October 9 – 1st 2-way Telephone Conversation And More

History is something that illuminates the culture and its origin. It also forecasts the awareness and how and when everything evolved and fell into place. It not only helps us trace the origins of the past but also helps us understand it better which leads to an understanding of the present more desirably. We, at Brag Social, try to keep you updated with the happening of past and present through our today column. Let us now read the historical milestones of October 9.

1651 – English parliament passes the Navigation Act

The Navigation Act required all trade between England and the colonies to be carried in English or colonial vessels, primarily aiming at the Dutch. In October 1651, the British parliament passed the Navigation Act to tighten the government’s control over trade between England, its colonies, and the rest of the world. The English parliament declared that only English ships would be allowed to bring goods into England and that the North American colonies could only export its commodities, such as tobacco and sugar, to England.

1876 – 1st 2-way telephone conversation, 1st over outdoor wires

The first two-way conversation over outdoor wires was demonstrated by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson on 9 October 1876. Their call was made between the cities of Boston and Cambridge. Bell received a patent on a device that could transmit human speech over a wire on March 10 1876, that led to the extraordinary invention of the telephone. Success came knocking on the door when he held a two-way telephone conversation with Watson. The quality and distance of transmissions made rapid progress and within 6 months after the first two- way call, a telephone conversation between Boston and New York City was conducted.

1941 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt approves an atomic program that would become the Manhattan Project

On October 9 1941, in a meeting, the US President Franklin D. Roosevelt approves an atomic program that would become the Manhattan Project and also indicated the project’s funding. The top-secret project that led to the world’s first atomic bombs aimed to develop a functional atomic weapon during World War II. The code name for the American-led effort was a controversial creation engaging some of the world’s leading scientific minds, as well as the U.S. military by the eventual use of atomic bombs. 

1946 – Eugene O’Neill’s play The Iceman Cometh opens at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York

The Iceman Cometh is a play written by American playwriter Eugene O’Neill in 1939 and was first published in 1946. On October 9 1946, the play was first premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York City. The Iceman Cometh was directed by Eddie Dowling and ran for 136 performances before closing on March 15, 1947. The play was praised for its’ passion, suspense, and well-drawn characters but complained about its prosaic language, redundancy, and excessive length – running for almost four hours.

1949 Harvard Law School begins admitting women.

The Harvard Law School was founded in 1817 and is one of the oldest continually operating Law school in the United States. In 1949, women begun enrolling as students for the first time in Harvard. Gradually, that led to the number of female students grew afterwards. Ruth Bader Ginsburg went on to become an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme court in 1993. She was one of the nine female students to be admitted to Harvard in the year 1956. 

1962 Uganda becomes independent from the United Kingdom

On October 9 1962, Uganda was granted independence by the British government. The first elections for the state were held on 1st March 1961 with Benedicto Kiwanuka of the Democratic Party becoming the first chief minister. Maintaining its commonwealth membership, Uganda became a republic the following year. With Political crunches taking a turn in February 1966, Milton Obote, the Prime Minister, suspended the constitution and assumed all government powers, removing the positions of president and vice president. A new constitution was proclaimed in September 1967, giving the president even greater powers, and abolishing the traditional kingdoms.

Source – https://en.wikipedia.org/