Calendar for January 8th, 2013

US: Battle of New Orleans Day

2005: Plough Monday

Died 1642: Galileo (astronomer)

Born 1682: Jonathan Belcher (Colonial governor and merchant)

Born 1735: John Carrol (founded Georgetown University)

1790: First State of the Union message, delivered by President George Washington

1790: President George Washington delivered first State of the Union address

1798: The 11th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, modifying the power of the Supreme Court, was ratified

1800: First soup kitchens opened in London for the relief of the poor

1806: Lewis and Clark saw a 105-foot-long whale skeleton in NW Oregon

1815: Andrew Jackson defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans (War of 1812)

Born 1823: Alfred Wallace (naturalist)

Died 1825: Eli Whitney (inventor)

Born 1862: Frank Nelson Doubleday (publisher)

1870: Joseph Lister published the results of his study of antiseptic surgical methods. His use of carbolic acid to sterilize instuments and wounds trebles the survival rate of his patients

1918: President Wilson delivered his "Fourteen Points" speech, suggesting the creation of a League of Nations

Born 1923: Larry Storch (actor)

Born 1931: Bill Graham (producer)

Born 1935: Elvis Presley (singer)

Born 1938: Bob Eubanks (game show host)

Born 1941: Graham Chapman (actor)

Born 1942: Stephen Hawking (physicist)

Born 1947: David Bowie (singer)

Born 1949: Wolfgang Puck (chef)

Born 1981: Jeff Francis (baseball player)

Born 1982: Gaby Hoffmann (actress)

1987: The Dow Jones industrial stock average passed the 2,000 mark

Died 1990: Terry-Thomas (comedian)

Died 2002: Dave Thomas (Wendy's fast food entrepreneur)

Died 2002: Alexander Prokhorov (Russian scientist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1964 for work that led to the development of the laser)

Died 2007: Yvonne De Carlo (actress best known as Lily Munster on The Munsters)

Died 2007: Iwao Takamoto (cartoonist; created Scooby Doo)

Died 2010: Art Clokey (creator of Gumby and Pokey)