint holdout
against Dodgers
1967 - Wilt Chamberlain sinks NBA record 35th consecutive
field goal
1968 - Pirate Radio Hauraki, off NZ, returns to the air
1969 - Ice Dance Championship at Colorado Spr won by Towler
& Ford of GBR
1969 - Ice Pairs Championship at Colorado Spr won by Rodnina
& Ulanov of URS
1969 - Ladies Figure Skating Champion in Colo Spr won by
Gabriele Seyfert GDR
1969 - Men's Figure Skating Championship in Colo Springs won
by Tim Wood USA
1970 - "Georgy" closes at Winter Garden Theater
NYC after 4 performances
1970 - Bicycles permitted to cross Golden Gate Bridge
1970 - Caroline Walker runs world female record marathon
(3:02:53)
1970 - KIIN (now KUN) TV channel 12 in Iowa City, IA (PBS)
1st broadcast
1970 - WUTR TV channel 20 in Utica-Rome, NY (ABC) begins
broadcasting
1971 - WDRB TV channel 41 in Louisville, KY (IND) begins
broadcasting
Golfer Jack NicklausGolfer Jack Nicklaus 1971 - 53rd PGA
Championship: Jack Nicklaus shoots a 281 at PGA Natl FL Jack Nicklaus wins his
2nd golf grand slam
1972 - George Harrison is involved in a minor car accident
1972 - Pres Richard Nixon ends historic week-long visit to
China
1972 - The Asama-Sanso incident ends in Japan.
1973 - Suriname government of Sedney arrests 13 union
leaders
1974 - Ethiopian government of Makonnen forms
1974 - Labour Party wins British parliamentary election
1974 - Taiwan police shoots into crowd
1974 - US & Egypt re-form diplomatic relations after 7
years
1975 - 41 killed in London Underground, as train speeds past
final stop
1975 - EG signs accord of Lome with 46 developing countries
1975 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1975 - A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London
kills 43 people.
1976 - 18th Grammy Awards: Love Will Keep Us Together,
Natalie Cole wins
1976 - Ceuta & Melilla (Spanish Morocco) are last
European African possession
37th US President Richard Nixon37th US President Richard
Nixon 1976 - Spain withdraws from Western Sahara
1977 - 1st killer whale born in captivity (Marineland, Los
Angeles California)
1977 - Harbor strike in Rotterdam/Amsterdam ends
1979 - Ernest Thompson's "On Golden Pond,"
premieres in NYC
1980 - "The Well-Tuned Piano" by La Monte Young
premieres (takes 4 h 12 m)
1980 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1981 - Calvin Murphy (Hou), sets NBA record with 78
consecutive free throws
1981 - China PR throws out Neth ambassador due to submarine
sale to Taiwan
1982 - AT & T looses record $7 BILLION for fiscal year
ending on this day
1982 - Ayako Okamoto wins LPGA Arizona Copper Golf Classic
1982 - FALN (PR Nationalist Group) bombs Wall Street
1983 - Last broadcast of "M*A*S*H" on CBS-TV
1983 - Final TV episode of "M*A*S*H" airs (CBS);
record 125 million watch
1984 - 26th Grammy Awards: Michael Jackson wins 8 Grammys
1986 - European Economic Community sign "Special
Act" for Europe free trade
King of Pop Michael JacksonKing of Pop Michael Jackson 1986
- Peter Uberroth suspended 7 baseball players for 1 year, after they admitted
in Curtis Strong's trial in September, they used drugs
1988 - 15th Winter Olympic games close at Calgary, Canada
1988 - Anti-Armenian pogrom in Azerbaijan, 30 killed
1988 - Pat Verbeek becomes 1st NJ Devil to score 4 goals in
an NHL game
1988 - Yvonne van Gennip skates world record 5 km ladies
(7:14.13)
1989 - Gretchen Polhemus, 23, (Texas), crowned 38th Miss USA
1989 - Memo by Brian Gumbel criticizing Today Show
co-workers becomes public
1989 - Red Schoendienst & Al Barlick elected to
baseball's Hall of Fame
1990 - Dutch police seize 3,000 kg of cocaine
1990 - US 65th manned space mission STS 36 (Atlantis 6)
launches into orbit
1991 - "Les Miserables" opens at Theatre Carre,
Amsterdam
1991 - "Speed of Darkness" opens at Belasco
Theater NYC for 36 performances
1991 - Don Mattingly named 10th NY Yankee Captain
1991 - Noureddine Morceli runs world record 1500m indoor
(3:34:16)
1991 - US & allied forces grant Iraq a cease fire
1993 - "Anna Christie" closes at Criterion Theater
NYC after 54 performances
Comedian Jerry SeinfeldComedian Jerry Seinfeld 1993 - 7th
American Comedy Award: Seinfeld wins
1993 - Gun battle erupts at Waco Texas between FBI &
Branch Davidians
1993 - Iolanda Chen triple jumps world indoor record hop
step (14.46m)
1994 - 100 agents raid Branch Davidian compound at Waco
Texas
1994 - Brady Law, imposing a wait-period to buy a hand-gun,
went into effect
1995 - Denver International Airport opens
1996 - 38th Grammy Awards: Jagged Little Pill, Alanis
Morisette wins
1997 - Earthquake in Pakistan, kills 45
1997 - FBI agent Earl Pitts pleads guilty to selling secrets
to Russia
1997 - Smokers must prove they are over 18 to purchase
cigarettes in US
1997 - The North Hollywood shootout takes place.
1998 - "View From the Bridge," closes at Criterion
Theater NYC
1998 - Vancouver Canucks Mark Messier is 4th NHLer to get
1,600 points
1998 - First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned
aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S.
civilian airspace.
1998 - Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive
against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo.
2001 - The Nisqually Earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter
Scale hits the Nisqually Valley and the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia area of
the U.S. state of Washington.
2001 - Six passengers and four railway staff are killed and
a further 82 people suffer serious injuries in the Selby rail crash.
2004 - Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228
Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (300-mile) long human chain to
commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947
2005 - Lebanon's pro-Syrian prime minister, Omar Karami,
resigns amid large anti-Syria street demonstrations in Beirut.
2005 - A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al
Hillah, Iraq kills 127.
2007 - Jupiter flyby of the New Horizons Pluto-observer
spacecraft.
2008 - Former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra
is arrested on corruption charges upon returning to Thailand after months of
exile.
2012 - Occupy London protesters evicted from St Paul's
Cathedral
2012 - Discovery of the largest prehistoric penguin, Kairuku
grebneffi, at nearly 5ft tall
2013 - 28 people are killed and 60 are injured after a
series of bombings across Baghdad, Iraq
2013 - 35 people are killed in violent demonstrations across
Bangladesh
2013 - The brains of two rats have been successfully
connected so that they share information
1827 - The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad became the first railroad incorporated for commercial transportation of people and freight. 1844 - Several people were killed aboard the USS Princeton when a 12-inch gun exploded. 1849 - Regular steamboat service to California via Cape Horn arrived in San Francisco for the first time. The SS California had left New York Harbor on October 6, 1848. The trip took 4 months and 21 days. 1854 - The Republican Party was organized in Ripon, WI. About 50 slavery opponents began the new political group. 1861 - The U.S. territory of Colorado was organized. 1881 - Thomas Edison hired Samuel Insull as his private secretary. 1883 - The first vaudeville theater opened. 1885 - AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph) was incorporated. The company was capitalized on only $100,000 and provided long distance service for American Bell. 1893 - Edward G. Acheson showed his patent for Carborundum. 1900 - In South Africa, British troops relieved Ladysmith, which had been under siege since November 2, 1899. 1911 - Thomas A. Edison, Inc. was organized. 1940 - The first televised basketball game was shown. The game featured Fordham University and the University of Pittsburgh from Madison Square Gardens in New York. 1948 - Bud Gartiser set a world record when he cleared the 50-yard low hurdles in 6.8 seconds. 1951 - A Senate committee issued a report that stated that there were at least two major crime syndicates in the U.S. 1953 - In a Cambridge University laboratory, scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick discovered the double-helix structure of DNA. 1954 - In San Francisco "Birth of a Planet" was aired. It was the first American phase-contrast cinemicrography film to be presented on television. 1956 - A patent was issued to Forrester for a computer memory core. 1962 - The John Glenn for President club was formed by a group of Las Vegas republicans. 1974 - The U.S. and Egypt re-established diplomatic relations after a break of seven years. 1979 - Mr. Ed, the talking horse from the TV show "Mr. Ed", died. 1983 - "M*A*S*H" became the most watched television program in history when the final episode aired. 1986 - Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated in Stockholm. 1993 - U.S. Federal agents raided the compound of an armed religious cult in Waco, TX. The ATF had planned to arrest the leader of the Branch Davidians, David Koresh, on federal firearms charges. Four agents and six Davidians were killed and a 51-day standoff followed. 1994 - NATO made its first military strike when U.S. F-16 fighters shot down four Bosnian Serb warplanes in violation of a no-fly zone over central Bosnia. 1995 - The Denver International Airport opened after a 16-month delay. 1998 - Serbian police began a campaign to wipe out "terrorist gangs" in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo. 2001 - The Northwest region of the U.S., including the state of Washington, was hit by an earthquake that measured 6.9 on the Richter Scale. There were no deaths reported. 2002 - In Ahmadabad, India, Hindus set fire to homes in a Muslim neighborhood. At least 55 people were killed in the attack. 2002 - Sotheby's auction house announced that it had identified Peter Paul Reubens as the creator of the painting "The Massacre of the Innocents." The painting was previously thought to be by Jan van den Hoecke. 2002 - It was announced that John Madden would be replacing Dennis Miller on "Monday Night Football." Madden signed a four-year $20 million deal with ABC Sports.
1953 James Watson and Francis Crick described their theory that two DNA strands were coiled in a double helix.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/feb28.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
No comments:
Post a Comment