Columbus Discovers the New World (1492) It was on this date, Friday, October 12, 1492, that Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas. Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, in September or October 1451, and was reared a Roman Catholic. He became a Portuguese subject and married a Portuguese noblewoman, but had no success in persuading […]

It was on this date, September 11, 1935, that Soviet Cosmonaut Gherman S. Titov (Герман С. Титов), was born in the Altai Republic, southern USSR. He studied at the Stalingrad Military Aviation School and, after graduating as an air force pilot, he was selected for cosmonaut training in 1960. Titov became, on 6-7 August 1961, […]

Fridtjof Nansen (1861) It was on this date, October 10, 1861, that Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen was born Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen. He grew up in Frøen, on the outskirts of Christiania (now Oslo), at that time a rural area that hardened Nansen for his life's work. Nansen loved the outdoors and his parents instilled in […]