Tanganyika and Zanzibar Merge to Form Tanzania (1964)

Located in central East Africa, Tanzania has been inhabited by humans or their ancestors perhaps longer than any other place on Earth, with hominid fossils discovered there dating back over two million years. The country of Tanzania is a more recent development, forming in 1964 with the merger of two newly independent republics—Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The former leaders of Tanganyika and Zanzibar then became Tanzania’s first president and vice president. What is Tanzania’s official language? Discuss

John James Audubon (1785)

Audubon was a US ornithologist and artist known for his drawings and paintings of North American birds. After failing in business, he concentrated on compiling his extraordinary four-volume Birds of America, published between 1827 and 1838. Though his bird poses are sometimes unrealistic—the result of painting dead birds wired into position—and some details are inaccurate, his studies were fundamental to New World ornithology. How many bird species are featured in Birds of America? Discuss

Zero

Despite being the last digit to come into use in the numerical system, the zero plays a central role in mathematics. During the 2nd century CE, Ptolemy began using a small circle with a long bar above it to symbolize zero. Because it was used alone, not just as a placeholder, this Hellenistic zero was perhaps the first documented use of a number zero in the Old World. Four centuries later, an Indian mathematician wrote a book of rules governing the use of the zero. Is zero an odd or even number? Discuss

Ella Fitzgerald (1917)

After winning an amateur contest at Harlem’s Apollo Theater in 1934, Fitzgerald started singing with Chick Webb’s big band and soon became its star. She recorded her first hit, “A Tisket-A Tasket,” in 1938 and went on to become one of the best-selling vocal recording artists in history and a 14-time Grammy Award winner. In 1960, she made a famous live recording in which she improvised new lyrics to a song after forgetting the original ones. The performance earned her a Grammy. What song was it? Discuss

Sambo

Sambo is a modern martial art and combat sport that was developed to enhance the military’s hand-to-hand combat system in the former Soviet Union. In 1938, it was named the official sport of the USSR. Sambo combines a variety of wrestling styles with east Asian martial arts, boxing, and even fencing, from which it derives its parrying and lunging techniques. What does the combat style’s name mean? Discuss

Hubble Space Telescope Launched (1990)

The Hubble Space Telescope is the most sophisticated optical observatory ever placed into orbit around Earth, able to view star material some 10 to 12 billion light years away. Because it is above Earth’s obscuring atmosphere, it can obtain images that are much brighter, clearer, and more detailed than ground-based telescope images. Although a defect in the primary mirror initially caused it to produce fuzzy images, a 1993 shuttle mission fixed this. What are some of Hubble’s most famous images? Discuss