| 1917 Russian Orthodox Church
expropriated by Bolsheviks Confiscation of the property of the Russian Orthodox Church and abolition of religious instruction in schools are decreed by the Bolshevik government Since the reign of Peter the Great in the 18th century, the Russian Church had been governed by a Holy Synod appointed by the tsars, who were expected to be the defenders of Orthodoxy. With the death of the last tsar, a movement arose within the church whose supporters saw this separation of the state from the church as an opportunity for major changes. The traditional elements, however, looked to the reintroduction of the patriarchal system as an important stabilizing element, and elected Patriarch Tikhon. Communism, believing religion to be "the opium of the people”, was eager to stamp it out in "Holy Russia.” As first the Bolsheviks and later the Communists began to consolidate their power, and they began to impose restrictions on the church. On this day they confiscate all church lands, cancel state subsidies for the church, decreed marriage a civil ordinance, and nationalize the schools, thus effectively abolishing all religious instruction. Patriarch Tikhon remonstrated, "Think what you are doing, you madmen! Stop your bloody outrages! Your acts are not merely cruel, they are the works of Satan, for which you will burn in hell fire in the life hereafter and will be cursed by future generations in this life.” It was not long before the patriarch was arrested by the Communists and later died, some say, under suspicious circumstances. There was much martyrs' blood shed over the ensuing years. But, amazingly, in 1927. Patriarch Sergius stated that there was no persecution of religion in Russia and declared loyalty to the government. By 1938 the Communists had closed 70'000 Russian Orthodox churches and chapels and all monasteries and seminaries. 280 bishops and at least 45'000 priests had perished. |
1912 Empiezan en Londres las negociaciones de paz sobre la guerra de los Balcanes.
1903: Orville Wright makes
first heavier-than-air powered and controled flight
 at
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, not counting that of Clément
Ader in 1890 
. (which lacked controls).The Wright brothers' airplane, the Flyer, was a biplane with a 12-horsepower (9-kw) gasoline engine. The wings, which measured 12.30 m from tip to tip, were wooden frames covered with cotton cloth. The pilot would lie in the middle of the lower wing. The engine was mounted to the pilot's right. It turned two wooden propellers attached behind the wings. Instead of wheels, the plane had wooden runners.  Most important of all, the Flyer had the successful control system that the brothers had developed for their gliders. A main feature of this system was a device for twisting the wing tips to preserve balance in flight. The device consisted of a wire strung from each wing tip to a "cradle" that fitted around the pilot's hips. By moving the hips, the pilot could twist one wing tip or the other in order to maintain the plane's balance and control while in flight. On 17 December 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright launched the plane from an 18-meter rail on a sand flat. The first flight, at 10:35, with Orville as pilot, covered about 36 meters and lasted 12 seconds (speed about 11 km/h). Wilbur, on the fourth and longest flight of the day, flew 260 meters in 59 seconds (speed 15.8 km/h). Orville and Wilbur Wright grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and developed an interest in aviation after learning of the glider flights of the German engineer Otto Lilienthal in the 1890s. Unlike their older brothers, Orville and Wilbur did not attend college, but they possessed extraordinary technical ability and a sophisticated approach to solving problems in mechanical design. They built printing presses and in 1892 opened a bicycle sales and repair shop. Soon, they were building their own bicycles, and this experience, combined with profits from their various businesses, allowed them to pursue actively their dream of building the world's first airplane. After exhaustively researching other engineers' efforts to build a heavier-than-air, controlled aircraft, the Wright brothers wrote the US Weather Bureau inquiring about a suitable place to conduct glider tests. They settled on Kitty Hawk, an isolated village on North Carolina's Outer Banks, which offered steady winds and sand dunes from which to glide and land softly. Their first glider, tested in 1900, performed poorly, but a new design, tested in 1901, was more successful. Later that year, they built a wind tunnel where they tested nearly 200 wings and airframes of different shapes and designs. The brothers' systematic experimentations paid off--they flew hundreds of successful flights in their 1902 glider at Kill Devils Hills near Kitty Hawk. Their biplane glider featured a steering system, based on a movable rudder, that solved the problem of controlled flight. They were now ready for powered flight. In Dayton, they designed a 12-horsepower internal combustion engine with the assistance of machinist Charles Taylor and built a new aircraft to house it. They transported their aircraft in pieces to Kitty Hawk in the autumn of 1903, assembled it, made a few further tests, and on December 14 Orville made the first attempt at powered flight. The engine stalled during take-off and the plane was damaged, and they spent three days repairing it. Then at 10:35 on 17 December, in front of five witnesses, the aircraft ran down a monorail track and into the air, staying aloft for 12 seconds and flying 36 meters (less than 11 km/h). The modern aviation age was born. Three more tests were made that day, with Wilbur and Orville alternately flying the airplane. Wilbur flew the last flight, covering 260 meters in 59 seconds (a speed of less than 16 km/h). During the next few years, the Wright brothers further developed their airplanes but kept a low profile about their successes in order to secure patents and contracts for their flying machines. By 1905, their aircraft could perform complex maneuvers and remain aloft for up to 39 minutes at a time. In 1908, they traveled to France and made their first public flights, arousing widespread public excitement. In 1909, the US Army's Signal Corps purchased an especially constructed plane, and the brothers founded the Wright Company to build and market their aircraft. Wilbur Wright died of typhoid fever in 1912; Orville lived until 1948. The historic Wright brothers' aircraft of 1903 is on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. — Primer vuelo tripulado con avión de motor: Orville Wright, el menor de los hermanos Wright, se eleva en un biplano a 36 metros durante 59 minutos en la localidad de Kitty Hawk, en el estado norteamericano de Carolina del Norte. |
1900
First prize of 100'000 francs is offered for communications with
extraterrestrials. Martians excluded--considered too easy. 
