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Joseph Needham

Joseph Needham

Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (December 9, 1900 – March 24 1995) was a British biochemist but was best known as a pre-eminent authority on the history of Chinese science. He pioneered the Western academic recognition of China's scientific past with the ongoing, monumental Science and Civilisation in China Series (SCC, also known as History of Science in China in some Asian sources). This encyclopaedic opus magum revealed the historical development of Chinese science. Needham's Grand Question was raised about stagnation of China's technological development.

Biography

Needham was the only child of a Scottish family in London: his father was a doctor and his mother, Alicia Adelaïde Needham née Montgomery (1863-1945) was a composer and music teacher. Needham studied at Cambridge University, received his bachelor's degree in 1921, master's degree in January 1925 and doctorate in October 1925. After graduation, he worked in F.G. Hopkins's laboratory at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, specialising in embryology and morphogenesis. Three Chinese scientists came to work with Needham in 1936: Lu Gwei-djen, Wang Ying-lai, and Chen Shi-chang. Lu (1904-1991), daughter of a Nanjingese pharmacist, taught Needham Classical Chinese. This ignited Needham's interest in China's technological and scientific past. Under the Royal Society's direction, Needham was the director of the Sino-British Science Co-operation Office in Chongqing from 1942 to 1946, collaborating with the historian Wang Ling and solidifying his passion for Chinese scientific history. He also met numerous Chinese scholars including painter Wu Zuoren, and travelled to sites in western China including Dunhuang and Yunnan. He also visited educational institutions, from which large amounts of references and materials were collected, which would aid his editing of the Science and Civilisation in China Series. After two years' tenure as the first head of the Natural Science division at UNESCO in Paris, France - indeed, it was Needham who insisted that Science should be included in the organisation's mandate - he returned to Gonville and Caius College in 1948 when Cambridge University Press partially funded his Science and Civilisation in China series. He devoted much energy to the history of Chinese science until his retirement in 1990, even though he continued to teach biochemistry until 1966. He also supported and actually signed the unfounded Chinese communist claims of American biological warfare as an inspector from 1952 to 1953 in North Korea during the Korean War. In 1966, Needham became Master of Gonville & Caius College. The Needham Research Institute in Cambridge, devoted to the study of China's scientific history, was opened in 1987 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Needham was first married to Dorothy Moyle (née Moyle, 1896-1987). Two years after Dorothy's death (1989), Needham was re-married to Lu Gwei-djen. He suffered from Parkinson's disease since 1982, and died at the age of 94 at his Cambridge home.

External links

- [http://www.riseofthewest.net/thinkers/needham01.htm Joseph Needham and the rise of the West]
- [http://www.nri.org.uk/ Needham Research Institute (NRI)]
- [http://www.nri.org.uk/science.html Science and Civilisation in China]
- [http://pioneer.netserv.chula.ac.th/~hsoraj/web/APPEND.html Asian Philosophy and Critical Thinking: Divergence or Convergence?]
- [http://www.geocities.com/alandwpeters/needleman.html Needham's History and Science in China (just ignore the photo at the top of the page)]
- [http://www.joesessays.com/religion/37.shtml Asian Philosophies of Critical Thinking: divergent or convergent to western establishments?]
- [http://www.ihns.ac.cn/needhamrelated.htm Guide to manuscripts by British scientists: N, O] The following links are all in Chinese
- [http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/world/2003-03/09/content_767365.htm Xinhua：Today's NRI]
- [http://www.ihns.ac.cn/news/reference%20for%20needham%20studies.htm Papers in the last ten years on Needham and his Grand Question]
- [http://www.guxiang.com/lishi/shihua/mingjia/200306/200306190026.htm Needham and his early knowledge on Chinese culture]
- [http://www.nmns.edu.tw/New/PubLib/NewsLetter/164/1.htm Brief introduction of the exhibition in Taipei on "Needham and Chinese science during the Second Sino-Japanese War"]
- [http://www.123-4.com/culture/zwwhjl/005.htm Brief biography]
- [http://www.oursci.org/ency/people/003.htm Tidbits on Needham's daily activities] Needham, Joseph Needham, Joseph Needham, Joseph Needham, Joseph

December 9

December 9 is the 343rd day (344th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 22 days remaining.

Events

- 1425 - The Catholic University of Leuven is founded
- 1531 - First apparition of the Virgen Mary to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin on Tepeyac Hill
- 1793 - New York City's first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, is established by Noah Webster.
- 1824 - Battle of Ayacucho: Peruvian nationalists led by Antonio José de Sucre defeat Spanish colonial forces and secure the independence of Peru.
- 1835 - The Republic of Texas captures San Antonio.
- 1851 - The first YMCA in North America is established in Montreal, Quebec.
- 1856 - The Iranian city of Bushehr surrenders to occupying British forces.
- 1861 - American Civil War: The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War is established by the U.S. Congress.
- 1872 - In Louisiana, P. B. S. Pinchback becomes the first serving African-American governor of a U.S. state.
- 1888 - Statistician Herman Hollerith installs his self-designed computing device at the United States War Department.
- 1897 - Activist Marguerite Durand founds the feminist daily newspaper, La Fronde in Paris.
- 1905 - In France, the law separating church and state is passed.
- 1931 - The Constituent Cortes approves the constitution which establishes the Second Spanish Republic.
- 1937 - Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanjing - Japanese troops under the command of Lt. Gen. Asaka Yasuhiko launch an assault on the Chinese city of Nanjing.
- 1940 - World War II: Operation Compass - British and Indian troops under the command of Major-General Richard O'Connor attack Italian forces near Sidi Barrani in Egypt.
- 1941 - World War II: The Republic of China, Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea and Cuba declare war on Germany and Japan.
- 1945 - General George S. Patton is injured in an automobile crash in occupied Germany. He dies twelve days later.
- 1946 - The "Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals" began with the "Doctors' Trial", prosecuting doctors alleged to be involved in human experimentation.
- 1950 - Harry Gold is sentenced to thirty years in jail for helping Klaus Fuchs pass information about the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union. His testimony is later instrumental in the prosecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
- 1953 - Red Scare: General Electric announces that all communist employees will be discharged from the company
- 1958 - Red Scare: The John Birch Society founded in the United States.
- 1960 - The first episode of ITV soap-opera Coronation Street is aired.
- 1961 - The trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Israel ends with him being found guilty of 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and membership of an outlawed organization.
- 1961 - Tanganyika becomes independent from Britain.
- 1968 - Douglas Engelbart publicly demonstrates his pioneering hypertext system, NLS, in San Francisco.
- 1982 - Activist Norman Mayer threatens to blow up the Washington Monument, before being killed by United States Park Police.
- 1987 - Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The First Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank
- 1990 - Lech Wałęsa becomes the first directly elected president of Poland.
- 1992 - The separation of Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales is announced
- 2001 - Chris Jericho unifies the WWE Championship and WCW World Heavyweight Championship for the first time ever at WWE Vengeance.
- 2005 - The draw for the 2006 Football World Cup takes place in Leipzig, Germany.
- 2005 - The last regular Routemaster bus service in London, route 159, ends.

Births

- 1447 - Chenghua, Emperor of China (d. 1487)
- 1508 - Gemma Frisius, Dutch mathematician and cartographer (d. 1555)
- 1561 - Sir Edwin Sandys, British-born Virginian colonist (d. 1629)
- 1571 - Metius (Adriaan Adriaanszoon), Dutch mathematician and astronomer (d. 1635)
- 1579 - Martin de Porres, Peruvian saint (d. 1639)
- 1594 - King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (d. 1632)
- 1608 - John Milton, English poet (d. 1674)
- 1610 - Baldassare Ferri, Italian castrato (d. 1680)
- 1667 - William Whiston, English mathematician (d. 1752)
- 1748 - Claude Louis Berthollet, French chemist (d. 1822)
- 1842 - Peter Kropotkin, Russian anarchist (d. 1921)
- 1850 - Emma Abbott, American soprano (d. 1891)
- 1868 - Fritz Haber, German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1934)
- 1871 - Joe Kelley, American baseball player (d. 1943)
- 1876 - Berton Churchill, American actor (d. 1940)
- 1882 - Joaquín Turina, Spanish composer (d. 1949)
- 1886 - Clarence Birdseye, American frozen food manufacturer (d. 1956)
- 1889 - Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish long-distance runner and Olympic gold medalist (d. 1966)
- 1897 - Hermione Gingold, British actress (d. 1987)
- 1898 - Emmett Kelly, American circus clown (d. 1979)
- 1899 - Jean de Brunhoff, French author (d. 1937)
- 1901 - Ödön von Horváth, Hungarian-born writer (d. 1938)
- 1901 - Jean Mermoz, French pilot (d. 1936)
- 1902 - Margaret Hamilton, American actress (d. 1985)
- 1905 - Dalton Trumbo, American writer (d. 1976)
- 1906 - Grace Murray Hopper, American computer pioneer (d. 1992)
- 1909 - Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., American actor (d. 2000)
- 1911 - Broderick Crawford, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1912 - Tip O'Neill, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1994)
- 1915 - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, German soprano
- 1916 - Kirk Douglas, American actor and film producer
- 1917 - James Rainwater, American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- 1919 - William Lipscomb, American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
- 1920 - Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of the Italian Republic
- 1922 - Redd Foxx, American comedian and actor (d. 1991)
- 1926 - Henry Way Kendall, American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
- 1926 - Jan Křesadlo, Czech writer (d. 1995)
- 1927 - Pierre Henry, French composer
- 1928 - Dick Van Patten, American actor
- 1929 - John Cassavetes, American actor and film director (d. 1989)
- 1929 - Bob Hawke, twenty-third Prime Minister of Australia
- 1930 - Buck Henry, American actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer
- 1931 - Ladislav Smoljak, Czech actor, director and humourist
- 1933 - Morton Downey Jr., American talk show host (d. 2001)
- 1934 - Dame Judi Dench British actress
- 1934 - Junior Wells, American blues harmonica player (d. 1998)
- 1937 - Darwin Joston, American actor (d. 1998)
- 1938 - Deacon Jones, American football player
- 1941 - Beau Bridges, American actor
- 1941 - Dan Hicks, American musician
- 1942 - Dick Butkus, American football player
- 1946 - Sonia Gandhi, Italian-born Indian politician, chair of the United Progressive Alliance
- 1946 - Walter Orange, American drummer (The Commodores)
- 1947 - Tom Daschle, American politician
- 1947 - Jaak Jõerüüt, Soviet-born Estonian politician
- 1950 - Joan Armatrading, West Indian-born British singer
- 1952 - Michael Dorn, American actor
- 1953 - John Malkovich, American actor
- 1957 - Donny Osmond, American singer and actor
- 1958 - Nick Seymour, Australian bassist (Crowded House)
- 1962 - Felicity Huffman, American actress
- 1964 - Paul Landers, German guitarist (Rammstein)
- 1967 - Joshua Bell, American violinist
- 1968 - Kurt Angle, American amateur and professional wrestler
- 1968 - Dave Harold, British snooker player
- 1968 - Brian Bell, American guitarist (Weezer)
- 1969 - Jakob Dylan, American singer and songwriter (The Wallflowers)
- 1969 - Bixente Lizarazu, French international footballer and World Cup winner
- 1972 - Tre Cool (Frank Edwin Wright III), German-born American drummer (Green Day)
- 1972 - Reiko Aylesworth, American actress
- 1972 - Fabrice Santoro, Tahitian-born French tennis player
- 1976 - Imogen Heap, British singer and songwriter
- 1981 - Diya Mirza, Indian actress

Deaths

- 1165 - King Malcolm IV of Scotland
- 1292 - Sheikh Saadi, great Persian sufi poet
- 1437 - Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1368)
- 1544 - Teofilo Folengo, Italian poet (b. 1491)
- 1565 - Pope Pius IV (b. 1499)
- 1603 - William Watson, English conspirator (b. 1559)
- 1625 - Ubbo Emmius, Dutch historian and geographer (b. 1547)
- 1636 - Fabian Birkowski, Polish writer (b. 1566)
- 1641 - Anthony van Dyck, Flemish painter (b. 1599)
- 1669 - Pope Clement IX (b. 1600)
- 1674 - Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, English statesman and historian (b. 1609)
- 1692 - William Mountfort, English actor and dramatist
- 1706 - King Peter II of Portugal (b. 1648)
- 1718 - Vincenzo Coronelli, Italian cartographer and encylopaedist (b. 1650)
- 1793 - Gabrielle de Polastron, comtesse de Polignac, French aristocrat (b. 1749)
- 1798 - Johann Reinhold Forster, German botanist
- 1887 - Mahmadu Lamine, Senegalese marabout and miltary leader
- 1894 - Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician
- 1930 - Andrew "Rube" Foster, American baseball player and founder of the Negro National League
- 1937 - Nils Gustaf Dalén, Swedish physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)
- 1964 - Dame Edith Sitwell, British poet and critic (b. 1887)
- 1965 - Branch Rickey, American baseball commissioner (b. 1884)
- 1970 - Sir Feroz Khan Noon, Prime Minister Pakistan
- 1971 - Ralph Bunche, American diplomat and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
- 1972 - Louella Parsons, American gossip columnist (b. 1881)
- 1984 - Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley, British drummer (Hanoi Rocks) (b. 1960)
- 1995 - Toni Cade Bambara, American author (b. 1939)
- 1996 - Mary Leakey, British archeologist and anthropologist (b. 1913)
- 1998 - Shaughnessy Cohen, Canadian politician (b. 1948)
- 1998 - Archie Moore, American boxer and World Light-Heavyweight Champion (b. 1913)
- 2002 - Stan Rice, American painter, educator, and poet (b. 1942)
- 2003 - Paul Simon, U.S. Senator from Illinois (b. 1928)
- 2004 - David Brudnoy, American radio personality (b. 1940)
- 2004 - Lea De Mae, Czech actress (b. 1976)
- 2005 - Robert Sheckley an American author (b. 1928)

Holidays and observances

- Calendar of saints:
- Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin : optional memorial
- Peter Fourier, founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame
- Also see December 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics); specifically the conception of Saint Anne
- Scandinavia (specifically Sweden): Anna's Day. Recognizes everyone named Anna, and marks the day to start the preparation process of the lutefisk to be consumed on Christmas Eve.
- Tanzania - Independence Day (of Tanganyika from Britain, 1961)
- Anti - corruption day

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/9 BBC: On This Day] ---- December 8 - December 10 - November 9 - January 9 -- listing of all days ko:12월 9일 ms:9 Disember ja:12月9日 simple:December 9 th:9 ธันวาคม

1900

1900 (MCM) is a common year starting on Monday.

Events

January

- January 1 - Chris Smith Born in 1972
- January 2 - John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
- January 2 - Chicago Canal opens.
- January 5 - Irish leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule.
- January 6 - It is reported that millions are starving in India.
- January 6 - Boers attack Ladysmith - over 1000 people were killed.
- January 8 - United States President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.
- January 13 - Kaiser of Germany declares that German is the command language in the German army
- January 14 - Premier presentation of opera Tosca in Rome - actors have received death threats and nameless letters.
- January 16 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounced its claims to the Samoan islands.
- January 24 - Battle of Spion Kop in Second Boer War.
- January 24 - The governments in London and Pretoria begin negotiations to end the Boer Wars.
- January 27 - Boxer rebellion: Foreign diplomats in Peking China demand that the Boxer rebels be disciplined.
- January 29 - The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs is organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with 8 founding teams.
- January 30 - United Kingdom forces fighting Boers in South Africa ask for reinforcements.

February

South Africa
- February 3 - Gubernatorial candidate William Goebel is assassinated in Frankfort, Kentucky. Former-Secretary of State Caleb Powers was later found guilty in a conspiracy to kill Goebels.
- February 7 - The British Labour Party is formed.
- February 8 - British troops are defeated by Boers at Ladysmith, South Africa.
- February 9 - Richard Wigginton Thompson, U.S. congressman, dies.
- February 14 - Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.
- February 14 - Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.
- February 17 - Battle of Paardeberg in the Second Boer War
- February 22 - Hawaii officially becomes a territory of the United States.
- February 23 - Boer War: Battle of Hart's Hill - In South Africa the Boers and British troops battle.
- February 27 - Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje.
- February 27 - Ramsay MacDonald appointed secretary of newly formed British Labour Party.

March

- March 3 - Mining strike ends in Germany.
- March 6 - A coal mine explosion in West Virginia traps 50 coal miners.
- March 9 - Women in Germany demand right to participate in university entrance exams
- March 11 - Boer War: Boer leader Paul Kruger's peace overtures are rejected by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Lord Salisbury.
- March 13 - Boer War: British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State.
- March 13 - In France, length of a workday for women and children is limited to 11 hours by law
- March 14 - The Gold Standard Act is ratified placing United States currency on the gold standard.
- March 16 - Sir Arthur Evans discovers the ruins of Knossos on Crete
- March 24 - New York City Mayor Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.

April

- April 1 - Every French policeman is assigned to carry a gun.
- April 1 - Irish Guards formed by Queen Victoria
- April 4 - Anarchist shoots at the Prince of Wales during his visit to Belgium in the birthday celebrations of the king of Belgium.
- April 14 - Paris World Exhibition opens.

May

- May 1 - Explosion of blasting powder in coal mine in Scofield, Utah kills 200
- May 2 - Oscar II, King of Sweden, declares support for Britain at the time of the Boer War.
- May 17 - Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking
- May 17 - Boxers destroy three villages near Peking and kill 60 Chinese Christians
- May 18 - Boer delegation travels to USA to ask for assistance
- May 18 - The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
- May 21 - Russia invades Manchuria
- May 23 - Sergeant William Harvey Carney becomes the first African American to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (awarded for heroism in the Battle of Fort Wagner during the American Civil War).
- May 24 - Boer War: British annex Orange Free State as Orange River Colony.
- May 25 - Boer soldiers vote for the continuance of the war
- May 28 - Boxers attack Belgian personnel in the Fengtai railway station
- May 29 - Chinese government condemns Boxers
- May 30 - Boxers occupy Tientsin
- May 31 - Peacekeepers from various European countries arrive in China
- May 31 - British under Lord Robert occupy Johannesburg

June

- June 1 - Carrie Nation demolishes 25 saloons in Medicine Lodge
- June 5 - Boer War: British soldiers take Pretoria, South Africa.
- June 14 - The Reichstag approves a second law that allows the expansion of the German navy.
- June 20 - The Boxers gather about 20,000 people near Peking and kill hundreds of European citizens, including the German ambassador.
- June 30 - Piers of North German Lloyd Steamship line burned in Hoboken, New Jersey - 326 dead

July

Hoboken, New Jersey
- July 2 - First zeppelin flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany
- July 5 - Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act passes British Parliament
- July 9 - Queen Victoria gives royal assent to Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act
- July 13 - Boxer Rebellion: In China, Tientsin is retaken by European Allies from the rebelling Boxers
- July 29 - In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by Italian-born anarchist Gaetano Bresci.
- July 30 - The Duke of Albany becomes Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as Carl Eduard following the death of his uncle, Duke Alfred

August

- August 14 - An international contingent of troops, under British command, invades Peking and frees the Europeans taken hostage.
- August 27 - British defeat Boer commandos at Bergendal

September

- September 8 - Galveston Hurricane of 1900: a powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people.
- September 17 - Philippine-American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.

October

- October - The Norwegian inventor Johann Vaaler demands a patent for his invention, the paperclip.

November

- November 3 - the first automobile show in the United States opened at New York's Madison Square Garden under the auspices of the Automobile Club of America.
- November 6 - U.S. presidential election, 1900: Republican incumbent William McKinley is reelected by defeating Democrat challenger William Jennings Bryan.

Births

January

- January 5 - Yves Tanguy, French painter (d. 1955)
- January 26 - Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967)
- January 27 - Hyman Rickover, American admiral (d. 1986)

February

- February 4 - Jacques Prévert, French lyricist and author (d. 1977)
- February 5 - Adlai Stevenson, American politician (d. 1965)
- February 11 - Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (d. 2002)
- February 12 - Roger J. Traynor, American judge (d. 1983)
- February 19 - Giorgos Seferis, Greek writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
- February 22 - Luis Buñuel, Spanish film director (d. 1983)
- February 28 - Wolfram Hirth, German pilot and aircraft designer (d. 1959)

March

- March 9 - Howard Aiken, American computing pioneer (d. 1973)
- March 19 - Frédéric Joliot, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1958)
- March 23 - Erich Fromm, German-born psychologist and philosopher (d. 1980)
- March 29 - John McEwen, eighteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1980)
- March 31 - Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (d. 1974)

April-June

- April 2 - Roberto Arlt, Argentinian writer (d. 1942)
- April 5 - Spencer Tracy, American actor (d. 1967)
- April 25 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
- April 26 - Charles Richter, American geophysicist and inventor (d. 1985)
- April 30 - Cecily Lefort, English World War II heroine (executed) (d. 1945)
- May 1 - Ignazio Silone, Italian author (d. 1978)
- May 12 - Helene Weigel, Austrian actress (d. 1971)
- May 28 - Tommy Ladnier, American jazz trumpeter (heart attack) (d. 1939)
- June 3 - Rolland Fisher, American temperance movement leader (d. 1982)
- June 5 - Dennis Gabor, Hungarian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
- June 15 - Paul Mares, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1949)
- June 29 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer (d. 1944)

July-September

- July 13 - George Lewis, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1969)
- July 29 - Eyvind Johnson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
- August 3 - Ernie Pyle, American journalist (d. 1945)
- August 4 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, queen of King George VI of the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
- August 6 - Cecil H. Green, British-born geophysicist and businessman (d. 2003)
- August 10 - Arthur Espie Porritt, New Zealand politician and athlete (d. 1994)
- August 15 - Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet (d. 1966)
- August 22 - Sergei Ozhegov, Russian lexicographer (d. 1964)
- August 25 - Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1981)
- August 26 - Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (d. 1980)
- September 3 - Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland (d. 1986)
- September 6 - W.A.C. Bennett, Canadian politician (d. 1979)

October-December

- October 6 - Stan Nichols, English cricketer (d. 1961)
- October 7 - Heinrich Himmler, Nazi official and leader of the SS (d. 1945)
- October 30 - Ragnar Granit, Finnish neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1991)
- November 5 - Martin Dies, Jr., American politician (d. 1972)
- November 8 - Charlie Paddock, American athlete (d. 1943)
- November 8 - Margaret Mitchell, American writer (d. 1949)
- November 11 - Halina Konopacka, Polish athlete (d. 1989)
- November 14 - Aaron Copland, American composer (d. 1990)
- December 3 - Ulrich Inderbinen, Swiss mountain guide (d. 2004)
- December 3 - Richard Kuhn, Austrian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
- December 12 - Sammy Davis, Sr., American dancer (d. 1988)

Deaths

- January 20 - John Ruskin, English writer and social critic (b. 1819)
- March 6 - Gottlieb Daimler, German inventor and automotive pioneer (b. 1834)
- April 5 - Joseph Louis François Bertrand, French mathematician (b. 1822)
- April 24 - George Douglas Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll, British politician (b.1823)
- April 30 - Casey Jones, American train wreck victim (b. 1864)
- May 18 - Jean Gaspard Felix Ravaisson-Mollien, French philosopher (b. 1813)
- June 3 - Mary Kingsley, English explorer and writer (b. 1862)
- June 5 - Stephen Crane, American author (b. 1871)
- June 11 - Belle Boyd, American Confederate spy and actress (b.1843)
- July 29 - Umberto I, King of Italy (assassinated) (b. 1844)
- July 30 - Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1844)
- August 10 - Charles Russell, Baron Russell of Killowen, Lord Chief Justice of England (b.1832)
- August 12 - Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian-born chess player (b. 1836)
- August 16 - Eça de Queirós, Portuguese writer (b. 1845)
- August 25 - Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher and writer (b. 1844)
- August 25 - Kuroda Kiyotaka, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1840)
- September 23 - William Marsh Rice, American philanthropist and university founder (murdered) (b. 1816)
- September 29 - Samuel Fenton Cary, American politician and temperance movement leader (b. 1814)
- October 15 - Zdeněk Fibich, Czech composer (b. 1850)
- October 22 - John Sherman, American politician (b.1823)
- November 22 - Sir Arthur Sullivan. English composer (b. 1842)
- November 30 - Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (b. 1854)

Month/day unknown

- Henry D. Cogswell, American philanthropist and temperance movement pioneer (b. 1820)

Notes

- 1900 is not a leap year even though the number is divisible by 4. It is one of the dropped leap years of the Gregorian Calendar.
- ko:1900년 ms:1900 ja:1900年 simple:1900 th:พ.ศ. 2443

March 24

March 24 is the 83rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (84th in Leap years). There are 282 days remaining.

Events

- 1603 - James VI of Scotland also becomes James I King of England.
- 1765 - American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain passes the Quartering Act that requires the 13 American colonies to house British troops.
- 1832 - In Hiram, Ohio a group of men beat, tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith, Jr..
- 1837 - Canada gives Africans the right to vote.
- 1868 - Metropolitan Life Insurance Company is formed.
- 1878 - The UK frigate Eurydice sinks, killing 300.
- 1882 - Robert Koch announces the discovery of the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis (mycobacterium tuberculosis).
- 1898 - Robert Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania becomes the first person to buy an American-built automobile when he buys a Winton automobile that was advertised in Scientific American.
- 1900 - New York City Mayor Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
- 1923 - Greece becomes a republic.
- 1934 - U.S. Congress passes Tydings-McDuffie Act.
- 1944 - In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 prisoners begin breaking out of Stalag Luft III.
- 1959 - The Party of the African Federation (PFA) is launched by Léopold Sédar Senghor and Modibo Keita.
- 1965 - NASA spacecraft Ranger 9, equipped to convert its signals into a form suitable for showing on domestic television, brings images of the Moon into ordinary homes before crash-landing.
- 1972 - The United Kingdom imposes "Direct Rule" over Northern Ireland.
- 1973 - Kenyan track runner Kip Keino defeats Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in Los Angeles, sanctioned by the International Track Association.
- Rock band Pink Floyd releases Dark Side of the Moon, which will go on to become one of the most influential and commercially successful albums of all-time.
- 1976 - Argentina's military forces depose president Isabel Perón.
- 1980 - Archbishop Óscar Romero is killed by gunmen while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.
- 1989 - Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Alaska's Prince William Sound the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (42,000 m³) of petroleum after running aground.
- 1998 - Jonesboro massacre: In Jonesboro, Arkansas, two boys (aged 11 and 13 years) fire upon students at Westside Middle School; four students and one teacher are killed and 10 injured.
- 1999 - Kosovo War: NATO commences air bombardment against Yugoslavia, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
- 2001 - Apple Computer releases Mac OS X.
- 2002 - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney returns from the Middle East and begins a propaganda campaign against Iraq's Saddam Hussein saying, "This is a man of great evil, as the President said. And he is actively pursuing nuclear weapons at this time."
- 2003 - The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of US and British soldiers from Iraq.
- 2100 - Polaris will be appear closest to the north celestial pole, at 1629.38" or 0.4526°

Births

1490 to 1899

- 1490 - Georg Agricola, German scientist (d. 1555)
- 1607 - Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (d. 1667)
- 1657 - Arai Hakuseki, Japanese writer and politician (d. 1725)
- 1693 - John Harrison, British clockmaker (d. 1776)
- 1725 - Samuel Ashe, Governor of North Carolilna (d. 1813)
- 1725 - Thomas Cushing, American Continental Congressman (d. 1788)
- 1796 - John Corry Wilson Daly, Canadian politician (d. 1878)
- 1830 - Robert Hamerling, Austrian poet (d. 1889)
- 1834 - William Morris, English writer and designer (d. 1896)
- 1834 - John Wesley Powell, American explorer and environmentalist (d. 1902)
- 1835 - Jožef Stefan, Slovenian physicist, mathematician, and poet (d. 1893)
- 1855 - Andrew Mellon, American financier (d. 1937)
- 1855 - Olive Schreiner, South African writer (d. 1920)
- 1874 - Harry Houdini, Hungarian-born magician (d. 1926)
- 1884 - Peter Debye, Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
- 1886 - Edward Weston, American photographer (d. 1958)
- 1887 - Fatty Arbuckle, American actor (d. 1933)
- 1889 - Albert Hill, British athlete (d. 1969)
- 1893 - Walter Baade, German astronomer (d. 1960)
- 1897 - Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-born psychotherapist (d. 1957)

1900 to 1999

- 1901 - Ub Iwerks, American cartoonist (d. 1971)
- 1902 - Thomas Dewey, American politician (d. 1971)
- 1903 - Adolf Butenandt, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
- 1910 - Richard Conte, American actor (d. 1975)
- 1911 - Joseph Barbera, American cartoonist
- 1915 - Gorgeous George, American professional wrestler (d. 1963)
- 1916 - Donald Hamilton, Swedish-American novelist
- 1917 - John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1997)
- 1919 - Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American author and publisher
- 1919 - Robert Heilbroner, American economist (d. 2005)
- 1923 - Murray Hamilton, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1924 - Norman Fell, American actor (d. 1998)
- 1926 - Dario Fo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1927 - Martin Walser, German author
- 1928 - Byron Janis, American pianist
- 1930 - David Dacko, first President of the Central African Republic (d. 2003)
- 1930 - Steve McQueen, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1980)
- 1935 - Peter Bichsel, Swiss writer
- 1936 - David Suzuki, Canadian environmentalist
- 1938 - Holger Czukay, German musician (Can)
- 1938 - David Irving, British historian
- 1944 - R. Lee Ermey, American actor
- 1945 - Robert T. Bakker, American paleontologist
- 1945 - Curtis Hanson, American film director
- 1949 - Nick Lowe, English musician
- 1951 - Tommy Hilfiger, American fashion designer
- 1953 - Louie Anderson, American comedian
- 1954 - Robert Carradine, American actor
- 1954 - Donna Pescow, American actress
- 1960 - Nena, German singer
- 1962 - Star Jones Reynolds, American television personality
- 1964 - Annabella Sciorra, American actress
- 1965 - The Undertaker, American professional wrestler
- 1970 - Lara Flynn Boyle, American actress
- 1970 - Sharon Corr, Irish musician (The Corrs)
- 1974 - Chad Butler, American drummer (Switchfoot)
- 1974 - Alyson Hannigan, American actress
- 1976 - Aaron Brooks, American football player
- 1976 - Peyton Manning, American football player
- 1985 - Haruka Ayase, Japanese actress and model
- 1988 - Holly Brain, English Singer and Magician
- 1990 - Keisha Castle-Hughes, New Zealand-born actress
- 1990 - Andrew Aparicio, Hip Hop Producer

Deaths

809 to 1899

- 809 - Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid caliph (b. 763)
- 1361 - Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, English soldier and diplomat
- 1381 - Catherine of Sweden, Swedish saint
- 1455 - Pope Nicholas V (b. 1397)
- 1563 - Hosokawa Harumoto, Japanese military leader (b. 1514)
- 1575 - Yosef Karo, Spanish-born rabbi (b. 1488)
- 1603 - Queen Elizabeth I of England (b. 1533)
- 1653 - Samuel Scheidt, German composer (b. 1587)
- 1773 - Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, English statesman and man of letters (b. 1694)
- 1776 - John Harrison, English clockmaker (b. 1693)
- 1869 - Antoine-Henri Jomini, French general (b. 1779)
- 1882 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American author (b. 1807)

1900 to 1999

- 1905 - Jules Verne, French author (b. 1828)
- 1909 - John Millington Synge, Irish playwright (b. 1871)
- 1916 - Enrique Granados, Spanish composer (drowned) (b. 1867)
- 1944 - Orde Wingate, British soldier (b. 1903)
- 1946 - Alexander Alekhine, Russian chess player (b. 1892)
- 1950 - James Rudolph Garfield, American politician (b. 1865)
- 1953 - Mary of Teck, queen of George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1867)
- 1962 - Jean Goldkette, Greek-born musician (b. 1899)
- 1962 - Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist and explorer (b. 1884)
- 1972 - Cristobal Balenciaga, Spanish couturier (b. 1895)
- 1976 - Bernard Montgomery, British field marshal (b. 1887)
- 1980 - Óscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador (b. 1917)
- 1984 - Sam Jaffe, American actor (b. 1891)
- 1990 - Ray Goulding, American comedian (b. 1922)
- 1990 - An Wang, Chinese-born computer pioneer (b. 1920)
- 1993 - John Hersey, American author (b. 1914)
- 1999 - Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, German women's leader (b. 1902)
- 1999 - Birdie Tebbetts, baseball player and manager (b. 1912)

2000 onwards

- 2002 - César Milstein, Argentine scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1927)
- 2003 - Hans Hermann Groër, Austrian Catholic archbishop (b. 1919)

Holidays and observances

- Ancient Latvia - Kazimiras Diena observed
- World Tuberculosis Day

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/24 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/3/24 Today in History: March 24] ---- March 23 - March 25 - February 24 - April 24 -- listing of all days ko:3월 24일 ms:24 Mac ja:3月24日 simple:March 24 th:24 มีนาคม

China

to protect the north from nomadic invaders and has been rebuilt several times since.]] China () refers to a number of states and cultures that have existed and are viewed as having succeeded one another in continental East Asia, dating back at least 3,500 years. China as it exists today has been variously described in different points of view as a single civilization or multiple civilizations, as a single state or multiple states, and as a single nation or multiple nations. With one of the world's longest periods of mostly uninterrupted civilization and the world's longest continuously used written language system, China's history has been largely characterized by repeated divisions and reunifications amid alternating periods of peace and war, and violent imperial dynastic change. The country's territorial extent expanded outwards from a core area in the North China Plain, and varied according to its moving fortunes to include multiple regions of East, Northeast, and Central Asia. For centuries, Imperial China was also one of the world's most technologically advanced civilizations, and East Asia's dominant cultural influence, with an impact lasting to the present day throughout the region. By the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however, China's political, economic, and military influence declined relative to growing regional power Japan and the influence of Western powers. Semi-colonialism developed by the late nineteenth century in parts of China, and the country was invaded by the Empire of Japan during World War II. The imperial system in China ended with the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC) under Sun Yat-sen in 1912; however, the next four decades of ROC rule were marred by warlord control, the Second Sino-Japanese War (WWII), and the Chinese Civil War which pitted Chinese Nationalists against the Communist forces. After its victory in the Chinese Civil War, the Communist Party of China under Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, forcing the Republic of China (ROC) to retreat to the island of Taiwan, which it had governed since the end of World War II. Since then, the ROC has maintained administrative control over Taiwan, the Pescadores, several islands off the coast of Fujian province, and some islands in the South China Sea.

Terminology

"Zhongguo"

South China Sea China is called Zhongguo in Mandarin Chinese (Simplified: 中国, Traditional: 中國; also romanized as Jhongguo or Chung-kuo), which is usually translated as "Middle Kingdom", but could also be translated as "Central State" or "Central Country". Zhong (中) means "middle" or "center" while guo (国 or 國) means "country," "kingdom," "state," or "land", referring to the claim that China stood at the centre of that society's "known world", surrounded by lesser tributary states. The term has not been used consistently throughout Chinese history, however, and carries certain cultural and political connotations both positive and negative, some ideological, and early states considered part of Chinese history are not called "Zhongguo". During the Spring and Autumn Period, it was used only to describe the states politically descended from the Western Zhou Dynasty, in the Yellow River (Huang He) valley, to the exclusion of states such as Chu and Qin. The "Chinese" thus defined their nation as culturally and politically distinct from - and as the axis mundi of surrounding nations; a concept that continued well into the Qing Dynasty, although being continually redefined while the central political influence expanded territorially, and its culture assimilated alien influences. Thus Zhongguo quickly came to include areas farther south, as the cultural and political unit (not yet a "nation" or "country" in the modern sense) spread in a southerly direction, including the Yangtze River and Pearl River systems, and by the Tang Dynasty it even included "barbarian" regimes such as the Xianbei and Xiongnu. Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet, and the island of Taiwan, over time, came to be dominated (to a greater or lesser extent) by, or officially ruled by, imperial China, and are often included as a part of Zhongguo, though acceptance or denial of such claims remains politically controversial, especially where Zhongguo means PRC. During the Han Dynasty and before, Zhongguo had three distinctive meanings: # The area around the capital or imperial domain. The Book of Poetry explicitly gives this definition. # Territories under the direct authority of the "central" authorities. The Historical Records states: "Eight mountains are famed in the empire. Three are with the Man and Yi barbarians. Five are in Zhongguo." # The area now called the North China Plain. The Sanguo Zhi records the following monologue: "If we can lead the host of Wu and Yue (the area of southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang) to oppose Zhongguo, then we should break off relations with them soon." In this sense, the term is synonymous with Hua (華) and Xia (夏). During the period of division after the fall of the Han Dynasty, the term Zhongguo was subjected to transformation as a result of the surge of nomadic peoples from the northern frontier. This was doubly so after the loss of the Yellow River valley, the cradle of Chinese civilization, to these peoples. For example, the Xianbei called their Northern Wei regime Zhongguo, contrasting it with the Southern Dynasties, which they called the Yi (夷), meaning "barbarian". The southern dynasties, for their part, recently exiled from the north, called the Northern Wei Lu (虏), meaning "criminal" or "prisoner". In this way Zhongguo came to represent political legitimacy. It was used in this manner from the tenth century onwards by the competing dynasties of Liao, Jin and Song. The term Zhongguo came to be related to geographic, cultural and political identity and less to ethnic origin. The Republic of China, as it controlled mainland China, and later, the People's Republic of China, have used Zhongguo as an entity existing theoretically to mean all the territories and peoples within their political control as well as those outside of it (people in the Republic of China on Taiwan now usually use Zhongguo to refer to the PRC and use Taiwan to refer to itself). Thus it is asserted that all 56 officially recognized ethnic groups are Zhongguo ren (中國人), or Zhongguo people. Their disparate histories are collectively the history of Zhongguo.

"China"

Song in ancient times, was the imperial capital of 13 different historical dynasties (including the Han and Tang dynasties) in China.]] English and many other languages use forms of the name China (and the prefix Sino-), which is believed to have derived from the name of the Qin dynasty that first unified the country, even though it is not completely resolved and the origins are still controversial to an extent [http://www.bartleby.com/61/80/C0298000.html]. Despite the fact that the Qin dynasty was short-lived and was often regarded as overly tyrannical it unified the written language in China and gave the supreme ruler of China the title of "Emperor", hence, the subsequent Silk Road traders would identify themselves by that name. Alternate theories on the origin of the word "China" exist. In any circumstance, the word China passed through many languages along the Silk Road before it finally reached Europe and England. The Western "China", transliterated to Shina (支那) has also been used by Japanese since the nineteenth century, and has since evolved into a derogatory term in that language. The term "China" can narrowly mean China proper, or, often, China proper and Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang, a combination essentially coterminous with the 20th and 21st century political entity China; the boundaries between these regions do not necessarily follow provincial boundaries. In many contexts, "China" is commonly used to refer to the People's Republic of China or mainland China, while "Taiwan" is used to refer to the Republic of China. Informally, in economic or business contexts, "the Greater China region" (大中華地區) refers to Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Sinologists usually use "Chinese" in a more restricted sense, more akin to the classical usage of Zhongguo, or to the meaning of the "Han ethnic group", who make up the bulk of Mainland China. In many contexts it may be more appropriate to speak of "mainland China" (中國大陸,zhōngguó dàlù in Mandarin), especially when contrasting it with other, politically different regions like Hong Kong, Macau, and territories administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan).

History

:Main articles: History of China, History of the Republic of China (1912–1949; 1949–Present on Taiwan), History of People's Republic of China (1949–Present) History of People's Republic of China China was one of the earliest centers of human civilization. Chinese civilization was also one of the few to invent writing independently, the others being ancient Mesopotamia (Sumerians), India (Indus Valley Civilization), the Mayans, and, some hold, Ancient Egypt—though it may have been learned from the Sumerians. The first dynasty according to Chinese historical sources was the Xia Dynasty. Until scientific excavations were made at early bronze-age sites at Erlitou in Henan Province, it was difficult to separate myth from reality in regard to the existence of the Xia Dynasty. But since then, archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the possible existence of the Xia dynasty at the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts. However, the first confirmed dynasty is the Shang, who settled along the Huang He river, dating from the 18th to the 12th centuries BC. The Shang were in turn invaded by the Zhou (12th to 5th centuries BC), whose centralized authority was slowly eroded by the ceding of state-like authority to warlords ruling small states; eventually, in the Spring and Autumn period, many strong independent states, in continuous war, paid but nominal deference to the Zhou state as the Imperial centre. They were all unified under one emperor in 221 BC by Qin Shi Huang, ushering in the Qin Dynasty, the first unified centralized Chinese state. This state, however, did not last for long, as it was way too authoritarian, destroying many sources of competition for power that were also sources of good governance and development, such as scholars and intellectuals. After the fall of authoritarian Qin Dynasty in 207 BC came the Han Dynasty which lasted until 220 AD. A period of disunion followed again. In 580, China was reunited under the Sui. Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties, China reached its golden age. For a long period of time, especially between the 7th and 14th centuries, China was one of the most advanced civilizations in the world in technology, literature, and art. The Song Dynasty fell to the invading Mongols in 1279. The Mongols, under Kublai Khan, established the Yuan Dynasty. A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Mongols in 1368 and founded the Ming Dynasty, which lasted until 1644. After the Ming dynasty, came the Qing (Manchu) dynasty, which lasted until the overthrow of Puyi in 1911. Oftentimes regime change was violent and strongly opposed and the ruler class needed to take special measures to ensure their rule and the loyalty of the overthrown dynasty. For example, after the foreign Qing (Manchus