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Image 1Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan (born October 3, 1951) is an American
geologist,
oceanographer, and former
NASA astronaut and
US Navy officer. She was a crew member on three
Space Shuttle missions.
A graduate of
University of California, Santa Cruz, in the United States, and
Dalhousie University in
Nova Scotia, Canada—where she earned a
Doctor of Philosophy degree in geology in 1978—Sullivan was selected as one of the six women among the 35
astronaut candidate in
NASA Astronaut Group 8, the first group to include women. During her training, she became the first woman to be certified to wear a
United States Air Force pressure suit, and on July 1, 1979, she set an unofficial sustained American aviation altitude record for women. During her first mission,
STS-41-G, Sullivan performed the first
extra-vehicular activity (EVA) by an American woman. On her second,
STS-31, she helped deploy the
Hubble Space Telescope. On the third,
STS-45, she served as
Payload Commander on the first
Spacelab mission dedicated to NASA's
Mission to Planet Earth. (
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Image 4John Sherman (May 10, 1823 – October 22, 1900) was an American politician from
Ohio who served in federal office throughout the
Civil War and into the late nineteenth century. A member of the
Republican Party, he served in both houses of the
U.S. Congress. He also served as
Secretary of the Treasury and
Secretary of State. Sherman sought the Republican presidential nomination three times, coming closest
in 1888, but was never chosen by the party.
Born in
Lancaster, Ohio, Sherman later moved to
Mansfield, Ohio, where he began a law career before entering politics. He was the younger brother of
Union general
William Tecumseh Sherman, with whom he had a close relationship. Initially a
Whig, Sherman was among those
anti-slavery activists who formed what became the Republican Party. He served three terms in the House of Representatives. As a member of the House, Sherman traveled to
Kansas to investigate
the unrest between pro- and anti-slavery partisans there. He rose in party leadership and was nearly elected
Speaker in
1859. Sherman was elected to the Senate
in 1861. As a senator, he was a leader in financial matters, helping to redesign the United States'
monetary system to meet the needs of a nation torn apart by civil war. He also served as the Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee during his 32 years in the Senate. After the war, he worked to produce legislation that would restore the nation's credit abroad and produce a stable,
gold-backed currency at home. (
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Image 7Richard Bernard Skelton (July 18, 1913 – September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national
radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program
The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and he also appeared in
burlesque,
vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.
Skelton began developing his comedic and
pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling
medicine show. He then spent time on a
showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, and then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The "Doughnut Dunkers" pantomime sketch, which he wrote together with his wife, launched a career for him in vaudeville, radio, and films. His radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on
The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, which led to his becoming the host of
Avalon Time in 1938. He became the host of
The Raleigh Cigarette Program in 1941, on which many of his comedy characters were created, and he had a regularly scheduled radio program until 1957. Skelton made his film debut in 1938 alongside
Ginger Rogers and
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in
Alfred Santell's
Having Wonderful Time, and appeared in numerous musical and comedy films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with starring roles in 19 films, including
Ship Ahoy (1941),
I Dood It (1943),
Ziegfeld Follies (1946),
Three Little Words (1950), and
The Clown (1953). (
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Image 8James William "
Ike"
Altgens (; April 28, 1919 – December 12, 1995) was an American
photojournalist,
photo editor, and
field reporter for the
Associated Press (AP) based in
Dallas, Texas, who became known for his photographic work during the
assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy (JFK). Altgens was 19 when he began his AP career, which was interrupted by military service during
World War II. When his service time ended, Altgens returned to Dallas and got married. He soon went back to work for the local AP bureau and eventually earned a position as a senior editor.
Altgens was on assignment for the AP when he captured two historic images on November 22, 1963. The second, showing
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy toward the rear of the
presidential limousine and
Secret Service agent
Clint Hill on its bumper, was reproduced on the front pages of newspapers around the world. Within days, Altgens' preceding photograph became controversial after people began to question whether accused assassin
Lee Harvey Oswald was visible in the main doorway of the
Texas School Book Depository as the gunshots were fired at JFK. (
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Image 9Interstate 470 (
I-470) is a 10.63-mile-long (17.11 km)
auxiliary Interstate Highway of
I-70 that
bypasses the city of
Wheeling, West Virginia, United States. I-470 is one of 13 auxiliary Interstate Highways in Ohio and the only auxiliary Interstate Highway in
West Virginia. The western terminus of I-470 is an interchange with
I-70 in
Richland Township, Ohio. Traveling southeast through rural
Belmont County, I-470 approaches the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge, which spans the
Ohio River. After crossing the river into
Ohio County, West Virginia, the highway continues east toward the Wheeling communities of
Bethlehem and
Elm Grove and its eastern terminus at
I-70 near Elm Grove. The portion of the highway in West Virginia is named the
USS West Virginia Memorial Highway by proclamation of then-Governor
Cecil H. Underwood on the 59th anniversary of the
attack on Pearl Harbor.
Construction of the freeway began in 1975 in the two states. Due to a chronic lack of funding, construction in Ohio was stalled between 1976 and 1981. After a $0.033-per-US-gallon ($0.040/imp gal; $0.0087/L)
fuel tax increase, Ohio was able to restart construction, and, by 1983, both states had completed construction on the freeway. The
three-level diamond interchange with
concurrent highways
U.S. Route 250 (US 250) and
West Virginia Route 2 (WV 2) on the eastern banks of the Ohio River was thought to be the most complex interchange in West Virginia's
Interstate Highway System at the time of construction. On average, between 25,500 and 37,840 vehicles use the highway daily. (
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Image 10Thomas F. Mulledy SJ (
muh-LAY-dee; August 12, 1794 – July 20, 1860) was an American
Catholic priest and
Jesuit who became the president of
Georgetown College, a founder of the
College of the Holy Cross, and a Jesuit
provincial superior. His brother,
Samuel Mulledy, also became a Jesuit and president of Georgetown.
Mulledy entered the Society of Jesus and was educated for the priesthood in
Rome, before completing his education in the United States. He twice served as
president of Georgetown College in Washington, D.C. At Georgetown, Mulledy undertook a significant building campaign, which resulted in Gervase Hall and Mulledy Hall (later renamed Isaac Hawkins Hall). He became the second provincial superior of the
Maryland Province of the Jesuit order, and orchestrated the
sale of the province's slaves in 1838 to settle its debts. This resulted in outcry from his fellow Jesuits and censure by the church authorities in Rome, who exiled him to
Nice in the
Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia for several years. While provincial superior, Mulledy was also the
vicar general for the
Diocese of Boston. (
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Image 11The
2010 Sylvania 300 was a
stock car racing competition that took place on September 19, 2010. Held at
New Hampshire Motor Speedway in
Loudon,
New Hampshire, the 300-lap race was the twenty-seventh in the
2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, as well as the first in the ten-race
Chase for the Sprint Cup, which ended the season.
Clint Bowyer of the
Richard Childress Racing team won the race;
Denny Hamlin finished second and
Jamie McMurray came in third.
Brad Keselowski won the
pole position, although he was almost immediately passed by
Tony Stewart at the start of the race. Many Chase for the Sprint Cup participants, including
Jimmie Johnson,
Kurt Busch, and Hamlin, were in the top ten for most of the race, although some encountered problems in the closing laps. Stewart was leading the race with two laps remaining but ran out of fuel, giving the lead, and the win, to Bowyer. There were twenty-one lead changes among eight different drivers, as well as eight
cautions during the race. (
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Image 12USS West Bridge (ID-2888) was a
Design 1013 cargo ship in the
United States Navy during
World War I. She was begun as
War Topaz for the British Government but was completed as
West Bridge (though referred to in some publications under the spelling
Westbridge). After being decommissioned from the Navy, the ship returned to civilian service as
West Bridge, but was renamed
Barbara Cates, and
Pan Gulf over the course of her commercial career under American
registry.
West Bridge was one of the
West ships, a series of steel-
hulled cargo ships built for the
United States Shipping Board (USSB) on the
West Coast of the United States. She was
launched in April 1918 and delivered to the U.S. Navy upon completion in May. After commissioning, USS
West Bridge sailed from the
Pacific Northwest to the
East Coast of the United States and joined a convoy of cargo ships headed to France in August. After the ship suffered an engine breakdown at sea the convoy was attacked by two
German submarines and
West Bridge was torpedoed and abandoned. A salvage crew from the American destroyer
Smith boarded her the following day, and, working with four
tugs dispatched from France, successfully brought the ship into port. Four men received the
Navy Cross for their efforts. (
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Image 13"
Bring Us Together" was a
political slogan popularized after the election of
Republican candidate
Richard Nixon as
President of the United States in
the 1968 election. The text was derived from a sign which 13-year-old Vicki Lynne Cole stated that she had carried at Nixon's rally in her hometown of
Deshler, Ohio, during the campaign.
Richard Moore, a friend of Nixon, told the candidate's speechwriters he had seen a child carrying a sign reading "Bring Us Together" at the Deshler rally. The speechwriters, including
William Safire, began inserting the phrase into the candidate's speeches. Nixon mentioned the Deshler rally and the sign in his victory speech on November 6, 1968, adopting the phrase as representing his administration's initial goal—to reunify the bitterly divided country. Cole came forward as the person who carried the sign and was the subject of intense media attention. (
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Image 14
Feller with the Cleveland Indians,
c. 1953 (November 3, 1918 – December 15, 2010), nicknamed "
the Heater from Van Meter", "
Bullet Bob", and "
Rapid Robert", was an American
baseball pitcher who played 18 seasons in
Major League Baseball (MLB) for the
Cleveland Indians between 1936 and 1956. In a career spanning 570 games, Feller pitched 3,827
innings and posted a
win–loss record of 266–162, with 279
complete games, 44
shutouts, and a 3.25
earned run average (ERA). His career 2,581 strikeouts were third all-time upon his retirement.
A prodigy who bypassed baseball's
minor leagues, Feller made his debut with the Indians at the age of 17. His career was interrupted by four years of military service (1942–1945) as a
United States Navy Chief Petty Officer aboard
USS Alabama during
World War II. Feller became the first pitcher to win 24 games in a season before the age of 21. He threw
no-hitters in 1940, 1946, and 1951, and 12
one-hitters, both records at his retirement. He helped the Indians win a
World Series title in
1948 and an
American League-record 111 wins and the
pennant in 1954. Feller led the
American League in
wins six times and in
strikeouts seven times. In 1946 he recorded 348 strikeouts, the most since 1904 and then believed to be a record. (
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Image 15U.S. Route 491 (
US 491) is a north–south
U.S. Highway serving the
Four Corners region of the United States. It was created in 2003 as a renumbering of
U.S. Route 666 (
US 666). With the US 666 designation, the road was nicknamed the "Devil's Highway" because of the significance of the number
666 to many
Christian denominations as the
Number of the Beast. This
Satanic connotation, combined with a high fatality rate along the New Mexico portion, convinced some people the highway was cursed. The problem was compounded by persistent
sign theft. These factors led to two efforts to renumber the highway, first by officials in
Arizona, then by those in
New Mexico. There have been safety improvement projects since the renumbering, and fatality rates have subsequently decreased.
The highway, now a spur route of
US 91 via its connection to
US 191, runs through
New Mexico,
Colorado and
Utah, as well as the tribal nations of the
Navajo Nation and
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. The highway passes by two mountains considered sacred by Native Americans:
Ute Mountain and an extinct volcanic core named
Shiprock. Other features along the route include
Mesa Verde National Park and
Dove Creek, Colorado, the self-proclaimed pinto-bean capital of the world. (
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Image 16The
Battle of San Patricio was fought on February 27, 1836, between
Texian rebels and the Mexican army, during the
Texas Revolution. The battle occurred as a result of the outgrowth of the Texian
Matamoros Expedition. The battle marked the start of the
Goliad Campaign, the Mexican offensive to retake the Texas
Gulf Coast. It took place in and around
San Patricio.
By the end of 1835, all Mexican troops had been driven from Texas.
Frank W. Johnson, the commander of the volunteer army in Texas, and
James Grant gathered volunteers for a planned invasion of the Mexican port town of
Matamoros. In February 1836, Johnson and about 40 men led a herd of horses to
San Patricio in preparation for the expedition. Johnson assigned some of his troops to a ranch 4 miles (6.4 km) outside town to guard the horses, while the rest of his men garrisoned in three different locations in town. (
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Image 17Edward Teller (
Hungarian:
Teller Ede; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian and American
theoretical physicist and chemical engineer who is known colloquially as "the father of the
hydrogen bomb" and one of the creators of the
Teller–Ulam design based on
Stanisław Ulam's design. He had a volatile personality, and was "driven by his megaton ambitions, had a
messianic complex, and displayed autocratic behavior." A thermonuclear design he devised was an Alarm Clock model bomb with a yield of 1000 MT (1 GT of TNT) and he proposed delivering it by boat or submarine. It would be capable of incinerating a continent.
Born in
Austria-Hungary in 1908, Teller emigrated to the US in the 1930s, one of the many so-called
"Martians", a group of Hungarian scientist émigrés. He made numerous contributions to
nuclear and
molecular physics,
spectroscopy, and
surface physics. His extension of
Enrico Fermi's theory of
beta decay, in the form of
Gamow–Teller transitions, provided an important stepping stone in its application, while the
Jahn–Teller effect and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller
(BET) theory have retained their original formulation and are mainstays in physics and chemistry. Teller thought about his problems using basic principles of physics and often discussed with other cohorts to make headway through difficult problems. This was seen when he worked with Stanislaw Ulam to get a workable thermonuclear fusion bomb design, but later temperamentally dismissed Ulam's aid.
Herbert York stated that Teller utilized Ulam's general idea of compression and heating to start thermonuclear fusion to generate his own sketch of a "Super" bomb that would work. Prior to Ulam's idea, Teller's classical Super was essentially a system for heating uncompressed liquid deuterium to the point, Teller hoped, when it would sustain thermonuclear burning. It was, in essence a simple idea from physical principles, which Teller pursued with a ferocious tenacity even if he was wrong or shown that it would not work. To get support from Washington for his Super weapon project, Teller proposed a thermonuclear
radiation implosion experiment as the "George" shot of
Operation Greenhouse. (
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Image 18
Cascade Pass and Pelton Basin
is a
national park of the United States in
Washington. At more than 500,000 acres (200,000 ha), it is the largest of the three
National Park Service units that comprise the North Cascades National Park Complex. North Cascades National Park consists of a northern and southern section, bisected by the
Skagit River that flows through the reservoirs of
Ross Lake National Recreation Area.
Lake Chelan National Recreation Area lies on the southern border of the south unit of the park. In addition to the two
national recreation areas, other protected lands including several
national forests and
wilderness areas, as well as
Canadian provincial parks in
British Columbia, nearly surround the park. North Cascades National Park features the rugged mountain peaks of the
North Cascades Range, the most expansive glacial system in the
contiguous United States, the headwaters of numerous waterways, and vast forests with the highest degree of flora
biodiversity of any American national park.
The region was first settled by
Paleo-Indian Native Americans; by the time
European American explorers arrived, it was inhabited by
Skagit tribes. By the early 19th century, the region was visited by fur trappers and several British and American companies vied for control over the
fur trade. After the
Canada–United States border was set at the
49th parallel in 1846, explorers came to chart potential routes through the mountains for roads and railroads. Limited mining and logging occurred from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. The first significant human impact in the region occurred in the 1920s when several dams were built in the Skagit River valley to generate hydroelectric power.
Environmentalists then campaigned to preserve the remaining wilderness, culminating on October 2, 1968, with the designation of North Cascades National Park. (
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Image 19The
1899 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1899, to choose the 33rd
governor of Kentucky. The incumbent,
Republican William O'Connell Bradley, was
term-limited and unable to seek re-election.
During a contentious and chaotic convention at the Music Hall in
Louisville, the
Democratic Party nominated
state Senator William Goebel. A dissident faction of the party, styling themselves the "Honest Election Democrats", were angered by Goebel's political tactics at the Music Hall convention and later held their own convention. They nominated former Governor
John Y. Brown. Republicans nominated
state Attorney General William S. Taylor, although Governor Bradley favored another candidate and lent Taylor little support in the ensuing campaign. In the general election, Taylor won by a vote of 193,714 to 191,331. Brown garnered 12,040 votes, more than the difference between Taylor and Goebel. The election results were challenged on grounds of
voter fraud, but the state Board of Elections, created by a law Goebel had sponsored and stacked with pro-Goebel commissioners, certified Taylor's victory. (
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Image 20Shannon Matilda Wells Lucid (born January 14, 1943) is an American
biochemist and retired
NASA astronaut. She has flown in space five times, including a prolonged mission aboard the Russian space station
Mir in 1996, and is the only American woman to have stayed on
Mir. From 1996 to 2007, Lucid held the record for the longest duration spent in space by an American and by a woman. She was awarded the
Congressional Space Medal of Honor in December 1996, making her the tenth person and the first woman to be accorded the honor.
Lucid is a graduate of the
University of Oklahoma, where she earned a
bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1963, a master's degree in
biochemistry in 1970, and a
PhD in biochemistry in 1973. She was a laboratory technician at the
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation from 1964 to 1966, a research chemist at
Kerr-McGee from 1966 to 1968, and a research associate at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation from 1973 to 1978. (
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Image 21
Spine of 1937 republication
is a work of literary criticism by American writer and critic
John Neal. Published by
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine in five installments between September 1824 and February 1825, it is recognized by scholars as the first history of
American literature and the first substantial work of criticism concerning US authors. It is Neal's longest critical work and at least 120 authors are covered, based entirely on Neal's memory. With no notes or books for reference, Neal made multiple factually inaccurate claims and provided coverage of many authors that modern scholars criticize as disproportionate to their role in American literature. Scholars nevertheless praise the staying power of Neal's opinions, many of which are reflected by other critics decades later, notably "
Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses" by
Mark Twain. Theories of poetry and prose in
American Writers foreshadowed and likely influenced later works by
Edgar Allan Poe and
Walt Whitman. Neal argued American literature relied too much on British precedent and had failed to develop its own voice. He offered sharp criticism of many authors while simultaneously urging critics not to offer writers from the US undeserved praise, lest it stifle the development of a truly distinct American literature. Poe's later critical essays on literature reflected these strictures.
Neal wrote the series in London, where he lived between 1824 and 1827. Having moved there from Baltimore, his goals were to establish himself as America's leading literary figure, encourage the development of a uniquely American writing style, and reverse British disdain for literature from the US. He soon became the first American published in any British literary journal,
American Writers being the longest and best-remembered of his works on American topics in multiple UK periodicals. He wrote for Scottish publisher
William Blackwood under an English pseudonym, which Neal assumed was convincing. Blackwood and British readers likely realized they were reading the work of an American, and multiple leading American periodicals revealed Neal as the author before the series was completed. (
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Image 22Ryan Wayne White (December 6, 1971 – April 8, 1990) was an American teenager from
Kokomo, Indiana, who became a national
poster child for
HIV/AIDS in the United States after his school barred him from attending classes following a diagnosis of AIDS.
As a
hemophiliac, White became infected with HIV from a contaminated
factor VIII blood treatment and, when diagnosed in December 1984, was given six months to live. Doctors said he posed no risk to other students, as AIDS is not an
airborne disease and spreads solely through
bodily fluids, but AIDS was poorly understood by the general public at the time. When White tried to return to school, irate parents and teachers in
Howard County rallied against his attendance due to unwarranted concerns of the disease spreading to other students and staff. A lengthy administrative appeal process ensued, and news of the conflict turned White into a popular celebrity and
advocate for
AIDS research and
public education. Surprising his doctors, White lived five years longer than predicted. He died on April 8, 1990, one month before his high school
graduation. (
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Image 23William Feiner SJ (born
Wilhelm Feiner; December 27, 1792 – June 9, 1829) was a German
Catholic priest and
Jesuit who became a
missionary to the United States and eventually the president of Georgetown College, now known as
Georgetown University.
Born in
Münster, he taught in Jesuit schools in the
Russian Empire and Polish
Galicia as a young member of the
Society of Jesus. He then emigrated to the United States several years after the
restoration of the Society, taking up pastoral work and teaching
theology in
Conewago, Pennsylvania, before becoming a full-time professor at Georgetown College. There, he also became the second dedicated librarian of
Georgetown's library. Eventually, Feiner became
president of the college in 1826. While president, he taught theology at Georgetown and ministered to the congregation at
Holy Trinity Church. (
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Image 24Nine Inch Nails, an American
industrial rock band fronted by
Trent Reznor, has
toured all over the world since its creation in 1988. While Reznor—the only official member until the addition of
Atticus Ross in 2016—controls its creative and musical direction in the studio, the touring band performs different arrangements of the songs. In addition to regular concerts, the band has performed in both supporting and headlining roles at festivals such as
Woodstock '94,
Lollapalooza 1991 and 2008, and many other one-off performances including the
MTV Video Music Awards. Prior to their 2013 tour, the band had played 938 gigs.
Nine Inch Nails' live performances contrast with its in-studio counterpart.
Reznor writes and performs nearly all Nine Inch Nails studio material, with occasional instrumental and vocal contributions from other artists. However, Reznor has typically assembled groups of backing musicians to interpret songs for tours and other live performances. Keyboardist
Alessandro Cortini said that "if you see the show and you're used to the CDs it's pretty clear that the studio entity is different from the live entity". (
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Image 25Tesla, Inc., an American
electric car and
solar panel manufacturer, has more than 140,000 workers employed across its global operations as of January 2024, almost none of whom are
unionized. Despite allegations of
high injury rates, long hours, and below-industry pay, efforts to unionize the workforce have been largely unsuccessful.
Elon Musk, Tesla's
CEO,
has commented negatively on trade unions in relation to the company. Tesla has been involved in
labor disputes in the
United States,
Germany, and
Sweden, including an ongoing
strike in Sweden.
Tesla is the only major American automaker whose workforce is not represented by a
union in the United States. None of the union drives in
Tesla Fremont Factory and
Gigafactory New York have been successful. In late 2023,
United Auto Workers announced renewed
unionization efforts. (
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Glynn S. Lunney (November 27, 1936 – March 19, 2021) was a
NASA engineer. An employee of NASA since its foundation in 1958, Lunney was a
flight director during the
Gemini and
Apollo programs, and was on duty during historic events such as the
Apollo 11 lunar ascent and the pivotal hours of the
Apollo 13 crisis. At the end of the Apollo program, he became manager of the
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first collaboration in spaceflight between the
United States and the
Soviet Union. Later, he served as manager of the
Space Shuttle program before leaving NASA in 1985 and later becoming a Vice President of the
United Space Alliance.
Lunney was a pivotal figure in America's manned space program from Project Mercury through the coming of the Space Shuttle. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the National Space Trophy, which he was given by the Rotary Club in 2005. Chris Kraft, NASA's first flight director, described Lunney as "a true hero of the space age", saying that he was "one of the outstanding contributors to the exploration of space of the last four decades".