By the time Carlson was eight years old, both of his parents were sick, which left him responsible with working to support the family. In his teens, he would work two or three hours before school, and then several more hours after classes finished for the day.
Anthropologist Margaret Mead was born on December 16, 1901, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart during the launch of its 10th mission.
On August 1, 1882, the first International Polar Year (IPY) began.
On June 20, 2017, the USPS issued the first-ever heat sensitive stamp, honoring the total solar eclipse that occurred later that year.
On April 5, 1973 (some sources cite April 6 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), the Pioneer 11 space probe launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
On January 26, 1949, the Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory first saw light. Still in use today, the Hale telescope is one of the world’s largest optical telescopes.
Benjamin Banneker was born on November 9, 1731, in Baltimore County, Maryland.
Nurse and social reformer Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Tuscany, Italy.