Today in history

On this date:

In 1543, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus died in Frombork, Poland. He proposed the heliocentric, or sun-centred, system whereby the planets orbit around the sun. He was born Feb. 19, 1473, in Torum, Poland.

In 1603, Samuel de Champlain first landed in Canada, at Tadoussac, Que.

In 1686, Gabriel Fahrenheit, the German inventor of the temperature scale that bears his name, was born in Gdansk. He died in The Hague on Sept. 16, 1736.

In 1738, the Methodist Church was established in England.

In 1819, Queen Victoria was born at Kensington Palace, London. She was the only daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent, fourth son of George III. She became the heir to the throne because the three uncles who were ahead of her in succession – George IV, Frederick, Duke of York, and William IV – had no surviving legitimate children. Warmhearted and lively, Victoria had a gift for drawing and painting; educated by a governess at home, she was a natural diarist and kept a regular journal throughout her life.

On William IV’s death in 1837, she became queen at age 18 and reigned for 64 years. She died Jan. 22, 1901, at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.

In 1833, William Logie of Montreal became the first person to receive a medical degree in Canada. It was awarded by McGill University.

In 1844, Samuel Morse transmitted the words, “What hath God wrought!” from Washington to Baltimore as he formally opened the first telegraph line in the U.S.

In 1881, the excursion steamboat “Victoria” sank on the Thames River near London, Ont., with the loss of 181 lives.