Edited by Gerald Boerner
Introductory Comments:
This day was a day of explorations. After the discovery of gold in California in 1948, the world witnessed a massive invasion of men from around the world attempting to find their claim on part of this treasure; these Forty-Niners used whatever transport that was available to reach San Francisco which became a large city almost overnight. We also reacted in awe in 1953 as two British scientists, Watson and Crick, discovered the double-helix structure of the DNA molecule that is the basis of life; they were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery. This day also witnessed the awarding of the Congressional Medal of Honor to Airman 1st Class John Levitow in 1969; he was the first Vietnam-era airman to be honored with this award.
This day also witnessed FDR appointing a woman, Francis Perkins, as Secretary of Labor making her the first woman to serve on the President’s cabinet in 1933. On a sadder note, we watched with horror as the ATF/FBI raid on the Waco, Texas, compound of the Branch Davidian cult in 1993; as the TV camera crews covered the event, fire swept through the compound killing all the members inside.
After watching the men and women of the 4077th Field Hospital play out their sub-dramas and treating the casualties of the Korean War, in 1983 we witnessed the final episode of the TV show, M*A*S*H; the final episode was “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” and was watched by the largest audience until the most recent Super Bowls. It was a night of television history.
We now will proceed to examine some of the events that are associated with day in history... GLB
These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2012 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved[ 889 Words ]
Quotations Related to DNA:
[ http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/dna.html ]
“If you can write DNA, you’re no longer limited to ‘what is’ but to what you could make.”
— Drew Endy
“The O.J. Simpson case, they had no understanding of that DNA evidence, and didn’t want to.”
— Joseph Wambaugh
“It was very interesting for me because DNA made music without much technical knowledge at all.”
— Arto Lindsay
“He told me that Francis Crick and Jim Watson had solved the structure of DNA, so we decided to go across to Cambridge to see it. This was in April of 1953.”
— Sydney Brenner
“Diversity has been written into the DNA of American life; any institution that lacks a rainbow array has come to seem diminished, if not diseased.”
— Joe Klein