Facts

1928: The plane “Hellas”, type Breguet, crewed by lieutenant Evangelos Papadakos and colonel Christos Adamidis, takes off from Tatoi to make the round of the Mediterranean. It will achieve this 20 days later, after covering a distance of 12,000 km.

1932: The bill on social insurance is passed in the Parliament, laying the foundations for the establishment of the IKA.

1949: British author George Orwell publishes his iconic novel ‘1984’.

1963: Mikis Theodorakis and twenty Greek scientists, artists, workers, students and journalists found the “Grigoris Lambrakis” Youth Movement (DKNGL). The well-known composer is elected president and begins a political and cultural campaign throughout Greece.

1995:The director of the National Gallery, Marina Lambrakis-Plaka, announces the purchase of the painting “Saint Peter” by Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco). The 290 million drachmas for the purchase of the work were collected from offers from institutions, artists and citizens.

2000:The “17 November” terrorist organization murders the British military attaché in Athens, Brigadier Steven Saunders.

Births

1810: Robert Schumann, German composer, one of the leaders of the Romantic era. (D. 29/7/1856)

1916: Francis Crick, British biologist. Together with the American Robert Watson, he discovered DNA in April 1953. (D. 28/7/2004)

1955: Tim Berners-Lee, British computer engineer, who discovered the WWW and essentially made the Internet a reality.

Deaths

1859:Walter Hunt, American engineer, who discovered the safety pin, commonly known as a safety pin. (Born 29/7/1796)

1962: Stelios Sperantsas, Greek professor of the School of Dentistry and writer. (Born 1888)

1987:Alexandros Iolas, Greek gallerist and important collector of modern art. His real name was Konstantinos Koutsoudis. (Born 25/3/1907)