1273 - Count Rudolf elected German king as Rudolf I.
1298 - Albert I made next German king.
1483-1546 Martin Luther and the Lutheran Reformation.
1519 - Hernando Cortez adds cane sugar to Aztex drink “chocolatl” to produce sweetened chocolate drink. Back in Europe, cinnamon and vanilla were added to make chocolate a popular and refreshing warm drink.
1554 - Potatoes brought to Europe from South America by Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro. Becomes staple in western and northern Europe.
1596 - Tomatoes brought to Europe from South America. Initially considered poisonous. Not eaten widely until 1796.
1598 - Edit of Nantes grants freedom of worship to Huguenots (French Protestants).
1630 - Thirty Years war in Germany.
1630 - 1 million people die of Bubonic Plague in northern Italy.
1630 - Mount Vesuvius erupts in Italy killing 4,000 people.
1634 - Germany’s Bavarian village of Oberammergau pledges to perform Passion Play every 10 years if God will keep Black Death plague from their homes.
1642 - Hope Diamond found in India by French traveler Jean Tavernier.
1643 - Barometer invented in Italy. German Otto von Guericke invents first weather barometer in 1672.
1643 - Adding machine invented by French mathematician Blaise Pascal.
1650 - First daily newspaper Einkommenden Zeitungen published in Leipzig, Germany.
1654 - German Otto von Guericke builds air pump; uses it to produce vacuum in sphere.
1657 - First English Chocolate House appears.
1658 - First illustrated book for children, Orbis Sensualium Pictus, published in Germany.
1660 - Accurate pendulum clock invented by Dutchman Christiaan Huygens.
1660 - Fredrich Staedtler opens first pencil factory in Germany.
1662 - Blaise Pascal starts horse-drawn bus service in London.
1665 - Great Plague in London. 75,000 die.
1669 - Phosphorus discovered by German alchemist Hennig Brand while distilling urine.
1669 - Mount Etna erupts in Sicily, Italy killing 20,000 people.
1675 - Dutchman Anton Van Leeuwenhoek uses convex and concave lens to make microscope.
1679 - Binary system for counting using only two digits invented by German mathematical writer Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz.
1681 - Pennsylvania granted to William Penn, who founded a great Quaker settlement in and around Philadelphia.
1682 - Delaware granted to William Penn.
1682 - Isaac Newton introduces laws of motion and theory of gravity.
1685 - Edit of Nantes revoked by Louis XIV. Thousands of French Protestants flee.
1689 - Peter the Great becomes Czar of Russia. Tries to make Russia powerful military force.
1689-1763 - French and Indian Wars in America.
1694 - Plant pollen discovered by German botanist Rudolph Cammerarius.
1700 - Taxation of unmarried women introduced in Berlin, Germany.
1700 circa - Johann Georg Broenner (Brenner) born in Germania.
1701-1714 - Queen Anne’s War. British take New Foundland, Acadia, and Hudson Bay Territory from France.
1704 - Deerfield Massacre of Massachusetts English colonists by French and Indians.
1704 - Boston News Letter becomes first newspaper in America.
1707 - Britain forms United Kingdom of England, Wales and Scotland.
1709 - Italian perfumier Giovanni Farina creates mass-produced Eau De Cologne scent in Cologne, Germany.
1709 - Alcohol thermometer invented by German physicist Daniel Fahrenheit. Invents mercury thermometer five years later.
1709 - Iron-coke smelting process produces huge amounts of iron.
1711 - Full-color printing process patented by Jakob Le Bon in Germany.
1712 - Johann Boltger of Meissen, Germany discovers secret of making Chinese porcelain, Opens most influential ceramics factory in Europe.
1712 - First industrial steam engine used to pump water from mines invented by Thomas Newcomen.
1714 - German George I of Hanover becomes king of England even though he cannot speak English.
1714 - French naval officer, Francois Frezier, brings strawberry plants from South America to Europe.
1729 - German composer Johann Sebastian Bach writes St. Matthew Passion.
1734 - First metal chain suspension bridge built in Prussia by Palatinate Army of Saxony.
1735 - Contaminated sausage meat blamed for outbreak of botulism (killer food-poisoning bug) in Germany.
1736 - Rubber discovered in South American Amazon by French geographers. First called “caoutchouc.”
1736 - First successful appendicitis operation in England.
1737 - Johann Georg Brenner
1742 - German-English composer George Frederick Handel writes Messiah in just 24 days. When he performs work before English King George II, the king is so impressed that he rises to his feet and remains standing until the end of the performance – a custom that is still observed at Messiah performances.
1745 - Leyden Jar for storing and releasing electrical charges invented simultaneously by E.G. von Kleist, dean of Cathedral of Kamin in Pomerania, Germany, and Pieter Van Musschenbrock, professor of physics at Holland’s Leyden University.
1746 - Zinc discovered by Andreas Manggraf in Germany. Will be used in galvanizing batteries to protect steel from rusting, and brass-making.
1747 - Sugar extracted from beetroot by German chemist, Andreas Manggraf. Proves that sugar is present in root vegetables.
1751 - New Year of 1752 decreed by British Parliament to be January 1 instead of March 25. Brings Britain into line with Gregorian calendar. September 3rd becomes September 14th. Nothing happens in British history during “lost” 11 days.
1754 - Rope-making machine invented in England. Prior to this ropes are all handmade.
1755 - Streetcar invented in England. Runs of cast-iron rails and is pulled by two horses.
1755 - Earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal kills over 60,000.
1755 - U.S. Postal Service established.
1756 - Stagecoach service opens between Philadelphia and New York City. Takes “only” three days to travel route.
1756 - Seven Years’ War (part of French & Indian Wars). Britain and Prussia defeat France, Spain, Austria and Russia. France loses North American colonies. Spain cedes Florida to Britain in exchange for Cuba.
1757 - Johann Kilian Brenner born to Johann Georg and Anna Maria (Koebert) Brenner.
1758 - Jedediah Strutt invents ribbing machine for making stockings.
1759 - British capture Quebec from French.
1759 - Haydn writes Symphony No. 1.
1760 - Roller skates produced by Belgian instrument maker Joseph Merlin.
1762 - Catherine the Great becomes Czarina of Russia.
1762 - Sandwich invented by John Montague, Fourth Earl of Sandwich, England to enable players to snack without breaking from 24-hour gaming session in England.
1763 - Jigsaw puzzles used as aids to teach geography.
1763 - Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763-65) launched by brilliant Indian leader Pontiac to expel the British from the interior and restore French rule in Michigan.
1764 - James Watt improves Newcomen steam engine.
1765 - Stamp Act. London authorities attempted to meet the costs of imperial administration by levying a tax on the colonials; the Stamp Act of 1765 required a tax on all public documents, newspapers, notes and bonds, and almost every other printed paper.
1765 - First bank to issue paper money in Germany founded by Frederick II.
1765 - The first chocolate drink appears in America.
1767 - Cast iron railroad tracks introduced in Shropshire, England.
1769 - Sir William Arkwright patents spinning machine—catalyst for Industrial Revolution.
1770 - First porcelain false teeth produced by Alexis Duchateau of France.
1771 - Encyclopedia Britannica appears in Edinburgh, Scotland. Published in weekly parts and costs sixpence.
1775 - About 250,000 Germans living in middle colonies and in back-country South. Almost all are members of Lutheran and German Reformed (Calvinist) churches or of pietist sects such as the Mennonites.
1775 - American Revolution begins.
1775 - Priestley discovers hydrochloric and sulfuric acids.
1776 - Adam Smith writes Wealth of Nations.
1776 - Thomas Paine writes Common Sense.
1776 - Edward Gibbons writes Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
1776 - Declaration of Independence published by American Colonies.
1777 circa - Johann Kilian Brenner marries Anna Barbara Ablin
1777 - Circular saw invented in England.
1778 - Captain James Cook discovers Hawaii.
1778 - Franz Mesmer starts using hypnotism.
1780 - First paved roads in France.
1781 - Immanuel Kant writes Critique of Pure Reason.
1781 - Herschel discovers Uranus.
1781 - Influenza breaks out in Eastern Europe killing up to 30,000 Russians every day.
1783 - American Revolution ends.
1784 - Threshing machine by Andrew Meikle of Scotland. Separates grain from husks automatically.
1784 - Oil lamp with circular wick invented by Aime Argand in Switzerland. More efficient than previous oil burners.
1785 - First cast-iron plow.
1785 - First mechanical loom invented by Rev. Edmund Cartwright in England.
1787 - U.S. Constitution signed.
1789 - French Revolution begins. Political unrest directed against French monarchy.
1789 - George Washington elected first U.S. president.
1790 - Philadelphia becomes temporary capital of U.S.
1790 - Lavoisser formulates Table of 31 Chemical Elements.
1791 - U.S. Bill of Rights ratified.
1792 - Mint Act establishes first mint of U.S. currency in Philadelphia. Martha Washington donated family silverware for first coins. Dollar, half dollar, half d (became the nickel), penny and half penny coins were designed by Thomas Jefferson. Value of coin equal to the amount of metal in them. Philadelphia mint building called “Ye Old Mint” and housed hand presses for making coins. Prior to this, colonies used money from various countries (5-7). Word “money” from “Moneta” the name of the Roman temple where the first coins were struck.
1793 - Cotton gin machine invented by Eli Whitney in America. Strips fibers from cotton seeds enabling one person to do work of 50 people.
1793 - George Washington watches man and small black dog make first balloon flight over Philadelphia.
1794 - Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania as farmers object to liquor taxes.
1795 - Farmer’s son builds hydraulic press.
1796 - French general, Napoleon Bonaparte defeats Austrians.
1796 - John Adams elected second president.
1796 - Edward Jenner introduces smallpox vaccination in England.
1796 - Lithographic printing invented by German Aloys Senefelder.
1797 - Chromium discovered in France. Will be used in chrome plating.
1797 - First parachute jump. Frenchman jumps from balloon 2,230 feet above Parc Monceau, Paris, France.
1797 - Johann Georg Brenner dies August 25, 1797.
1798 - Napoleon conquers Rome and Egypt.
1798 - U.S. Navy Department established.
1798 - Eli Whitney makes musket with interchangeable parts. Sets stage for mass-production. Mass produced rifles will be introduced in 1851 in England.
1799 circa - Johann Kilian Brenner marries Anna Maria Foerschnor.
1799 - Napoleon leads coup; becomes First Consul and rules all of France.
1799 - Metric measuring system introduced by French Academy of Science.
1800 - Napoleon conquers Italy.
1800 - U.S. federal government moves to Washington.
1800 - William Herschel discovers infrared radiation.
1800 - Allesandro Volta produces electricity.
1800 - Cans for storing food invented in France.
1800 - Italian physicist Alessandro Volta invents electric battery made of zinc and copper plates.
1800 - William Young of Philadelphia makes first shoes designed specifically for left and right feet.
1801 - Austria makes temporary peace with France.
1801 - Frenchmen Joseph-Marie Jacquard invents weaving loom.
1801 - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland established. Have one monarch and one Parliament. Catholics excluded from voting.
1802 - Sugar beets introduced as field crop in Germany.
1803 - U.S. negotiates Louisiana Purchase from France (827,000 sq mi for $15 million)
1803 - Large number of independent small political units abolished or subordinated to larger rulers. Aroung 350 free Imperial knights and counts lost independence and were subordinated to territorial ruler status. Around 112 political units abolished including 20 archbishoprics and prince-bishoprics, 40 abbeys and convents, and all but 6 of the free cities.
1804 - Napoleon declares himself Emperor of France.
1804 - Food preservation factory built in France.
1804 - Francis II of Austria becomes Emperor of Austria.
1804 - Smaller German states seceded from Holy Roman Empire and put themselves under protection of France.
1804 - Alexander Hamilton mortally wounded in duel with Aaron Burr.
1805 - Napoleon becomes King of Italy. He attacks and defeats Austrian and Russian forces at Battle of Austerlitz in Czechoslovakia.
1805 - Morphine discovered by German chemist, Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Serturner. Used a powerful painkiller.
1806 - Napoleon creates Confederation of the Rhine consisting of 16 German states including Baden and Wurttemberg.
1806-1807 - Serfdom abolished by Napoleon. Meant little to peasants because they couldn’t afford to meet compensation payments to France.
1806 - Holy Roman Empire formally dissolved.
1806 - Copying technique using carbon paper invented by Ralph Wedgwood in London, England.
1806 - Coffee pot with metal sleeve invented in Britain by Count of Rumford in hopes of persuading British workers to drink more coffee and less beer.
1806 - King Frederick William III of Prussia declares war on France (Sep 1806). Prussian army suffers major defeat at Battle of Jena (14Oct 1806). All territories to east of Elbe lost to France.
1807 - Johann Frederick Brenner born in Trochtelfingen, Germany March 1, 1807.
1807 - Robert Fulton makes first successful steamboat trip on Clermont.
1807 - First patent for gas-driven automobile.
1808 - Napoleon takes France and Spain.
1808 - German Johann Wolfgang Goethe publishes Faust.
1808 - U.S. Congress bars further importation of slaves from Africa.
1808 - Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth Symphonies performed.
1809 - Austrian attempt to challenge Napoleon defeated.
1809 - Steel “metallic writing pen produced in Baltimore, Maryland.
1810 - Frenchman Nicolas Appert finds way to preserve food using tins and glass jars.
1810 - Factory for tinned food cans (tin-coated iron cans) opens in Britain.
1812 - Napoleon invades Russia. Winter forces retreat, 600,000 men die.
1812 - War of 1812 - U.S. declares war with Britain over freedom of seas. USS Constitution sinks British frigate.
1813 - Coalition of Austria, Prussia, and Russia defeats Napoleon at Leipzig.
1813 - Confederation of the Rhine in Southern Germany, and Napoleonic states in Northern Germany dissolved. Southern Germany signs treaties with Austria.
1814 - War ends. Napoleon defeated by allied forces of Britain, Austria, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, and Portugal in War of Liberation. Defeated at Battle of Nations in Leipzig, Germany and banished to Elba off Italian coast.
1814 - German Confederation (Deutscher Bund) established in place of Holy Roman Empire. Comprised of 39 states, 34 monarchies, and 4 free cities.
1815 - Napoleon returns from Elba and begins Hundred Days War. Napoleon defeated by Wellington at Waterloo. Banished to St. Helena in South Atlantic.
1815 - General reorganization of Europe by Congress of Vienna.
1815 - Compulsory basic schooling in Germany supplemented with elite secondary school,s called Gymnasia.
1815 - German still largely agricultural, a land of villages, undulating pastures and deep forests, of medieval towns and castles, princely palaces, churches and monestaries. While serfdom was not restored, commutation of dues continued, and conditions continued difficult for peasants, while nobility retains status and many of their privileges. German society changing to class society with increased mobility of labor. Becomes basis for development of increasingly industrial society in 1830.
1815 - Germany starts to transform from agrarian society into industrialized society.
1816 - 1817 - Hunger years in Germany during agarian crises.
1818 - Baden gains state constitution.
1818 - US paddle steamer, The Savannah becomes first steamboat to cross Atlantic.
1819 - Wurttemberg gains state constitution.
1819 - Scottsman John McAdam invents smooth, light road surface.
1819 - Maria Barbara Weng born in Trochtelfingen March 12, 1819. She is daughter of Johann Michael Weng and Anna Maria Ursula (Maier) Weng
1820 - Economic depression in Germany.
1821 - First electric motor built by Michael Faraday in England.
1822 - German Fredrich Buschman invents accordion. The next year, he invents the harmonica.
1823 - British pharmacists in Worcester, England adopt recipe from Bengal, India to produce Worcestershire sauce.
1823 - German-born Johann Maetzel sells talking dolls that say “mama” and “papa” to eager buyers in Paris, France. Gets 10 francs for each.
1824 - Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
1824 - Portland cement made from limestone and clay produced by Yorkshire bricklayer Joseph Aspdin.
1826 - Cholera epidemic begins in Europe. Called “summer diarrhea” in Britain. Kills 900,000 people in next 5 years.
1827 - Frenchman produced earliest surviving permanent photograph. Took 8 hours to expose a faint image of his house on photographic plate.
1827 – Englishman builds steam coach service between Cheltenham and Gloucester. Service halted by legal ban in 1831. Most buses are horse-drawn until 1904.
1829 - First practical sewing machine invented in France.
1830 - Gold rush in North and South Carolina. Lasted two years. Gold dust used for money. Bartenders chosen to be men with large fingers since payment for drinks was to reach in miner’s bag and take out a pinch of gold dust. Thus term “Good for a pinch”
1830 - Social unrest results in French July Revolution.
1830-1860 - Underground railroad leads 100,000 slaves to freedom in the US.
1831 - Frenchman invents phosphorous match to eliminate awful smell produced by British “Lucifers.”
1832 - Germans call for German republic.
1832 - First streetcar appears in New York City, Horses pull wagon with up to 30 passengers along track laid in street.
1832 - Karlsbad Decrees revived and enhanced to forbid poplular political meetings and associations.
1833 - Slavery abolished in Britain.
1834 - Population of Germany 23 million.
1834 - Austria’s Mitternich tries to censor the press and control university teachers and students.
1834 - Germany producing many well educated university graduates.
1834 - German Baron von Richenbach extracts creosote from wood tar. Will be used to pave roads.
1834 - Charles Babbage invent first mechanical computer (analytical engine).
1834 - McCormick files patent for reaper.
1834 - Vapor compression machine used to refrigerate ice in England.
1834 - German Customs Union comprised of 18 German states and 23 million people. Abolishes differences between town and country, and transforms Prussia into one economic unit. Tariffs within Union are abolished.
1834 - Prussian Thaler becomes common unit of currency within predominantly Prussian Customs Union. Austria remained outside this union.
1835 - Hard-surface roads, steamships on the Rhine, canals linking rivers, and railroad construction change topology of Germany. Railroad between Nuremberg and Furth opens.
1835 - Germany’s first steam railroad engine driven by Englishman. Operated first European public railroad in Nuremberg, Germany
1835 - Color printing technique patented by English printer George Baxter.
1836 - Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie die in the Battle of the Alamo in Texas.
1837 - Railways expand rapidly in Germany enabling relatively cheap and rapid movement of raw materials and products, stimulating increased production (particularly of coal and iron).
1837 - Kindergarten established in Blankenburg, Germany by Swiss science teacher, Frederick Wilhelm Augusts Froebel. Originally called “a Kleinkindbeschaftigunginstitut (“small child occupation institute”).
1837 - English schoolteacher, Isaac Pitman, invents shorthand.
1837 - Electric telegraph patented in England.
1837 - First paperback novels published by German publisher Tauchnitz. Printed in English but sold everywhere except England for legal reasons.
1837-1901 - Queen Victoria (Hanover) reigns in England.
1839 - American Charles Goodyear accidentally drops rubber and sulfur onto hot stove producing first vulcanized rubber. Enables manufacturing of rubber tires.
1840 - Factories established in Germany with concurrent changes in production methods. Workers began working in factories instead of in their own homes.
1840 - England establishes penny post to pay for mailing letters.
1840 - Much of population still rural, but food supply of pre-industrial economy insufficient to support growing population. Food riots, rural unemployment, migration to growing towns, growing pauperism, and widespread acute poverty caused many to begin migrating out of Germany to America.
1840 - Lower and Upper Canada united.
1840 - Frederick William IV of Prussia becomes king.
1841 - President Harrison dies one month after inauguration; John Tyler becomes president.
1841 - Johann Friedrich Brenner marries Maria Barbara Weng in Trochtelfingen March 26, 1841.
1843 - Printed Christmas cards appear in England.
1844 - Samuel Morse files patent for telegraph.
1844 - Silesian weavers in Germany revolt against competition of more advanced British textile industry with new and better production methods.
1845 – Blight destroys potato crop all over northern Europe. Famine in Ireland lasts 2 years.
1845 - Scottish engineer, Richard Thomson, produces air-filled leather tire.
1845 - Rubber bands invented in England.
1846 – Economic depression in Europe.
1846 – Poor weather conditions destroy potato and grain crops in Germany forcing Customs Union to import large amounts of grain. Distribution difficult and prices of staple foods rises 50%. Poor in rural areas suffer grave distress. Many peasants unable to keep up compensatory payments for liberation from feudal dues or for mortgages. Flight from countryside to cities increases. Many journeymen lose jobs in this depression.
1846 - Potato famine in Ireland and Europe causes thousands to emigrate to America (93,000 in 1846, over 100,000 in 1847).
1846 - U.S. declares war on Mexico.
1846 - W.T. Morton uses ether as anesthetic.
1846 - Sewing machine invented by American Elias Howe.
1846 - Rotary printing press invented by American Richard March Hoe. It prints 18,000 sheets an hour. First used to print Philadelphia Public Ledger newspaper.
1846-1847 – Potato blight causes thousand of deaths from starvation.
1847 - Friedrich Brenner (emigrant 1) born in Trochtelfingen, Germany April 17, 1847.
1847 – Solid “eating chocolate” introduced in England. Till this time, chocolate was available only as a drink. This fondant chocolate was smooth and velvety. It quickly became a hit across Europe.
1847 - Toy balloons made in England from vulcanized rubber.
1847 - Chewing gum called “State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum” cooked up by John Curtis in Maine.
1848 - Revolution in Paris causes revolutions in Venice, Vienna, Berlin, Milan, Rome and Warsaw. February revolution in France topples King Louis Philippe. News causes insurrections and popular uprisings across Germany. Put down by “royal troops” between 1848 and 1849. Metternich resigns and flees to Great Britain.
1848 - First air raid conducted by Austrians attacking Venice, Italy with unmanned balloons carrying fire bombs.
1848 - Attempts to unify Germany fail.
1848 – Metternich of Prussia resigns.
1848 - U.S. Mexico war ends, U.S. takes Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada.
1849 - California gold rush. Over $600 million in gold dug from earth. So much that private mints were formed to make coins. (May 1849, Norris, Grey & Norris in Benicia, CA made $5 gold pieces)
1849 - Levi Strauss from Bavaria, Germany arrives in US and begins to manufacture durable jeans for California gold miners.
1849 - Safety pin invented by Walter Hunt of New York City.
1849 - Condensed evaporated milk produced by Gail Bordon of America after ocean voyage in which rough weather prevented cows from producing milk.
1850 - 4% of Germany population working in factories. Will be 10% by 1873.
1850 - Johann Friedrich Brenner (emigrant 2) born in Trochtelfingen, Germany January 20, 1850.
1850 - Chocolate Easter bunnies introduced in Germany.
1850 - Wave of emigration to America begins.
1851 - Michael Brenner (emigrant 3) born in Trochtelfingen, Germany July 4, 1851.
1851 - U.S. opens mint in California but only produces $50 gold coins—a fortune for the common person. Very few lower denominations so most people still used the pinch of gold dust.
1851 - Herman Melville writes Moby Dick.
1851 - Harriet Beecher Stowe writes Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
1851 - Lock-stitch sewing machine invented by American Isaac Merritt Singer.
1852 - Sparrow introduced to America from Germany to reduce caterpillar infestation that threatened farming crops.
1852 - Louis Napoleon proclaims himself Napoleon III (Second Empire).
1852 - 1859 – 3rd Cholera pandemic.
1852 - English scholar Peter Mark Roget publishes Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases.
1852 - Butcher's Guild in Frankfurt, German introduces “frankfurter” to Europe.
1852 - American inventor Elisha Otis produces first cable-hoisted platform elevator.
1853 - Commodore Perry enters Tokyo harbor.
1853 - American chef George Crum produced thin “potato chip” at hotel In Saratoga Springs, New York.
1853 - Hypodermic syringe invented in France.
1854 - The San Francisco mint opens to strike all denominations of gold coins.
1854 - Silver Rush in Nevada. Comstock mine produces $300 million in silver.
1854 - Antislavery men in Michigan form Republican Party.
1854 - First perforated postage stamp, the Penny Red, is introduced in England.
1854 - Tennyson writes Charge of the Light Brigade.
1854 - Thoreau writes Walden Pond.
1854 - Crimean War begins (Great Britain, France and Turkey against Russia). Lasts two years.
1855 - Maria Margarete Brenner (emigrant 4) born in Trochtelfingen, Germany July 14, 1855.
1855 - Florence Nightingale nurses people wounded in Crimea.
1855 - Walt Whitman writes Leaves of Grass.
1855 - Philadelphia dentist invents gold foil tooth filling technique.
1855 - Safety match invented in Sweden.
1855 - Dry-cleaning invented in France after camphene was spilled on dress, magically cleaning it.
1856 - Treaty of Paris; war ends.
1856 - Big Ben bell clock installed at British Houses of Parliament.
1857 - U.S. Supreme Court rules that slave is not a citizen (Dred Scott decision).
1857 - Transatlantic cable starting to be laid. Would complete project in1861.
1857 - Financial crises in Europe. Economic crash in Germany.
1857 - Economic turmoil in U.S.
1857 - James Buchannan becomes president.
1857 - Dred Scott decision says blacks could not be US citizens.
1857 - Toilet paper marketed in US. Individual sheets don’t sell well. Americans prefer old newspapers and catalog pages.
1857 - Christian Heinrich Brenner (emigrant 5) born in Trochtelfingen, Germany December 27, 1857.
1858 - Lincoln/Douglas debates over slavery.
1858 - Cyrus W. Field completes first trans-Atlantic cable.
1858 - Wooden drum washing machine patented in Pennsylvania. Uses handcrank for rotating wooden wringer.
1858 - First can opener patented. Has curved blade. Dangerous to use so doesn’t become popular.
1858 - Transatlantic cable completed. US President Buchanan and England’s Queen Victoria exchange greetings by cable. Cable fails after only 3 months.
1858 - American stationer Hyman Lipman invents pencil with eraser.
1858 - American tinsmith, John Mason invents jar with zinc screw lid that makes jar airtight. Called the “Mason Jar.”
1859 - Darwin publishes Origin of Species.
1859 - Frenchman invents first storage battery. Became important in use of automobile.
1859 - Frenchman invents steam roller. Used in making roads.
1859 - War of France and Sardinia against Austria. Napoleon III withdraws.
1859 - First oil well drilled by Edwin Drake in Pennsylvania. Struck oil at 70 feet.
1860 - Gold rush at Pike’s Peak in Colorado.
1860 - South Carolina secedes from Union.
1860 - Linoleum floor covering made in England from cork dust, linseed oil, and resin.
1860 - American McKay produces shoe sewing machines in Massachusetts. Chainstitches upper, lower, and inner parts of shoe.
1860 - Rifling invented to increase accuracy of rifle barrels.
1860 - Prussian son of a Junker (nobel land owner) Otto von Bismarck begins to exert influence.
1847 - Maria Christine Brenner (emigrant 6) born in Trochtelfingen, Germany April 17, 1847.
1861 - Confederate States of America formed.
1861 - U.S. Civil War begins.
1861 - Abraham Lincoln becomes president.
1861 - Apache Indians declare war on US.
1861 - North and South issue paper money to fund Civil War. This is first time the federal government printed money. Used green ink on one side (origin of term “Green Back”).
1861 - Congress adopts income tax.
1861 - First postcards appear in Pennsylvania.
1862 – US Homestead Act.
1862 - Plastic made from cellulose nitrate by British chemist Alexander Parkes.
1863 – Emancipation Proclamation frees southern slaves.
1863 – Battle of Gettysburg with heavy losses on both sides.
1863 - Secretary of Treasury orders “In God We Trust” on all coins stamped in U.S.
1863 - Union Pacific and Central Pacific begin building trans-America railroad.
1863 - Samuel Clements first uses pen name, Mark Twain.
1863 – 4th Cholera pandemic in Europe.
1863 - Frenchman Louis Pasteur invents pasteurization heat treatment for milk.
1864 – Louisiana organized as a territory.
1864 – Bismarck initiates war over question of Schleswig-Holstein ownership.
1864 - Geneva Convention establishes rules for caring for sick and wounded enemy troops.
1864 - First flash photograph produced in England.
1865 - Louis Carroll writes Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
1865 Apr 9 - Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox. Civil War ends. Over 620,000 soldiers die (two percent of U.S. population—like losing 5 million people today).
1865 - Joseph Lister invents disinfection and begins using antiseptics during surgery.
1865 - First pay toilets in London, England. Cost a penny a time.
1865 - Reinforced concrete produced in England.
1865 - Lincoln fatally shot at Ford Theater by John Wilkes Booth. Andrew Johnson becomes president.
1866 - Andrew Johnson becomes president of US.
1866 - Food cans with key opener introduced by J. Ousterhoudt of New York.
1866 - Alfred Nobel invents dynamite.
1866 - Bismarck starts Austria-Prussian War. Austria defeated by Prussia and Italy in Seven Weeks War.
1867 - Dual monarchy established in Austria-Hungry.
1867 - Dominion of Canada established.
1867 - Dynamite invented.
1867 - Diamond fields discovered in South Africa.
1867 - Karl Marx writes Das Capital
1867 - Strauss writes music for Blue Danube.
1868 - Spain and Cuba at war.
1868 - American printer, Christopher Sholes invents typewriter. His invention is later sold by Remington.
1869 - U.S. transcontinental railroad completed and connects East and West coasts of US.
1869 - Suez Canal opens.
1869 - James Fisk and Jay Gould attempt to control gold market; cause Black Friday panic.
1869 - Ulysses S. Grant becomes president.
1869 - First football game played in US (at Princeton, NJ).
1869 - Margarine invented in France.
1869 - Suez Canal completed allowing ships to sail from Mediterranean to the Far East.
1870 - Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). Napoleon III gives up at Sedan. Revolt in Paris.
1870 - Michael Brenner (19) and Johann Fredrich Brenner (24) emigrate from Trochtelfingen to USA on Ship Westphalia. Arrive July 20, 1870.
1870 - Balls of chewing gum made from chicle (the dried sap of the sapodilla tree) are sold for a penny each at drugstore in New Jersey.
1870 - American factories producing thousands of cans each day. Small tool used to open can.
1870 - Automobile designer, Siegfried Marcus banned from driving his gas-powered car through Vienna, Austria because of noise that it produced.
1871 - Population of Germany 41 million.
1871 - France surrenders Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. Large indemnity payments extracted from France.
1871 - Second German Empire forms under Prussian king, Kaiser Wilhelm I (January 1871).
1871 - 41 million people in Germany.
1871 - Maria Margarete Brenner (16) and Fredrich Brenner (25) emigrate from Trochtelfingen to Marine City.
1871 - U.S. settlers fight Apache Indians in American Southwest.
1871 - Chicago Fire kills 250; $196 million in damages.
1871 - Stanley meets Dr. Livingston in Africa.
1872 - Jules Verne writes Around the World in 80 Days.
1872 - Maria Barbara Weng dies in Trochtelfingen March 30, 1872.
1872 - Milton Hershey becomes 15-year-old apprentice in candy store in Pennsylvania.
1873 - Rapid payment of reparations by France floods Germany with paper money. Bubble bursts causing economic crises in Europe and America. Banks fail. Depression sets in with worsening economic conditions for many Germans.
1873 - May Laws passed against Catholics in Germany.
1873 - Belgian Zenobe Gramme builds electric dynamo to convert mechanical water or steam energy into electricity.
1873 - U.S. goes on gold standard.
1874 - Christian Heinrich Brenner (16) emigrates from Trochtelfingen to America on SS Hammonia. Port of entry was Castle Garden, New York.
1875 - Johann Friedrich Brenner (emigrant 2) moves to Sebewaing, MIchigan.
1875 - First Kentucky Derby.
1876 - General George Custer and 260 cavalry troop killed by Sioux at Little Big Horn River.
1876 - Alexander Graham Bell files patent for the telephone.
1876 - Swiss inventor, Daniel Peter adds milk to chocolate producing the famous Swiss milk chocolate that we know and enjoy today.
1876 - American Henry Heinz begins selling bottled tomato ketchup.
1877 - Thomas Edison files patent for phonograph that plays sounds..
1877 - Wax cylinder musical recordings become available.
1877 - Ruthorford B. Hayes becomes president.
1878 - Johnn Frederick Brenner, father of immigrating children dies in Trochtelfingen, Germany July 5, 1878 (age 71).
1878 - First commercial telephone exchange opens in New Haven, CT
1879 - Zulu war in Africa.
1879 - Thomas Edison invents electric light bulb.
1879 - First domestic steam-powered refrigerator for domestic use introduced in Germany.
1879 - Perforated toilet paper appears in Britain.
1879 - Milk bottles used by dairy in New York City.
1880 - Edison invents electric light bulb. It works continuously for two days, then fails, but patent is granted.
1880 - British shoemaker invents chain-driven bicycle.
1880 - Listerine sold in US.
1881 - James A. Garfield becomes president.
1881 - President Garfield assassinated. Shot but dies from poor medical care.
1881 - Chester Arthur becomes president.
1881 - Bismarck announces social insurance, sickness insurance, and accident insurance for German land owners (peasants mostly ignored).
1881 - 5th Cholera pandemic in Europe.
1881 - Food producer W.K. Kellogg introduces Granola cereal.
1881 - Electric flashlight introduced in Britain. Portable lamp is powered by wet-cell battery.
1881 - Christian Heinrich Brenner and Pauline (Henrietta?) Holtz of Port Huron, Michigan marry Jan 24, 1881. She came to America from Germany when five years old.
1882 - German, Austria and Italy form Triple Alliance for mutual protection.
1882 - Maria Christine Brenner (21) emigrates from Germany to America on SS Rhein. Arrives May 18, 1882.
1882 - Robert Koch of Berlin discovers tuberculosis germ.
1883 - German engineer Gottlieb Daimler invents four-cylinder internal combustion engine that run on gas.
1883 - First public electric trains operate in England and Northern Ireland.
1883 - Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi becomes first book written on typewriter.
1883 - Garbage pail invented by Paris Prefect of Police.
1883 - Vocanic island Krakatoa explodes causing tidal wave that kills 36,000.
1884 - Anna Maria (Foerschnor) Brenner, mother of Johann Friedrich dies July 6, 1884.
1884 - First subway in use.
1884 - First motorcycle.
1884 - First self-filling fountain pen invented by American Lewis Waterman.
1885 - First automobile, a two-seat tricycle powered by gasoline engine, is sold by Karl Benz in Mannheim, Germany.
1885 - Grover Cleveland becomes president.
1885 - Soda crackers appear in Ireland.
1885 - Sunglasses for sale in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1885 - Self-service cafeteria opens in New York City.
1885 - Statue of Liberty arrives in New York City and is dedicated in 1886 to commemorate 100 years of American independence. Designed in 1884 by Frenchman Alexandre Gustave Eiffel. Also designed Eiffel Tower in Paris.
1886 - X-rays invented by Tesla (not Rontgen)
1886 - Apache Indian Chief Geronimo surrenders.
1886 - Coca-Cola goes on sale in US.
1887 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writes A Study in Scarlet (first Sherlock Holmes mystery).
1887 - Glass contact lenses invented in Switzerland.
1888 - George Eastman invents Kodak box camera.
1888 - Waxed paper straw introduced in America.
1888 - Revolving door invented in Pennsylvania.
1888 - J.B. Dunlop invents pneumatic tire.
1888 - Great Blizzard of 1888 kills 400 people.
1888 - 70 rpm … 77 rpm musical records produced.
1889 - Benjamin Harrison becomes president.
1889 - Bismarck announces Old Age and Disability Insurance.
1889 - Electric drill invented in Australia.
1889 - First juke box installed in San Francisco Palais Royal hotel.
1889 - Thousands die in Johnstown, PA flood.
1889 - Mark Twain writes A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.
1890 - Chief Sitting Bull killed in Sioux uprising.
1890 - Air hammer invented by Charles Brady King of Michigan.
1890 - Chancellor of Germany, Bismarck exposes aggressive, expansionist, and imperialist foreign policy. Army refuses to support him, so Bismarck resigns, but his actions will lead to WW1.
1891 - American engineer, Whitcombe Judson invents zipper.
1891 - Basketball invented by Canadian minister and physical education teacher.
1891 - American Express invents Traveler’s Check.
1892 - Diesel engine patented by Rudolf Diesel in Germany. Calls invention the “universal economical engine.”
1893 – Financial panic puts US into economic depression.
1893 - Lawyer in Colorado invents Shredded Wheat breakfast cereal.
1893 – Grover Cleveland becomes president.
1894 - Carl Henry Brenner born to Christian Heinrich (Henry) and Pauline/Henrietta (Holtz) Brenner in St. Clair, Michigan January 16, 1894.
1894 - Thomas Edison demonstrates his kinetoscope in New York City.
1894 – Plague in Hong Kong and China; 1 million die.
1895 - German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen discovers X-rays.
1895 - Pangard Levassor puts engine in front and builds first sedan automobile.
1895 - Volleyball invented at YMCA in Massachusetts.
1896 - Christian Heinrich (Henry) Brenner and Ira Jerome become partners in retail shoe store in St. Clair, Michigan.
1896 - Marconi files patent in Britain for wireless.
1896 - First “modern” Olympic games held in Athens, Greece.
1896 - Dial telephones used in Milwaukeee City Hall.
1896 - Italian-born Italo Marcioni introduces ice cream cone in America.
1897 – William McKinley becomes president.
1898 - Spanish American War begins. Lasts one year.
1898 - Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium.
1898 - Cornflakes introduced by Kellogg in Battle Creek, Michigan.
1898 - Tape recorder invented by 20-year-old Valdemar Poulsen in Denmark.
1898 - Neon and krypton discovered in London England. Neon will be used in decorative lighting displays.
1899 -1902 - Boer War in South Africa (5,774 British and 4,000 Boers die)
1899 - 6th Cholera pandemic in Europe.
1899 - Aspirin introduced by Bayer Company in Germany.
1900 Dec 14 - Helen Irene Weng born in Marine City, Michigan to shoe merchant John Weng and Marie (Sauber) Weng.
1900 - Hurricane kills 6,000 in Galveston, TX.
1900 - Gold Standard Act passed backing dollar bills with gold.
1900 - Brownie camera introduced in America.
1900 Dec 15 - Frances Lester born
1901 - President McKinley begins second term; assassinated by anarchist Leon Czolgosz.
1901 - Theodore Roosevelt becomes president.
1901 - King Edward VII (Saxe-Coburg) reigns in England.
1901 - Significant oil discovered in Texas.
1901 - Max Planck formulates Laws of Radiation.
1901 - Englishman, Hubert Booth invents gas-driven vacuum cleaner.
1901 - First British submarine launched.
1901 - Commonwealth of Australia founded.
1902 - Enrico Caruso makes first gramophone recording.
1902 - Air conditioning invented by Willis Carrier in America. Works by circulating air through cold water (like swamp cooler).
1902 - German toymaker Margarete Steiff makes first Teddy bear with movable arms and legs.
1903 - Wright Brothers make first powered, heavier-than-air plane flight at Kitty Hawk, NC.
1903 - Henry Ford begins Ford Motor Company in Michigan.
1903 - Economic recession in Germany.
1904 - New York subway opens.
1904 - Russian-Japanese war
1904 - Radar invented.
1904 - Double-sided phonograph disks sold in Germany.
1905 - Einstein writes Special Theory of Relativity.
1905 -Theodore Roosevelt becomes president.
1905 - Car bumpers introduced by Frederick R. Simms.
1906 - Pauline (Holtz) Brenner dies June 27, 1906.
1906 - San Francisco earthquake and fire kills 500.
1906 - Preselecting juke box record player introduced in America.
1906 - First cartoon film features animated rolling of eyes and cigar-smoking.
1907 - Financial panic in U.S.
1907 - First untethered helicopter flight in France.
1907 - Hand-operated windshield wipers introduced in France.
1907 - Belgian-born Leo Baekeland invents Bakelite.
1908 - Earthquake in Italy and Sicily kills 150,000 people.
1908 - Henry Ford introduces first mass-produced car, the Model T. It caused Americans to fall in love with transportation.
1908 - American William Hoover invents electric vacuum cleaner.
1908 - Cellophane invented by Swiss chemist.
1908 - Disposable paper cup introduced in America.
1908 - First filter coffee pot invented in Germany.
1909 - Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reach North Pole.
1910 - Fredrich Brenner (emigrant 1) dies at age 63 on January 1, 1910. Buried in Hillside Cemetery, St. Clair, Michigan.
1910 - Johann Friedrich Brenner (emigrant 2) dies at age 60 on December 26, 1910. Buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Marine City, Michigan.
1910 - Boy Scouts of America formed. Original Boy Scouts organization formed by Sir Baden Powell in England.
1910 - Bathroom scales invented in Germany.
1910 - Englishman invents spring-operated mousetrap.
1911 - 25-story J L Hudson opens in Detroit.
1911 - Aircraft first used as offensive weapons in Turkish-Italian War. Italy won.
1911 - Irving Berlin writes Alexander’s Ragtime Band.
1912 - Titanic sinks on maiden voyage from England to U.S. - over 1,500 people die.
1913 - Sixteenth Amendment establishes federal income taxes.
1913 - Seventeenth Amendment establishes U.S. Federal Reserve System.
1913 - First crossword puzzle.
1913 - Stainless steel invented in England.
1914 - World War I begins in Europe.
1914 - Population in Germany now 67.7 million (was 41 million in 1871).
1914 - Panama Canal opens.
1914 - Aluminum foil milk bottle top produced in Sweden.
1914 - Red and green traffic lights introduced in Cleveland, Ohio.
1914 - 35mm camera invented in Germany.
1914 - Woolworth building in New York city becomes first skyscraper at 761 feet.
1915 - U.S. protests German submarine actions against American ships.
1915 - D.W. Griffith releases film Birth of a Nation.
1915 - Einstein writes General Theory of Relativity.
1916 - Carl Henry Brenner marries Frances Lester December 26, 1916. He was 22.
1916 - President Wilson re-elected with slogan “He kept us out of war.”
1916 - Piggly Wiggly becomes first self-service store in Memphis Tennessee. Had no counter service.
1917 Apr 6 - U.S. enters World War I. Declares war against Germany. U.S. combat troops land in France.
1917 - Edythe Elizabeth Brenner born in Port Huron, Michigan October 6, 1917. She would become a dance and physical education teacher.
1917 - Roller towel produced by American Linen Supply Company in Salt Lake City, Utah.
1917 - American Jacob Schick invents electric razor.
1918 Nov 11 - WWI ends. Germany surrenders. Hitler served as Corporal guarding Russian POWs. Kaiser Wilhelm escapes to Dutch lines. Over 22 million die on both sides.
1918 - Charles Elmer Brenner born in Port Huron, Michigan December 21, 1918.
1918 - Electric clock introduced in America.
1918 - First commercially successful electric domestic refrigerator produce by Kelvinator.
1918 - Charles Strite patents pop-up electric toaster in America.
1919 - Florence Elizabeth Brox born in Kitchener Ontario, Canada March 9, 1919.
1919 - Flu epidemic (influenza) sweeps planet. Between 1918 and 1920, over 20 million people die worldwide. Over 500,000 die in U.S. alone.
1919 - Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations ends most hostilities.
1919 - Alcock and Brown make first trans-Atlantic non-stop airplane flight.
1919 - Congress adopts Eighteenth Amendments (Prohibition). “Speak-Easy’s” open across backrooms of America.
1921 - WWI officially ends.
1920 - First Agatha Christie mystery novel published.
1920 - Sinclair Lewis writes Main Street.
1920 – Eskimo Pie becomes first chocolate-ice bar marketed in America.
1922 - Mussolini marches on Rome; forms Fascist government.
1922 - Automatic doors appear at Piccadilly subway in London, England.
1923 - Michael Brenner (emigrant 3) dies at age 72 on March 28, 1923. Buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Marine City, Michigan.
1923 - George Gershwin writes Rhapsody in Blue.
1923 - Television camera invented in US by Russian-born Vladimir Zworykin.
1923 – American Clarence Birdseye mass-produces frozen foods.
1924 – Maria Christine Brenner (emigrant 6) dies at age 63. Buried in Hillside Cemetery, St. Clair, Michigan.
1924 - Adolph Hitler writes Mein Kampf while in prison for instigating a riot.
1924 - Walt Disney introduces Alice in Cartoonland, the first cartoon film.
1924 - First highway opens in Italy. It ran for 13 miles from Milan to Varese.
1924 - Electric washing machine with spin dryer produced in New York.
1925 - Scopes “Monkey Trial” in Tennessee approves teaching of evolution in public schools.
1925 - Scottish inventor, John Logie Baird transmits human features by television.
1925 - First motel opens in San Luis Obispo, California.
1926 - Waterproof watch introduces in Switzerland.
1927 - German economy collapses. General strike occurs following acquittal of Nazis for political murder.
1927 - Charles Lindbergh makes first successful solo flight from New York to Paris.
1927 - Al Jolson in first talking motion picture film, The Jazz Singer.
1927 - First television pictures transmitted.
1928 - Kellog-Briand Pact signed in Paris by 65 nations outlawing war.
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin.
1928 - Richard Byrd starts out on two-year expedition to Antarctic.
1929 - U.S. stock market collapses. Over $26 billion in losses.
1929 - THE GREAT DEPRESSION begins in America. Lasts until 1933. Whole world in economic crisis.
1929 - St. Valentine Day massacre in Chicago. Many gangsters die in hail of bullets.
1929 - Scotch adhesive tape introduced in America.
1930 - First supermarket appears on Long Island, New York.
1932 - Mars Bar introduced in England.
1934 - Chancellor Dollfuss of Austria assassinated by Nazis.
1934 - Adolph Hitler declares himself Fuhrer.
1934 - First drive-in theater appears in New Jersey.
1934 - First Laundromat appears in Fort Worth Texas.
1935 - Roosevelt signs Social Security into law.
1935 - Nazis repudiate Treaty of Versailles.
1935 - Nazis start compulsory military service.
1935 - Christine Heinrich (Henry) Brenner (emigrant 5) dies at age 78 on June 25, 1935. Buried in Hillside Cemetery, St. Clair, Michigan.
1936 - War between China and Japan.
1936 – Rotating can opener invented.
1936 - Japan and Germany sign anti-Comintern pact.
1937 - Italy joins same pact.
1937 - U.S. gunboat Panay sunk by Japanese in Yangtze River. Japan invades China.
1937 - Amelia Earhart lost somewhere over South Pacific during round-the-world flight.
1938 - Hitler invades Austria.
1938 - Ballpoint pen invented.
1938 - Action Comics Superman comic book published.
1939 - Hitler takes Bohemia and Moravia. Renounces peace pact with Austria and Germany.
1939 - New York World’s Fair.
1939 - MGM releases The Wizard of Oz. Becomes classic fantasy musical.
1940 - Charles Brenner marries Florence Brox in Port Huron on February 17, 1940.
1940 - Selective Service Act signed enabling military draft.
1940 - Donald Jerry Brenner born in Wayne, Michigan on October 2, 1940. Becomes successful Lutheran pastor.
1941 - Robert Charles Brenner born in Wayne, Michigan on October 22, 1941. Serves in U.S. Navy (23 years), then becomes author and publisher.
1941 - Carol Ann Berry born in Detroit on November 7, 1941. Will marry Robert Charles Brenner. Becomes successful bank manager.
1941 Dec 7 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, HI in surprise attack. U.S. enters WWII.
1941, Dec 13 – Edythe E. Brenner and Clyde J. (Pop) Johnson obtain marriage license. Both are 24 years old. They actually marry at Greenfield Village, Michigan on Dec 23, 1942.
1942 - Carl Henry Brenner marries Helen Weng of Marine City on November 7, 1942.
1942 - Edythe Brenner marries Clyde James Johnson of Port Huron on December 23, 1942.
1942 - Battle of Midway puts Japan on defense in South Pacific.
1942 - Women’s military service approved.
1942 - Enrico Fermi achieves nuclear chain reaction.
1942 Aug 7 - Guadacanal occupied by U.S. Marines. Takes till February 1943 to clear island of Japanese troops.
1943 - President Roosevelt freezes prices, salaries and wages in U.S.
1943 - U.S. government introduces income tax withholding.
1943 Feb 19 - Iwo Jima invaded by U.S. U.S. land 30,000 Marines on island. Lose 2,400 men the first day. American flag raised by 5 enlisted Marines and a Navy corpsman on top Mount Sirabachi. Flag could be seen by ships far out at sea. Over 30 days of bloody fighting remain before island is secure in American hands. Over 16,000 Marine casualties in first two weeks of fighting. By March 2nd, few original leaders survive and are still in command. But taking Iwo Jima saves over 2,000 bombers from destruction by Japan early warning network on Iwo Jima. In all, 22,000 Japanese die, 24,000 Americans wounded, and over 6,000 die. Taking island cost about 700 American lives per square mile. Twenty-seven people awarded Medals of Honor.
1944 - G.I. Bill of Rights
1944 - International Monetary Fund and World Bank established at Dumbarton Oaks Conference.
1944 September 13 - Pelilu Island in Marianas (South Pacific) invaded by U.S. First Marine Division. Get shot to pieces at Bloody Nose Ridge. U.S. suffers 10,463 casualties with 1,500 dead. Over 14,000 Japanese die defending island.
1945 March 24 - Battle for Okinawa begins. Over 500,000 Americans involved. Invasion landings begin April 1, 1945 with almost 240,000 Marines. Costliest operation in Pacific War. With 82 days of combat, 3,000 men die each day. Over 115,000 Japanese killed. Between April 9th and May 15th, only 150 yards gained each day as stubborn Japanese resist American assault. Ten Marines and three Navy Corpsmen awarded Medal of Honor.
1945 Feb - Yalta Conference. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin plan final defeat of Germany.
1945 Apr 12 - President Roosevelt dies. Truman becomes president.
1945 May - Berlin falls. U.S. and Russians take city.
1945 May 7 - V- E Day. War in Europe ends. Germany surrenders
1945 Jun 18 - U.S. Marine General dies on Okinawa. War correspondent Earnie Pyle also killed on Okinawa by Japanese Sniper when ambushed while riding in jeep with U.S. Marines.
1945 Aug 6 - Enola Gay drops atom bomb on Hiroshima, 78,000 die, 100,000 wounded.
1945 Aug 9 - atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki, 40,000 die immediately
1945 Aug 14 - Japan surrenders. WORLD WAR II OVER.
1945 - Chuck Brenner at Nagasaki in August 1945, several days after atomic bombing
1945 Sep 2 - Japan formally surrenders to General MacArthur on USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay
1945 - Chuck Brenner discharged from Navy. Receives Purple Heart and two Ruptured Ducks for wounds received during war. Also receives South Pacific Asian Campaign Medal.
1946 Jan 10 - First meeting of U.N. General Assembly in London.
1946 Apr - League of Nations dissolved.
1946 Jun - Italy abolishes monarchy.
1946 Oct 1 - Nuremberg War Crimes Trial ends. Twelve Nazis leaders (including Goering) sentenced to hang, 7 others imprisoned, 3 others acquitted.
1946 Oct 15 - Goering commits suicide several hours before execution.
1946 - Judy Ann Miller born November 6, 1946. Will marry Donald Jerry Brenner.
1946 -
1947 - Karen Sue Schnepp born in St. Clair, January 21, 1947. Will marry Jack Lee Brenner.
1947 Jun - Marshall Plan for reconstruction of Europe.
1947 - Jack Lee Brenner born in Wayne, Michigan June 5, 1947.
1948 Jan 30 - Gandhi assassinated in New Delhi by Hindu fanatic.
1948 Feb 23 - Communists seize power in Czechoslovakia.
1948 May 14 - Nation of Israel proclaimed. Arab armies attack Israel.
1948 Jun 21 - Berlin airlift begins. Will go on for 11 months.
1948 Nov 12 - Japanese war trial verdict. Tojo and six others sentenced to hang. Hung on December 23, 1948. Eighteen sentenced to prison.
1948 - black & white television commercially available in US.
1949 Jan 7 - Cease-fire in Palestine.
1949 Apr 14 - North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) signed by 12 nations.
1949 - Tom David Brenner born in Detroit, Michigan August 18, 1949
1949 Sep 21 - German Federal Republic (West Germany) established.
1949 Oct 1 - Communist People’s Republic of China proclaimed by Chairman Mao Zedong.
1950 – Half of US homes have television.
1950 Jan 31 - Truman orders development of hydrogen bomb.
1950 Jun 25 - Korean War begins when North Korean Communist forces invade South Korea.
1950 Aug 7 - U.S. Marines take offensive. Take 12 days to secure Soeul Korea. Suffer 2,500 casualties, 421 die. This “Police Action” drags on into October.
1950 Oct 26 - Chinese Communists enter war; drive U.N. forces back to 39th parallel.
1951 – “I Love Lucy” premieres on television.
1951 Apr 11 - General MacArthur threatens Chinese with massive retaliation. Washington replaces MacArthur with General Ridgeway.
1951 Apr 11 - Ridgeway begins Armistice negotiations. Takes over two years with numerous interruptions. Will have over 200 violations recorded by 1959.
1951 Sep 8 - Japanese peace treaty signed in San Francisco. Japan to get millions to rebuild its country.
1951 - Color television introduced in U.S.
1952 - Joe Hohman born September 13, 1952. Will marry Susan Gayle Brenner.
1952 Nov - Hydrogen bomb tested at Enewetak.
1952 - Susan Gayle Brenner born in St. Clair, Michigan November 17, 1952.
1953 – 15 million Americans watching TV
1953 Jan 20 - General Dwight David Eisenhower becomes president.
1953 Jun 17 - East Berliners revolt against Communist rule. Revolt squashed by Soviet tanks.
1953 Jul 27 - Korean Armistice signed.
1953 Aug 20 - Russia announces test explosion of hydrogen bomb.
1954 Jan 21 - USS Nautilus, first atomic submarine launched.
1954 Mar 1 - Five U.S. Congressmen shot on floor of House as Puerto Rican nationalists fire from spectators’ gallery. All five recover.
1954 May 7 - French military outpost in Vietnam, Dien Bien Phu, falls to Vietminh army.
1954 Oct 23 - West Germany granted sovereignty and admitted to NATO and Western European Union.
1954 Nov - Dr. Jonas Salk begins inoculating children against polio.
1955 May 5 - Federal Republic of West Germany becomes sovereign state.
1956 Feb 24 - Nikita Kruschev becomes First Secretary of USSR Communist Party.
1957 Sep 24 - President Eisenhower sends troops to control mob and protect school integration in Little Rock, AR.
1957 Oct 4 - Space Age begins when Russia launches Sputnik I, the first earth-orbiting satellite. Impact on America enormous since both had the atomic bomb. This satellite launch eliminated legal challenges to overflying another country’s territory. Also initiated the Space Race.
1958 Jan 1 - European Economic Community (Common Market) officially established.
1958 - Richard James Brenner born in St. Clair, Michigan January 11, 1958
1958 Jan 31 - U.S launches Explorer I satellite into orbit.
1958 Feb 1 - Egypt and Syria become United Arab Republic.
1958 Mar 27 - Kruschev becomes Premier of Soviet Union.
1958 Jul 15 - U.S. Marines ordered into Lebanon at request of Lebanese president who fears overthrow.
1959 Jan 1 - Revolt in Cuba. President Batista resigns and flees; Castro takes over.
1959 Apr 25 - St. Lawrence Seaway opens allowing ocean ships to reach Midwest.
1960 - Tracy Braebander born in _________________ on April 15, 1960. Father was Captain on Great Lakes freighter.
1960 - Barbara Ann Brenner born in St. Clair, Michigan April 16, 1960
1960 May 1 - U2 spy plane with Francis Gary Powers shot down over Russia.
1960 May 23 - Adolf Eichmann, top Nazis murderer of WWII Jews captured by Israelis in Argentina
1960 Aug 7 - Castro confiscates $770 million of U.S. property in Cuba.
1961 Jan 3 - U.S. breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba.
1961 Jan 20 - John F Kennedy becomes President of U.S.
1961 Apr 12 - Russia puts first cosmonaut, Major Yuri Gagarin, in space.
1961 Apr 17 - Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba crushed when U.S. fails to support 1,200 anti-Castro exiles in overthrowing Castro.
1961 May 5 - Navy Commander, Alan Shepard, becomes first U.S. astronaut. Virgil Grissom becomes second astronaut on July 21st.
1961 Aug 13 - Berlin Wall erected by Russians to stem flood of refugees trying to get out of East Germany. Cold War Begins.
1961 Oct 29 - Russia explodes 50 megaton hydrogen bomb; is biggest explosion in history.
1961 - Robert Brenner marries Carol Ann Berry in East Detroit, Michigan Dec 29, 1961
1962 - Powers released from Russian prison in exchange for Soviet spy.
1962 Feb 20 - John Glenn becomes first American to orbit the earth.
1962 - John Jowett born April 29, 1962. Will marry Barbara Ann Brenner.
1962 May 31 - Adolf Eichmann hanged in Israel for his part in extermination of six million Jews.
1962 - Kent Russell Essman born July 7, 1962. Will marry Dawn Marie, daughter of Robert & Carol Brenner.
1962 - Daniel Robert born to Robert & Carol Brenner in Detroit, Michigan July 27, 1962
1962 Aug - Cuban Missile Crisis begins as Russia tries to build missile base in Cuba. U.S. blockades Cuba.
1962 Nov - Russia and Cuba back down in face of a determined U.S. government willing to go to war to keep missiles out of Cuba.
1963 Jan 22 - France and West Germany sign treaty of cooperation ending 400 years of conflict.
1963 Jun 17 - U.S. Supreme Court outlaws required reading of Bible or recitation of Lords Prayer in public schools.
1963 Aug 30 - Washington-to-Moscow “hot line” established to reduce risk of “accidental” war.
1963 Nov 22 - President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, TX.
1963 Nov 24 - Lee Harvey Oswald, accused assassin of Kennedy, shot to death by Jack Ruby.
1963 - Laura Ann born to Robert & Carol Brenner at U.S. Naval hospital, Great Lakes, Illinois on November 29, 1963
1964 - Veronica Lee Beedon born June 4, 1964 in Port Huron, Michigan.
1964 Mar 14 - Jack Ruby convicted of murder of Oswald. Ruby later mysteriously dies of heart failure.
1965 - Coinage Act eliminates silver from dimes and quarters. Had been 90% silver. Converted to nickel-copper-nickel sandwich in coins.
1965 Jul 1 - Medicare medical assistance program for U.S. seniors begins.
1965 - Edythe Sue born to Robert & Carol Brenner at USAF hospital, Langley, Virginia on August 5, 1965
1965 Nov 9 - Power failure in Ontario, Canada blacks out parts of eight northeastern U.S. states and two Canadian provinces.
1966 - Donald Brenner marries Judith Ann Miller in Silver Springs, Maryland on February 4, 1966.
1966 Mar 15 - Watts Riot in Los Angeles started by black teenagers.
1966 Apr 21 - First artificial heart transplant in Houston, TX. Recipient lives for several months.
1966 Oct 5 - Ruby conviction reversed.
1967 Jan 3 - Ruby mysteriously dies before second trial can be held.
1967 Jan 27 - Three astronauts (Grissom, White and Chaffee) killed in spacecraft fire during simulated launch.
1967 - Tom Brenner marries Barbara Gayle Ewart in St. Clair on March 17, 1967.
1967 Jun 5 - Six Day War between Israeli and Arab forces.
1967 Jun 17 - Red China explodes first hydrogen bomb.
1967 - Dawn Marie born to Robert & Carol Brenner at USA hospital, Sandia Army Base, New Mexico on July 15, 1967.
1967 Jul 23 - Detroit Race Riot results in 7,000 National Guardsmen ordered into city to aid police after night of violence.
1967 - Jack Brenner marries Karen Sue Schnepp in St. Clair on October 7, 1967.
1967 Dec 3 - First human heart transplant. Patient dies 18 days later.
1968 - Scott born to Tom and Barb Brenner on Jan 5, 1968.
1968 Jan 23 - North Korea seizes USS Pueblo.
1968 - Shawn born to Jack and Karen Brenner on Feb 4, 1968.
1968 Apr 4 - Martin Luther King assassinated in Memphis, TN
1968 Jun 5 - Sen. Robert Kennedy shot in Los Angeles hotel. Dies next day. Sirhan B. Sirhan convicted.
1968 Jun 8 - James Earl Ray, charged with killing King; is captured in London.
1968 Aug 20 - Czechoslovakia invaded by Russians and Warsaw pact forces.
1969 Jan 20 - Richard Nixon becomes 37th president.
1969 Jul 20 - Man Walks on the Moon. Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins walk on moon.
1969 - Frances Lester dies in St. Louis, Missouri on November 1, 1969
1969 - Frances Lester buried in St. Clair, Michigan on November 5, 1969
1970 May 4 - Kent State. Four student demonstrators shot by National Guardsmen.
1971 Apr 20 - Supreme Court orders school busing to achieve racial desegregation.
1971 - David Brenner born to Don and Judy Brenner on Jul 27, 1971. Now is police officer in Phoenix, Arizona.
1971 Oct 25 - Twenty-sixth Amendment of Constitution lowers voting age to 18.
1972 - Dana born to Tom and Barb Brenner on January 7, 1972. Is now a public school teacher in Michigan.
1972 - Sue Brenner marries Joseph Raymond Hohman in Detroit February 5, 1972.
1972 May 15 - Gov. George Wallace of Alabama shot at Laurel, MD political rally.
1972 Jun 17 - Watergate Scandal. Five men apprehended for attempting to bug Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, DC.
1972 Sep 5 - Eleven Israeli athletes killed at Munich Olympic Games by eight members of Arab terrorist group.
1973 - Joey born to Sue and Joe Hohman on January 15, 1973.
1973 Apr 30 - Nixon accepts responsibility, but not blame for Watergate.
1973 Aug 15 - Bombing of Cambodia by U.S. forces ends.
1973 Oct 6 - Arab-Israeli War begins as Egyptian and Syrian forces attack Israel during Yom Kippur holy day celebrations.
1973 Oct 10 - Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns and pleads no contest to tax evasion charges. Gets $10,000 fine and three years’ probation. Gerald Ford becomes Vice President.
1973 Oct 20 - Saturday Night Massacre. Nixon fires special Watergate prosecutor and Deputy Attorney General. Attorney General resigns.
1973 - Matt born to Jack and Karen Brenner December 23, 1973. Now serves in U.S. Navy.
1974 Jul 30 - House Judiciary Committee adopts three articles of impeachment against Nixon.
1974 - Mark born to Don and Judy Brenner July 30, 1974. Now entering San Diego Police Academy.
1974 Aug 9 - Nixon resigns as president. Gerald Ford becomes president.
1974 Sep 8 - President Ford grants “full, free, and absolute” pardon to Nixon.
1975 Sep 5 - Ford escapes assassination attempt in Sacramento, CA.
1975 Sep 22 - Ford escapes second assassination attempt.
1975 - Mike born to Sue and Joe Hohman November 2, 1975. Now works with dad in family gutter installation business.
1976 - Gregg born to Jack and Karen Brenner on March 2, 1976.
1976 Jul 4 - U.S. celebrates bi-centennial.
1976 Jul 4 - Rescue at Entebbe. Israeli airborne commandos attack Uganda’s Entebbe Airport freeing 103 hostages held by pro-Palestinian hijackers of Air France plane.
1976 Nov 2 - Legionnaire’s Disease. Mysterious disease kills 29 who attend American Legion convention in Philadelphia.
1977 Jan 18 - Scientists identify previously unknown bacterium as cause of “legionnaire’s disease.” No known cure.
1977 Jan 20 - Jimmy Carter becomes President of U.S.
1977 Jan 21 - Carter pardons Vietnam draft evaders.
1977 - Billy born to Sue and Joe Hohman Jun 10, 1977. Now works with dad in family gutter installation business.
1978 - Carl Brenner dies at home on farm near St. Clair February 8, 1978 (age 84).
1978 - Tony born to Sue and Joe Hohman July 25, 1978. Now works with dad in family gutter installation business.
1978 – first personal computer (Altair) sold in Albuquerque, NM
1978 – Apple computer introduced.
1979 - Rick Brenner and Tracy Brabander marry in St. Clair January 27, 1979.
1979 Mar 28 - Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident.
1979 - Jeff born to Tom and Barb Brenner June 6, 1979.
1979 Nov 4 - U.S. Embassy in Teheran Iran seized. Hostages held.
1979 Dec 27 - Soviets invade Afghanistan.
1980 Jan 29 - Canadians help six U.S. Embassy aides escape Teheran capture.
1980 - Nick born to Rick and Tracy Brenner September 1, 1980. Now works at Chrysler plant near Detroit.
1980 Sep 19 - Iraq invades Iran and absorbs 90 square miles of the country.
1980 Dec 8 - John Lennon of the Beatles shot dead outside home in New York City.
198x – first portable computer – the Osborne.
1981 Jan 18 - Hostages in Iran released.
1981 Jan 20 - Ronald Reagan becomes 40th President of United States.
1981 Mar 30 - President Reagan wounded in assassination attempt by John Hinckley.
1981 – Helen (Weng) Brenner dies in Sacramento, California of acute heart failure, ‘oythronis’ renal failure. Buried in Marine City, Michigan.
1981 - Jeremy born to Jack and Karen Brenner April 9, 1981.
1981 - Mark born to Sue and Joe Hohman April 30, 1981. Grows up and works with dad in family gutter installation business.
1981 May 14 - Pope John Paul II wounded by gunman.
1981 – IBM introduces Personal Computer.
1981 Jul 18 - Aerial walkway in lobby of Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel collapses injuring 188 people.
1982 Apr 2 - Falkland War. British overcome Argentina.
1982 - Angela born to Sue and Joe Hohman April 28, 1982.
1982 - Daniel Robert Brenner and Veronica Beedon marry in St. Clair December 18, 1982.
1983 Apr 4 - Space shuttle Challenger makes maiden voyage. First U.S. space walk in nine years.
1983 - Barb Brenner and John Jowett marry in _______________ June 11, 1983.
1983 Aug 15 - U.S. admits shielding former Nazi Gestapo chief, Klaus Barbie, the “butcher of Lyons.”
1983 Aug 30 - South Korean Boeing 747 shot down by Russia.
1983 Oct 23 - 237 Marines killed in Beirut terrorist bombing.
1983 Oct 25 - Grenada Invasion. U.S. and Caribbean allies invade Grenada.
1983 - Heidi born to Sue and Joe Hohman November 2, 1983.
1984 Jan 1 - Bell telephone system broken up into regional bell operating units.
1984 Oct 31 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi assassinated by two Sikh bodyguards.
1984 Dec 3 - Bhopal toxic gas leak from Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India kills 2,000 and injures 150,000.
1984 - Shannon & Andrew born to Rick and Tracy Brenner January 20, 1984.
1985 Jan 20 - Reagan re-elected to second term with 59% of votes.
1985 - Kenny born to Sue and Joe Hohman August 25, 1985.
1985 Oct 7 - PLO terrorists hijack Italina cruise ship Achille Lauro. One American, Leon Klinghoffer executed the next day.
1985 Dec 12 - Balanced Budget Bill enacted by Congress.
1986 Jan 28 - Space shuttle Challenger explodes after launch at Cape Canaveral, FL killing all seven aboard including first woman teacher in space.
1986 Apr 10 - Halley’s Comet passes by earth.
1986 Apr 26 - Nuclear accident at Chernobyl power station in Soviet Union.
1986 Aug 29 - Three Lutheran church groups in U.S. prepare to merge.
1986 Oct 3 - Soviet ballistic missile submarine catches fire about 1,000 miles off East coast of U.S. An onboard missile began leaking propellant, which mixes with another chemical generating nitric acid that ignites in missile compartment. Reactor fails and overheats. Submarine K219 sinks in Atlantic. Two crewmembers die. Called by some “the accident that saved the world.” Tragedy caused USSR to put more focus on safety and maintenance of equipment.
1986 Nov - U.S. covertly making Iran and Nicaraguan Contra Costra arms deals. Col. Oliver North implicated.
1987 May 17 - Iraqi missiles kill 37 sailors in attack of U.S. frigate Stark in Persian Gulf.
1987 Jul 4 - Klaus Barbie, 73, former Gestapo war chief sentenced to life imprisonment by French court.
1987 Oct 1 - Los Angeles earthquakes kill six, injure 100.
1988 Jul 3 - U.S. Navy ship shoots down Iranian airliner in Persian Gulf after mistaking it for enemy jet fighter; 290 people die.
1988 - Jenny born to Barb and John Jowett July 6, 1988
1988 - Deedee Brenner marries Joseph Ade in San Diego, California September 3, 1988.
1988 Dec 21 - Pan-Am 747 Flight 103 blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland by terrorists; 259 aboard are killed as are 11 on the ground.
1989 Jan 4 - U.S. shoots down two Libyan fighters over Mediterranean Sea.
1989 Jan 20 - George Bush becomes 41st president.
1989 Mar 24 - Oil tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground in Alaska’s Prince William Sound leaking 11 million gallons of crude oil into the water and contaminating the shoreline.
1989 Apr 19 - Beijing Square. Tens of thousands of Chinese students demonstrate against government after Chinese leadership allows Japanese visitors to overlook square from royal palace mezzanine. Thousands will die in crackdown by Communist government.
1989 Nov 11 - Berlin Wall comes down. Dismantled piece by piece by ecstatic Germans. East and West German border dissolves.
1989 Dec 20 - U.S. troops invade Panama and in January capture Gen Manuel Noriega, accused of directing drug smuggling to America.
1989 - Dawn Marie Brenner marries Kent Essman in San Diego, California Sep 8, 1989.
199x – cell phones introduced in America.
199x – first laptop computer.
1990 - Hayle Marie born to Dawn and Kent Essman in San Diego, California Apr 17, 1990
1990 - Joey Hohman, son of Sue and Joe Hohman, dies in truck accident Jul 26, 1990.
1990 Aug 2 - Persian Gulf War. Iraqi troops invade Kuwait seizing petroleum reserves.
1991 Jan 15 - U.S. and allies at war against Iraq.
1990 Apr 3 - Cease-fire ends Persian Gulf War.
1991 Jan 17 - U.S. attacks Iraq in early morning raid. Gulf War Begins.
1991 - Amanda born to Barb and John Jowett October 25, 1991.
1991 Dec 25 - Soviet Union breaks up after Gorbachev resigns. Constituent republics form Commonwealth of Independent States.
1992 Feb 1 - Formal end to Cold War declared by President Bush and Russian President Yeltsin.
1993 Jan 20 - Bill Clinton becomes president.
1993 – Gulf War in Kuwait and Iraq.
1993 – Northridge Earthquake strikes LA area of California. Dawn Brenner Essman and family are one mile from epicenter. Their apartment is destroyed, but they were not injured.
1993 Mar 29 - World Trade Center terrorist bombing in New York City.
1993 Nov 17 - Congress approves North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) giving one-sided trade benefits to Mexico and Canada over objections of thousands of U.S. manufacturers.
1994 Jan 5 - Serbs attacking Sarajevo.
1994 Jan 17 - Northridge Earthquake kills 51, hundreds injured.
1994 Jun 18 - Former athlete O.J. Simpson arrested and charged with double murder. Is acquitted when defense attorneys claim racial discrimination.
1994 - Bethany born to Jack and Karen Brenner July 26, 1994.
1994 Aug 15 - International terrorist Carlos is captured.
1994 Oct 4 - Powerful earthquake strikes Japan.
1994 Nov 10 - President Clinton orders end to Bosnian arms embargo. Killing and “ethnic cleansing” re-starts in the area.
1995 Jan 17 - Powerful earthquake in Japan kills over 5,000 people.
1996 Jan 10 - Cassandra born to Dan and Veronica Brenner in Poway, CA
1997 -
1998 - Charles Brenner dies at home on Allington Road near St. Clair April 21, 1998 (age 79).
1998 - Elizabeth Ann born to Dan & Veronica Brenner in San Diego, California Sep 28, 1998
1998 Oct - Work begins on The Never Ending Story — A Genealogical History of the Brenner and Brox Families.
2000 Jan 1 – Centennial celebration. Predicted Y2K collapse of computer and electric systems fails to materialize.
2000 – USS Cole bombed in terrorist attack.
200x – first PDA hand held computer communicator
200x – high definition TV introduced in US.
2001 Sep 11 – World Trade Center and Pentagon attacked by terrorists in hijacked passenger planes. Over 2,700 killed.
2002 Oct 21 – Jamie Marget Mikoly born in San Diego, California.
2002 Mar – Recession in US.
2003 Mar – US Coalition attacks Iraq.
2003 Oct – US emerges from recession.
2003 Oct 7 – California Governor Gray Davis recalled by voters. Arnold Schwartzenager becomes governor.
2004 – Population of Germany 82 million.
2004 – Saddam Hussein captured in spider hole hideout.
2004 June 28 – Iraq turned over to new Iraqi governing council. U.S. coalition forces remain for stability.
OTHER EVENTS
- Space Shuttle Columbia explodes on take-off.
- Space Shuttle Challenger explodes on returning to earth.
- Appolo 13 astronauts saved.