TODAY IN HISTORY: Big day for inventors, patents

In 632, the Prophet Mohammad died. His teachings, recorded in the Qur’an, forged a new religion — Islam.

In 1615, Fathers Le Caron, Jamet, Colbeau and Duplessies, the first Christian priests in Canada, reached Quebec from France.

In 1786, commercially made ice cream was sold for the first time in New York.

In 1794, a deistic religion honouring Liberty, Equality and Fraternity replaced Christianity during the French Revolution. Churches became temples of reason.

In 1824, Noah Cushing of Quebec obtained a patent for a washing machine.

In 1866, Canada held the first meeting in the Parliament buildings, which were still unfinished. Construction on the complex had begun in 1857, when Queen Victoria chose Ottawa to be the national capital, and would not finish until 1877.

In 1869, Ives W. McGaffey of Chicago patented his sweeping machine — the earliest suctiontype vacuum cleaner.

In 1929, Britain’s first woman cabinet minister was appointed when Margaret Bondfield became minister of labour.

In 1944, Canadian soldiers captured 12 towns in Normandy during the Second World War.

In 1953, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that restaurants in the District of Columbia could not refuse to serve blacks.

In 1968, James Earl Ray was arrested and charged in London with assassinating U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King. Ray fled to Toronto just four days after King’s murder in Memphis on April 4. He remained in Toronto for a month before leaving for London with two forged Canadian passports. After being returned to Memphis, Ray pleaded guilty to King’s murder and was sentenced to 99 years. He recanted his plea soon after, but remained in prison until dying of liver cancer in 1998.

In 1977, Joey Smallwood, Newfoundland’s first premier from 1949-72, resigned from the provincial legislature and quit active politics.

In 2005, Ontario passed tough anti-smoking legislation that banned smoking in all indoor public places and workplaces effective June 2006.

In 2009, Pte. Alexandre Peloquin, 20, based at CFB Valcartier, near Quebec City, was killed after stepping on an explosive device while patrolling in the Panjwaii district of Afghanistan.

In 2012, Quebec became the sixth province to sue tobacco companies, launching a $60 billion lawsuit in an attempt to recoup health costs.

In 2020, flight investigators determined the military helicopter that crashed off the coast of Greece in April did not respond as the crew on board expected before going down into the Mediterranean Sea. The finding was in a preliminary investigation report published by the Royal Canadian Air Force, which said investigators would now focus on both the Cyclone helicopter’s various systems and what role “human factors” played in the crash.