Today’s Notable Foreign Birthdays

Oliver Cromwell - Lord Protector of the Commonweath of England

Oliver Cromwell, by Samuel Cooper (died 1672).  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Oliver Cromwell (born April 25, 1599 Old Style, died September 3, 1658 Old Style) was an English military and political leader best known for his involvement in making England into a republican Commonwealth and for his later role as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland. He was one of the commanders of the New Model Army which defeated the royalists in the English Civil War. After the execution of King Charles I in 1649, Cromwell dominated the short-lived Commonwealth of England, conquered Ireland and Scotland, and ruled as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658.

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U. S. Contemporaries: Colonial Cycle – Puritan Generation – Prophet (Idealist) (1584-1614)

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Today’s Notable U. S. Birthday

Wilbur Wright - Credited, along with his brother Orville, with building the first successful airplane.

Wilbur Wright (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Wright brothers, Orville (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were two Americans who are generally credited with inventing and building the world’s first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903. They are also officially credited worldwide through the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the standard-setting and record-keeping body for aeronautics and astronautics, as “the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight”.

First successful flight of the Wright Flyer, by the Wright brothers. The machine traveled 120 ft (36.6 m) in 12 seconds at 10:35 a.m. at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the two years afterward, the brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft. Although not the first to build and fly experimental aircraft, the Wright brothers were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed wing flight possible.

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World War Cycle - The Gilded Age - First Turning, High (1866-1885)
Missionary Generation - Prophet (Idealist) (1860-1882)

Today’s Notable U. S. Birthday

John Eckert - co-inventor with John Mauchly of the first commercial electronic digital computer (ENIAC)

Kay McNulty hands a print-out of ENIAC results to its inventors Pres Eckert (left) and John Mauchly (right) in a newsreel dating from 1946. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John Adam Presper “Pres” Eckert Jr. (April 9, 1919 – June 3, 1995) was an American electrical engineer and computer pioneer. With John Mauchly he invented the first general-purpose electronic digital computer (ENIAC), presented the first course in computing topics (the Moore School Lectures), founded the first commercial computer company (the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation), and designed the first commercial computer in the U.S., the UNIVAC, which incorporated Eckert’s invention of the mercury delay line memory.

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World War Cycle – World War I / Prohibition Era – Third Turning, Unraveling (1910-1929)
G.I. Generation – Hero (Civic) (1901-1924)

Today’s Notable U. S. Birthday

Alexander Graham Bell - Inventor of the first practical telephone

English: Portrait of Alexander Graham Bell  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Alexander Graham Bell (3 March 1847 – 2 August 1922) was an eminent scientist, inventor and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.

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Civil War Cycle – Era of Slavery Expansion – Third Turning, Unraveling (1838-1859)
Progressive Generation – Artist (Adaptive) (1843-1859)

Today’s Notable U. S. Birthdays

Thomas Edison - Influential American inventor and businessman

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Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Dubbed “The Wizard of Menlo Park” by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large teamwork to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory.

Wikepedia – The Free Encyclopedia

Civil War Cycle – Era of Slavery Expansion – Third Turning, Unraveling (1838-1859)
Progressive Generation – Artist (Adaptive) (1843-1859)

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Today’s Notable Foreign Birthday

Karl Benz - Founder of the modern automobile

Karl Benz (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Karl Friedrich Benz, sometimes spelled as Carl, (25 November 1844 – 4 April 1929) was a German engine designer and automobile engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the petrol-powered automobile and pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz.

Karl Benz introduced the Velo in 1894, becoming the first production automobile (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia

U. S. Contemporaries: Civil War Cycle – Progressive Generation – Artist (Adaptive) (1843-1859)

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