TODAY IN HISTORY: ‘Medium is the message’

In 1796, Scottish Poet Robert Burns died. He was 37.

In 1797, in the first execution of its type in Canada, American spy David McLane was publicly hanged, beheaded, and disembowelled.

In 1816, Paul Reuter, founder of the Reuters news agency, was born in Kassel, Germany. He died Feb. 25, 1899.

In 1836, riding on wooden tracks near Montreal, Canada’s first passenger train travelled about 25 kilometres.

In 1873, Jesse James and his gang staged the first train robbery in the United States. They stole $3,000 from a train in Ohio.

In 1899, author Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Ill. Plagued by ill health, he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Idaho on July 2, 1961.

In 1911, communication theorist Marshall McLuhan, who coined the phrase “the medium is the message,” was born in Edmonton. He died Dec. 31, 1980.

In 1925, the famous “monkey trial” ended in Dayton, Tenn. John T. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100 for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. Scopes, who was defended by famed lawyer Clarence Darrow, later had his conviction overturned. The case was portrayed in the film “Inherit the Wind.”

In 1944, American forces landed on Guam during the Second World War.

In 1961, the government-built town of Inuvik, N.W.T., was officially opened. The town, the largest Canadian community north of the Arctic Circle, was constructed to replace the old settlement of Aklavik, which was being threatened by flood and erosion. Located on the Mackenzie River delta, the town’s economy is centred on nearby oil and gas exploration.

In 1969, “Apollo 11” astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin blasted off from the moon aboard the ascent stage of the lunar module for docking with the command module.

In 1972, the CRTC approved the creation of a third television network – Global TV. It was licensed to serve five Ontario cities.

In 1973, Canada ended all ceasefire monitoring activities in Vietnam.

In 1984, in the first known death of a human caused by a robot, a factory worker in Jackson, Mich., was crushed against a safety bar.

In 1988, Canada’s War Measures Act of 1914 was set aside when the new Emergencies Act was given royal assent.

In 1991, pitcher Ferguson Jenkins -- born in Chatham, Ont. -- became the first Canadian member of major league baseball’s Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N.Y.

In 2009, the Competition Bureau gave the merger of Suncor Energy Inc. and PetroCanada its stamp of approval, provided the companies sold 104 gas stations in southern Ontario. The merger, the largest in Canadian history, became final on Aug. 1.