1638 James Gregory – Scottish mathematician and astronomer, who described the first practical reflecting telescope and contributed towards the discovery of calculus

And every high school kid is so thankful for the discovery of calculus. There's also another James Gregory. He was in M*A*S*H, Barney Miller, The Manchurian Candidate, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, The Sons of Katie Elder, and much more.









1814 Adolph Sax – Belgian musical instrument maker who, invented the saxophone in 1840 and patented it in 1846. He also invented an instrument called the saxotromba

We can be thankful his name wasn't Lipschitz or something like that. Can you imagine people playing the Lipschitzaphone?







1867 The first sitting of the Parliament of Canada convened in Ottawa

I guess they had to stand before that. Not enough chairs, I guess.







1893 Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, aged 53 – Russian composer. He died during a cholera epidemic in St. Petersburgh, Russia

A very sad day for music.