This Day In History : August 14

1894 United Kingdom

The first wireless transmission of information using Morse code

‘On the 14th August 1894 the first wireless transmission using Morse code was demonstrated The first wireless transmission of information using Morse code was demonstrated by Oliver Lodge during a meeting of the British Association at Oxford. A message was transmitted about 150 yards from the old Clarendon Laboratory to the University Museum.

Also on This Day in History August 14

Discover what happened on August 14 with HISTORY's summaries of major events, anniversaries,
famous births and notable deaths.

Births on This Day, August 14
  • 1919 Richard Darwin Keynes

    British physiologist who did pioneering work on the mechanisms underlying the conduction of the action potential along nerve fibres.

  • 1871 Paul Bartsch

    German-American zoologist who was an authority on molluscs, but had broad interests in natural history including plants and birds.

  • 1886 Arthur Jeffrey Dempster

    Canadian-American physicist who in 1918 built the first mass spectrometer (based on the invention of Francis W. Aston) and discovered isotope uranium-235 (1935).

  • 1919 Richard Darwin Keynes

    British physiologist who did pioneering work on the mechanisms underlying the conduction of the action potential along nerve fibres.

  • 1860 Ernest Thompson Seton

    English-American naturalist, author and illustrator who applied these skills in over forty books on wild life, woodcraft, Indian lore and animal-fiction stories.

Deaths on This Day, August 14
  • 1930 Florian Cajori

    Swiss-born U.S. educator and mathematician whose works on the history of mathematics were among the most eminent of his time.

  • 1988 Enzo Ferrari

    Italian automobile manufacturer, designer, and racing-car driver whose Ferrari cars often dominated world racing competition in the second half of the 20th century.

  • 1915 Frederic Ward Putnam

    American archaeologist, naturalist and museum director who played a major role in the popularization of anthropology, its acceptance as a university study, and instigated more anthropological museums.

  • 1961 Henri Breuil

    Henri-Édouard-Prosper Breuil was a French archaeologist, who was an authority on Paleolithic cave paintings, especially in France and Spain.

  • 1941 Paul Sabatier

    Prof Paul Sabatier FRS HFRSE was a French chemist, born in Carcassonne. In 1912, Sabatier was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Victor Grignard.

1040

Battle of Bothnagowan

1040 King Duncan I of Scotland killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth (not murdered in his sleep as in Shakespeare's play). The latter does succeed him as King.
1952

The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis

1952 Alan Turing's ground-breaking paper on mathematical biology “The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis” is published 
1893

France is the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration

The first motor vehicle registration plates were introduced in the Department of the Seine, France, by a police ordinance of August 14, 1893.
1820

The first U.S. eye hospital, was founded in New York City

In 1820, the first U.S. eye hospital, was founded in New York City in two rooms at 45 Chatham Street. A young physician, Dr. Edward Delafield, conceived the idea to establish an institution for the exclusive treatment of diseases of the eye.
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