October 4 belongs to Sela Pla
Historical events & facts — October 4
What happened on October 4?
On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite in history. The small 58-centimetre metal sphere orbited Earth for three weeks emitting a radio beep. Its launch caught the West by surprise and started the Space Race, triggering decades of technological competition between the US and the USSR.
On April 28, 1952, the Treaty of San Francisco came into force, formally ending the state of war between Japan and the Allied nations and restoring full Japanese sovereignty. The agreement, signed in 1951, excluded the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, partly laying the groundwork for East Asian tensions that persist to this day.
On October 4, 1883, the Orient Express made its first inaugural journey from Paris to Constantinople — today Istanbul — covering more than 3,000 kilometres in eighty hours. The luxury train, with mahogany carriages, gas lamps and gourmet kitchen, connected Western Europe with the Ottoman Empire for the first time and became a symbol of glamour, espionage and mystery.
Notable birthdays — October 4
Famous people born on October 4
Maria Sophie of Bavaria
Duchess Maria Sophie Amalie in Bavaria was the last Queen of the Two Sicilies as the wife of Francis II of the Two Sicilies. She was one of the ten children of Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria. She was born as Duchess Maria Sophie in Bavaria. She was the younger sister of the better-known Elisabeth of Bavaria ("Sisi") who married Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.
John Vincent Atanasoff
John Vincent Atanasoff was an American physicist and inventor credited with inventing the first electronic digital computer. Atanasoff invented the first electronic digital computer in the 1930s at Iowa State College. Challenges to his claim were resolved in 1973 when the Honeywell v. Sperry Rand lawsuit ruled that Atanasoff was the inventor of the computer.
Richard Rorty
Richard McKay Rorty was an American philosopher, historian of ideas, and public intellectual. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, Rorty's academic career included appointments as the Stuart Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, the Kenan Professor of Humanities at the University of Virginia, and a professor of comparative literature at Stanford University.
Kurt Wüthrich
Kurt Wüthrich is a Swiss chemist/biophysicist and Nobel Chemistry laureate, known for developing nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods for studying biological macromolecules.
Jimy Williams
James Francis Williams was an American professional baseball infielder, coach and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1966 and 1967 and managed the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, and Houston Astros.
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