Facts

1593: The Vatican puts philosopher Giordano Bruno on trial for his heretical views.

1827: Greek revolutionary units under Dionysios Vourvachis, Panoutsos Notaras and Vasos Mavrovouiniotis are attacked by 2,000 infantry and 600 cavalry under Kioutachis, in Kamatero Attica. In the battle that follows, Bourvachis falls heroically along with 300 fighters.

1880: Inventor Thomas Edison patents the electric light bulb.

1903: Bram Stoker’s novel “Dracula” translated by Alexandros Papadiamantis is published in sequels in the “Neon Asty” newspaper. It is advertised by the newspaper’s editors as “the strangest novel published in a Greek newspaper”.

1975: Greece proposes to refer the issue of the continental shelf to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Turkey rejects the Greek proposal.

1996: Crisis of Imia: Two journalists of the “Hurriet” newspaper go by helicopter from Smyrna to Megali Imia. They lower the Greek flag and raise the Turkish flag. The entire operation is videotaped and broadcast by the Hurriyet television channel.

Births

1756: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer. (D. 5/12/1791)

1832: Lewis Carroll, literary pseudonym of Charles Ludwig Dodgson, English writer. (“Alice in Wonderland”) (Died 1/14/1898)

1887: Carl Blegen, American archaeologist. He directed the latest excavations of Troy and managed to date the Homeric Troy of the Iliad to 1250 BC. Discover Nestor’s palace in Pylos. (D. 24/8/1971)

Deaths

1980: Stratis Tsirkas, philological pseudonym of Yiannis Hatziandreas, Greek writer. (“Ungoverned States”) (Gen. 10/7/1911)

2010: Howard Zinn, American academic, whose alternative history of the USA was read by millions of people. (Born 24/8/1922)

2010: Jerome Salinger, American author. (“The Watcher in the Rye”) (Born 1/1/1919)