POPnews - February 13th

[Thomas Edison re-discovered the Edison Effect, now
known as thermionic emission, on this day in 1880.]
1130 - Pope Honorius II died; he was succeeded by Innocent II the following day.

1503 - The so-called Disfida di Barletta - a famous challenge between 13 Italian and 13 French knights from Canosa di Puglia near the Italian town of Barletta - resulted in an Italian victory, following which the French left the area; the event was immortalized in a novel named Ettore Fieramosca by Massimo D'Azeglio in 1833, and the town is still known as the Città della Disfida.

1542 - Catherine Howard, erstwhile fifth wife of England's Henry VIII, was executed.

1575 - France's King Henry III was crowned at Rheims, on the same day as he married Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont.

1633 - Galileo arrived in Rome to testify before the Inquisition.

1689 - William III and Mary II were proclaimed co-rulers of England.

1692 - At the Massacre of Glencoe as many as 78 members of the Clan MacDonald in three towns adjacent to Scotland's Glen Coe - Invercoe, Inverrigan, and Achacon - were killed early in the morning hours for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange.

1815 - The Cambridge Union Society was founded.

1866 - Members of the James-Younger Gang (including 19-year-old Jesse James) committed their first robbery - the first peacetime daylight bank robbery in US history - of the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri; one man, 19-year-old James Wymore of William Jewell College, was killed by Jesse in their getaway.

1880 - Work began on the covering of the Zenne, which buried the river flowing through the centre of Brussels and brought about the creation of that city's modern central boulevards.

1881 - The feminist newspaper La Citoyenne was first published in Paris by Hubertine Auclert; it appeared bi-monthly until 1891, agitating for changes to the Napoleonic Code, female suffrage, and greater rights for women.

1894 - The Lumiere Brothers patented the Cinematograph, a combination movie camera and projector.

1914 - ASCAP was founded in New York City.

1920 - The Negro National League was established in Kansas City, Missouri; another league with the same name was later established in 1933.

1934 - The Soviet steamship Cheliuskin sank in the Arctic Ocean near Kolyuchin Island in the Chukchi Sea.

1935 - Bruno Richard Hauptmann, accused of the kidnap and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr., was found guilty by a jury in Flemington, New Jersey.

1945 - The siege of Budapest concluded with the unconditional surrender of German and Hungarian forces to the Red Army.

2000 - The final Peanuts comic strip appeared, the day after its creator Charles Schulz died; the first Peanuts strip debuted in October 1950.

2009 - 1234567890 in Unix Time occurred at 3:31:30 PM (PST).
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