HomeThis week in historyJuly 11 to July 17: 165 year orbits, Aboriginal flag, Live Aid...

July 11 to July 17: 165 year orbits, Aboriginal flag, Live Aid and more good news in history.

Throughout history there has always been something positive happening in the world. We’re going back in time to look at some of the good news in history for the week of the 11th of July.

July 11, 2011

Neptune completes it’s first orbit since its discovery in 1846

Neptune as seen from Voyager 2 from 4.4 million miles
The planet Neptune – Photo by NASA on Unsplash

That’s correct; it takes Neptune a whopping 165 years to complete its orbit of the sun, whilst Earth takes only 365 days and 5 hours. Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet in our Solar System, The Milky Way. Urbain Le Verrier officially discovered and charted the location of Neptune in 1846. Although Galileo Galilei actually discovered Neptune way back in 1612, but dismissed it as a star using his primitive telescope. Fast-forward to the 11th of July 2011 and Neptune finally completed its first orbit since its official discovery back in 1846.

July 12, 1971

Australian Aboriginal flag was flown for the first time

Australian Aboriginal flag
Australian Aboriginal flag

The Australian Aboriginal flag was flown for the first time on the 12th of July 1971 in Victoria Square, Adelaide, South Australia. The flag has since become the recognised symbol of unity for all Australian Aboriginal peoples. As of July 2022 it is permanently flying on the Sydney Harbour bridge.

July 12, 1984

Geraldine Ferraro becomes the first female vice-presidential nominee

Button for Geraldine Ferraro
Vote button for Geraldine Ferraro Photo by: Joe Haupt @ Flicker

On the 12th of July 1984 Democratic Vice President and presidential nominee Walter Mondale announced Geraldine Ferraro as his vice-presidential nominee for the upcoming election, making Ferraro the first female vice-presidential nominee in history. Whilst it is believed that Mondale’s vote was significantly higher than expected due to Ferraro being his running mate the pair ultimately lost to Ronald Regan. Ferraro worked as a public school teacher in New York City before training as a lawyer. She joined the Queens County District Attorney’s Office in 1974, heading up the new Special Victims Bureau. In 1978 Ferraro was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives focusing on bringing equity for women in the areas of wages, pensions, and retirement plans.

July 13, 1985

Live Aid concerts raise $75 million for African famine relief

Live Aid Concert
Live Aid Concert in philadelphia. Photo by Rick Olivieri on Flicker

Live Aid was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London and at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, United States. The concerts were set-up to raise money for relief of the famine in Ethiopia. Live Aid was the largest global TV broadcast of the time with an estimated audience of 1.9 billion people in over 150 different countries tuning in live.

July 14, 2014

The Church of England allows women to become bishops

Photo of Libby Lane
Libby Lane become the first Female Anglican Bishop

The Church of England held a vote to allow women to become bishops in their church. In the house of Bishops, 37 were in favour and 2 against, and one abstention. The House of Clergy voted 162 in favour, 25 against and there were four abstentions. Right Reverend Libby Lane was the first female Bishop who was sworn in on the 11 February 2019.

July 15, 1916 and 1954

Boeing launches and their first commercial US built aircraft tested

Photo of Boeing 707 Aircraft

Boeing has two entries for this date. On this day in 1916 Boeing was founded. Later, on July 15 1954 Boeing built the first commercial American-built jet aircraft. Boeing is now the world largest plane maker with 52% of the market share.

July 16 1969

Apollo 11 takes off from Earth

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot of the first lunar landing mission, poses for a photograph beside the deployed United States flag during an Apollo 11 Extravehicular Activity on the lunar surface
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission. Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy space station on July 16, 1969, carrying commander Neil Armstrong and pilots Michael Collins and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin. An estimated 650 million people from around the world tuned in to watch Armstrong’s televised image and heard his soon to be famous line “…one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” four days later on July 20, 1969.

July 17 1959

Mary Leakey discovers skull of an early human ancestor

Photo of Mary Leaky with the partial skull she discovered
Mary Leakey discovered the Zinjanthropus skull in Olduvai Gorge, 1959.

Paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey discovers a partial skull of a newly discovered species of early human called Zinjanthropus boisei (now refered to as Paranthropus boisei). This hominid lived in Africa almost 2 million years ago.

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