15 November

1532     Commanded by Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conquistadors under Hernando de Soto meet Inca Empire leader Atahualpa for the first time outside Cajamarca, arranging a meeting on the city plaza the following day

1533     Francisco Pizarro arrives in Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire.

1594     Martin Frobisher (died), English explorer (born 1539)

1738     William Herschel (born), German-English astronomer (died 1822)

1777     After 16 months of debate the Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation.

1791     The first U.S Catholic college, Georgetown University, opens its doors.

1806     Pike expedition: Lieutenant Zebulon Pike sees a distant mountain peak while near the Colorado foothills of the Rocky Mountains (it is later named Pikes Peak).

1859     The first modern revival of the Olympic Games takes place in Athens, Greece.

1864     Union General William Tecumseh Sherman burns Atlanta, Georgia and starts Sherman’s March to the Sea.

1887     Georgia O’Keeffe (born), American painter (died 1986)

1890     Richmal Crompton (born), English author (died 1969)

1891     Erwin Rommel (born), German field marshal (died 1944)

1891     W. Averell Harriman (born), American politician, 48th Governor of New York (died 1986)

1905     Mantovani (born), Italian conductor and composer (died 1980)

1917     Émile Durkheim (died), French sociologist (born 1858)

1926     The NBC radio network opens with 24 stations.

1932     Clyde McPhatter (born), American singer (Billy Ward and His Dominoes and The Drifters) (died 1972)

1932     Petula Clark (born), English actress and singer

1942     The Battle of Guadalcanal ends in a decisive Allied victory.

1943     German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies are to be put “on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps”.

1954     Lionel Barrymore (died), American actor (born 1878)

1958     Tyrone Power (died), American actor (born 1914)

1969     In Columbus, Ohio, Dave Thomas opens the first Wendy’s restaurant.

1969     In Washington, D.C., 250,000-500,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the war, including a symbolic “March Against Death”.

1971     Intel releases world’s first commercial single-chip microprocessor, the 4004.

1978     Margaret Mead (died), American anthropologist (born 1901)

1979     A package from the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski begins smoking in the cargo hold of a flight from Chicago, Illinois to Washington, D.C., forcing the plane to make an emergency landing.

1985     A research assistant is injured when a package from the Unabomber addressed to a University of Michigan professor explodes.

1996     Alger Hiss (died), American lawyer, diplomat, and author (born 1904)

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EO Smith

Interests include biological anthropology, evolution, social behavior, and human behavior. Conducted field research in the Tana River National Primate Reserve, Kenya and on Angaur, Palau, Micronesia, as well as research with captive nonhuman primates at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Institute for Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya.
EO Smith
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