January 8th, 2009

Today in History

2004:
Queen Elizabeth names the Queen Mary II cruise liner, the largest passenger ship ever built.

1994:
Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He will stay on the space station till March 22, 1995 for a record 437 days in space.

1975:
Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband.

1908:
A train collision occurs in the Park Avenue Tunnel in New York City killing 17, injuring 38 and leading to increased demand for electric trains.

1838:
Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).