Professor Mei X. Chen, M.A., Literature Scholar

March 19th: NASA’s Curiosity Rover “Unearthed” Water On Mars

What Happened On March 19th? 2013 was a year for science as fatal disease smallpox was eradicated completely, while NASA made their moves on Mars. And, on March 19, 2013, NASA's rover, Curiosity, analyzed rock powder and meticulously drilled from the Martian surface, revealing the presence of hydrated minerals. This became a tantalizing clue, igniting hope that microbial life on the Red Planet could have existed or could still exist. The announcement was made at a prestigious planetary science conference, where scientists all over world were taken by surprise and excitement! The specific minerals identified were clay minerals, known to…

Mar

2024

March 15th: “Symbolics” Became The First Registered Internet Domain

What Happened On March 15th? In 1985, technology would begin to shift gears. On March 15th, the internet as we know it was born, with the registration of the world's first domain name: Symbolics.com. Although the news did not exactly "exhilarate" people, this first registration laid the foundation for the vast and interconnected web today. Symbolics.com belonged to Symbolics Inc., a computer systems company at the forefront of artificial intelligence research. This company, heavily involved in symbolic manipulation (a core concept in AI), chose a domain name that perfectly reflected their innovative work. While Symbolics.com is widely recognized as the…

Mar

2024

March 14th: Stephen Hawking Died At Age 76

What Happened On March 14th? Today in the year 2018, Stephen Hawking passed away. The brilliant physicist, who defied a devastating diagnosis to revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos, passed away peacefully at his Cambridge, England home at the age of 76. Of course now, Hawking's character is up for debate after being named on flight logs to Epstein's Island. Before we get into that, his life story demonstrated extraordinary resilience. Diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the young age of 21, doctors gave him a mere two years to live. However, Hawking refused to accept this prognosis. He…

Mar

2024

March 5th: Five American Men Murdered In The Boston Massacre

U.S. History

What Happened On March 5th? In the heart of Boston on March 5th, 1770, British soldiers faced ever-growing resentment from the colonists. Stationed in the city since 1768 enforcing the unpopular Parliamentary acts, the soldiers carried out a bloody confrontation against the colonists. This is known as the Boston Massacre, which eventually paved a path for the Bill of Rights. While the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts fueled the colonists' resentment towards the British Parliament, the Lobster Back Riot further strained relations. Upset with increasing tax costs, colonists physically clashed with the soldiers and called them "lobster backs" because of the red cloaks the soldiers would wear. Evidence suggests…

Feb

2024

February 28th: The Double Helix Structure Of DNA Discovered

What Happened On February 28th? On February 28th, 1953 at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England, two scientists, James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick, made a discovery about life's most important molecule, DNA. More specifically, what they found was the double helix structure of DNA, which revolutionized our understanding of all life forms. Being such a small molecule, if you unravelled all DNA molecules in your body and lined them up, it would stretch over 110 billion miles! From wherever your position is in the world right now, your molecules would elongate to the Sun and back over 600…

Feb

2024

February 21st: “The Communist Manifesto” Published

World History

What Happened On February 21st? In 1848 on a Parisian morning, a small little pamphlet carried the weight of an entire revolution. Today on this day, the radical thinkers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published "The Communist Manifesto," and it was not your average political treatise . Little did anyone know, this unassuming document would become the foundation of communism, which would shape values and ideals of nations across the nation, even today! Originally titled the Manifesto of the Communist Party, it served as the official platform for the Communist League, a group of European socialists advocating for radical change. The manifesto,…

Feb

2024

February 13th: The Largest Diamond In The Universe Discovered

What Happened On February 13th? In 2004 on this day, astronomers made a truly astronomical discovery, not with telescopes pointed towards the sky, but by analyzing data collected from a space observatory called the Chandra X-ray Observatory. They identified a celestial object located roughly 50 light-years away in the constellation "Centaurus," classified as a white dwarf star named BPM 37093 or more commonly known as "Lucy." However, this wasn't your average star. Upon further analysis, these astronomers realized that BPM 37093 wasn't a star made of hydrogen and helium like our Sun, but rather a crystallized remnant of a massive star…

Feb

2024

February 3rd: Deadliest Blizzard In History Claimed 4,000 Lives

World History

What Happened On February 3rd? Today on February 3rd of 1972, the "Black Blizzard," also known as the worst blizzard in history, began the day with a few snowflakes in Iran. Light snowfall had been reported in western Iran over the previous days, but there was an increased escalation on this morning. Weather reports warned of a snowstorm approaching from the west, but its true ferocity wasn't fully anticipated. As the day progressed, snow began falling more heavily in western provinces like Kurdistan and Kermanshah. Initial excitement of winter quickly turned into concern as the snowfall continued to intensify, covering…

Jan

2024

January 30th: Ghandi Murdered By Godse

World History

What Happened On January 30th? On the 30th of January, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi, the "Father of India," went on his evening walk to a prayer meeting, approaching the gates of the Birla House, New Delhi. Gandhi, 78 years-old, was already very frail due to fasting. A little after 5 P.M., Gandhi's grandnieces escorted him through the garden, where he was met with small crowd of his followers. All of a sudden, Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist steeped in hate and fanaticism, fired three shots from a rare gun in India, a Beretta M1934. Gandhi crumpled to the ground, felled by…

Jan

2024

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January 22nd: The Fastest Temperature Change Ever Recorded