On This Day: Wednesday October 25, 2006

This is the 298th day of the year, with 67 days remaining in 2006.

Fact of the Day: measured time

Since 1967, the second has been based on the absolutely predictable behavior of the cesium atom. The outer electron in the cesium atom flips when exposed to a radio signal of exactly 9192631770 Hz. The quartz oscillator producing this signal is automatically adjusted to keep those electrons jumping and its frequency, divided by 9192631770, is defined as one second. The second, controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Standards, is multiplied to define our days and years. We live on atomic time, kept by atomic cesium clocks that measure time in nanoseconds.

Holidays

Feast day of Saints Crispin and Crispinian, Saints Fronto and George, The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, Saints Chrysanthus and Daria, St. Richard Gwyn, and St. Gaudentius of Brescia.
Kazakhstan: Republic Day.
Taiwan: Retrocession Day.
Virgin Islands: Thanksgiving Day.
Saint Crispin's Day.

Events

1415 - King of England, Henry V, led his forces to victory at the Battle of Agincourt in northern France during the Hundred Years' War.
1760 - King George III succeeded his late grandfather, George II.
1812 - The U.S. frigate United States captured the British vessel Macedonian during the War of 1812.
1854 - The "Charge of the Light Brigade" took place during the Crimean War; Lord James Cardigan led a charge of light cavalry over open terrain against well-defended Russian artillery at Balaclava.
1900 - The Transvaal, a mineral- and gold-rich region of South Africa. was annexed by the British.
1929 - Albert B. Fall, who served as secretary of the interior in President Warren G. Harding's cabinet, was found guilty of accepting a bribe while in office. It was part of the Teapot Dome Affair. He was the first Cabinet member in history to go to jail.
1944 - The Japanese were defeated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest sea engagement of World War II. This loss made them increasingly dependent on using suicidal attacks of Kamikaze fighters.
1971 - United Nations General Assembly voted to admit mainland China and expel Taiwan.
1972 - The first women to become FBI agents completed training: Susan L. Roley and Joanne E. Pierce.
1982 - "Newhart" debuted on TV.
1983 - U.S.-led force invaded Grenada at the order of President Ronald Reagan, who said this was done to protect U.S. citizens there and restore order after a recent coup within Grenada's Communist government.
2002 - Sen. Paul Wellstone, (D-Minn)., was killed in a plane crash in northern Minnesota along with his wife, daughter, and five others, just 11 days before Election Day.

Births

1825 - Johann Strauss, Viennese composer.
1838 - Georges Bizet, French composer.
1881 - Pablo Picasso, Spanish-born Cubist painter and sculptor.
1888 - Richard Byrd, American polar explorer and first to reach North Pole.
1892 - Leo G. Carroll, American actor.
1912 - Minnie Pearl, American comedienne.
1941 - Ann Tyler, American author.
1981 - crooked_halo

Deaths

1400 - Geoffrey Chaucer, English poet.
1920 - King Alexander of Greece, some say from blood poisoning shortly after being bitten by a pet monkey.
1993 - Vincent Price, American film actor.
1999 - Golfer Payne Stewart, in a plane crash in South Dakota.