Daily Calendar for Friday, January 24, 2025

Born

  • Edith Wharton (author) –
  • Vicki Baum (novelist) –
  • Leon Kirchner (composer) –
  • Neil Diamond (singer) –
  • John Belushi (actor) –
  • Nastassja Kinski (actress) –
  • Mary Lou Retton (gymnast) –
  • Matthew Lillard (actor) –
  • Mischa Barton (actress) –

Died

  • Sir Winston Churchill (British Prime Minister) –
  • George Cukor (film director) –
  • Vincente Minnelli (film director) –
  • Thurgood Marshall (first African American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court) –
  • Jay Monahan (legal analyst for NBC News) –
  • Bob Russell (creator of the Miss America Pageant and Name That Tune) –
  • Chris Penn (actor) –

Events

  • Gold nuggets discovered at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California, triggered the California Gold Rush –
  • β€œTypewriter copy ribbon” patented by Jacob L. Wortman–
  • Patent 1,404,539 granted for the Eskimo Pie (now Edy’s Pie)–
  • Moving picture of a solar eclipse taken from dirigible over Long Island, NY–
  • Percy Spencer granted patent for microwave oven–
  • Soviet satellite Cosmos 954 crashed in Canada’s Northwest Territories, leaking radioactive waste–
  • An otter entertained crowds all winter at the mouth of the Ompompanoosuc River in Norwich, Vermont–
  • Apple Computer, Inc. introduced the Macintosh personal computer–
  • The Voyager 2 spacecraft sent back photographs from the planet Uranus–
  • Rover Opportunity landed on Mars–
  • A blizzard that took over New England with blinding snow and blustering wind kept the Cape Cod Times from publishing a print edition for the first time–

Weather

  • The temperature in Browning, Montana, plunged 100 degrees in 24 hours, from 44F to -56F, establishing a U.S. record for a 24-hour temperature drop.–
  • Fifteen degrees below zero F in Nashville, Tennessee–
  • 4 inches of snow fell near Lake Jocassee in South Carolina–
  • North Myrtle Beach experienced a low temperature of 16 degrees F–
  • Thirty-eight inches of snow on Cape Cod after a 2-day winter blizzard–

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