Shannon Lucid working out on a treadmill aboard Mir
Shannon Lucid, astronaut, returned to earth in 1996 after being in space 188 days. At the time she set the US record for longest time in space and the world record for the longest time for a woman in space. She conducted experiments aboard the Mir space station. She had previously flown on four other missions. Her record for an American woman was broken by Sunita Williams on June 16, 2007. Older children could learn more at: Shannon Lucid.
NASA’s DART intentionally smashed into Dimorphos in 2022. DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) was developed to test whether a craft could deflect the path of near-Earth objects. Dimorphos, a minor planet moon of the asteroid Didymos, was not close to Earth (seven million miles away). It was launched November 24, 2021. Astronomers, training multiple telescopes on the impact, are trying to judge the impact on the orbit of Dimorphos. So far DART has exceeded expectations. Children can learn more at: DART.
Johnny’s Apples?
Johnny Appleseed (born John Chapman in Leominster, Massachusetts, 1774; died Allen County, Indiana, March 18, 1845) is believed to have planted many orchards of apple trees. He was well regarded by both the Native Americans and the settlers. His death is remembered as Johnny Appleseed Day. Children can learn more at: Johnny Appleseed.
T. S. Eliot (born Saint Louis, Missouri, 1888; died London, United Kingdom, January 4, 1965) was a poet, essayist, and playwright. His works include The Waste Land and The Hollow Men. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. Children can learn more about him at: T. S. Eliot. Children can read some of his works (including The Waste Land) at: Project Gutenberg.
George Gershwin (born Brooklyn, New York, 1898; died Beverly Hills, California, July 11, 1937) was a composer. He often teamed with his brother, Ira. Two of his most famous works are I Got Rhythm and Rhapsody in Blue.
Alicia D. Williams (born 1970) writes books for children. Her book Genesis Begins Again received a 2020 Newbery Honor Award. Another of her works is Shirley Chisholm: The Story of the First Black Woman in Congress. Children can learn more at: Alicia D. Williams.
National Chocolate Milk Day is today! This is an easy day to celebrate! The National Dairy Council says that Americans drink more than 1.5 billion gallons of chocolate milk per year. Idea: Children could calculate how much chocolate milk they drink in a year.
Amazon
World Rivers Day is today! Observed on the fourth Sunday in September, the day reminds us of the importance of rivers to humans, animals, plants, and the earth. Rivers provide hydroelectricity, water for humans, and water for crops and animals. The longest river is the Nile, but the Amazon provides the most drainage. The longest river in the United States is the Mississippi and its tributaries. Idea: Children could research rivers, make a large paper river, and write the facts on the paper river.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was the nation’s capital for this day only in 1777. The prior capital was Philadelphia, and the next capital was York, Pennsylvania.
Rosetta Stone
Courtesy of Hans Hillewaert
Jean-Francois Champollion declared in 1822 that he had deciphered the Rosetta Stone. The monument contained the same speech in three languages. He was able to translate the speech in two of the languages, and he used patterns and syntax to decode the Egyptian hieroglyphics, the third language. The Rosetta Stone is housed in the British Museum. Children could learn about the Rosetta Stone and Egyptian hieroglyphics at: Rosetta Stone.
Matchbook Patent
Matchbooks were patented in 1892 by Joshua Pusey of Lima, Pennsylvania. He received patent number 483,166. Children can view the patent at: Matchbook Patent.
Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was first published in 1962. It helped create an awareness of earth’s fragility and pollution’s hazards. Carson stressed the negative environmental consequences of pesticides. Older children can learn more at: Silent Spring.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in 1998. Now the company processes about one billion searches a day.