8 February 1924 - The first execution in a gas chamber in the USA.

Gee Jon born in China emigrated to the USA aged around 12/13 and lived in San Francisco where he became a member of a Chinese crime syndicate. In August 1921 he and another syndicate member travelled to Mina NV to kill an elderly man a member of a rival crime gang. Gee shot and killed the man at his home. Both were arrested later that same day.

They were both convicted in February 1922 with Gee being sentenced to death. A recently passed law authorizing the use of a gas chamber for executions meant that Gee was the first to die by this method.

After the usual delays and appeals a date was set for his execution at the Nevada State Prison, Carson City. On the prescribed day he was strapped into a metal chair before hydrocyanic acid provided by the California Cyanine Co was pumped into the chamber. Death appeared to be relatively quick and the gas was vented out after about 20 minutes, but it was more than two hours before his body was removed. No post mortem was carried out and Gee aged 29 was buried in the prison cemetery.

I've stupidly gone and put today's anniversary on the On This Date page. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow.  

10 February 1912 - Joseph Lister, Baron Lister of Lyme Regis, died.

English surgeon and pioneer of antiseptic surgery.

As Professor of Surgery at Glasgow University in 1865 he introduced the use of carbolic acid as a steriliser thus revolutionizing the effects of surgery and greatly increasing a patient's chances of survival. 

He was created a Baronet in 1883 and raised to the Peerage as Baron Lister in 1897.  

Someone who thoroughly deserved the honours bestowed upon him. 

11 February 1847 - Thomas Edison born.

American inventor of all sorts of things. 

12 February 1809 - Charles Darwin born.

One of the great names in modern science. At the age of 22 he set off as the unpaid naturalist on the round the world voyage of HMS Beagle, a journey of nearly five years in which Darwin made many observations and experiments. These formed the basis of one of the most important books in history - On the Origin of Species published in 1859. 

He published further works on a similar theme earning praise and derision in equal measure.

13 February 1743 - Sir Joseph Banks born.

English botanist famous for his voyage around the world on HMS Endeavour with James Cook 1768-71. His plant collection formed the basis of the Kew Gardens collection. More than 80 species of plants bear his name. He also took part in natural history expeditions to Iceland and Newfoundland.

Created a baronet in 1781 he served as President of the Royal Society for 41 years.  

14 February 1922 - The first regular radio transmissions in GB.

Not the BBC, that wasn't founded until October 1922, but a small station 2MT based in an old army hut in Writtle, Essex run by radio pioneer Peter Eckersley.

2MT broadcasted a 30 minute programme every Tuesday at 2000hrs with guests invited down to the remote location with the lure of a £1 fee. It is estimated that up to 8000 people were able to tune in for the 11 months that the station ran. It was taken over by the newly founded BBC in January 1923.

The hut is preserved at the Sandford Mill Museum in Chelmsford.

Not on the BBC, but that could change as it's one way of raising revenue. All other stations have commercials, most of them annoying and take up too much viewing time. On a commercial station a TV programme billed as an hour long will actually last about 47-50 minutes, on the BBC an hour is an hour. 

15 February 1971 - Decimal Day.

The day on which decimal currency was introduced into the UK doing away with the centuries old pound, shillings and pence.

Previously it was, to modern eyes today, a confusing system of 12 pennies to a shilling and 20 shillings to a pound. 

The Decimal Currency Act 1967 gave 1971 as the year that the new simpler system would be introduced. In preparation no new "old" coins were minted after 1967 with "new" decimal coins being introduced but retaining their "old" values, so a 10p decimal coin was circulated from 1968 with a value of two shillings etc. Old coins and banknotes were gradually withdrawn and replaced by decimal so that by February 1971 everyone knew what the new coins/notes looked like and their value.

There was a lot of complaint over inflation as previously there had been 240 pennies to a pound, now there were only 100, but on the whole things went smoothly.

I can just about remember the changeover, I was nine, Art will have first hand knowledge of it. I was only buying sweets and comics then!

16 February 1881 - The Canadian Pacific Railway founded.

The most famous railroad in North America, it runs from Montreal to Vancouver with branches running into the USA. Construction was completed in 1885.

And like all big railroad companies they operated a fleet of ships, sounds so weird now. Most of them the Empress class, the most famous being the Empress of Ireland which sank in the St Lawrence Seaway after a collision with over 1000 killed. It was a few weeks before the outbreak of the war in 1914 and is largely forgotten. 

17 February 1753 - Sweden adopted the Gregorian Calendar.

By the 1570s the calendar used in the Christian world had fallen out of synchronisation with the seasons, so Pope Gregory XIII ordered a review which came up with a revised calendar meaning an advance of ten days. This took effect in October 1582. Most Catholic countries adopted the new dates within months, but the Protestant and Eastern Orthodox nations refused to apply the Papal edict.

However as the years passed it became clear that the amendments were increasingly necessary. Many Protestant countries accepted the Gregorian review around 1699/1700 leaving just one holding out against reform - GB. Unfortunately Sweden messed up their reforms, a second change in 1712 still left it out of synchronisation with everyone else. GB finally accepted the obvious and moved into line with the rest of Europe (except Sweden of course) in 1752. Eventually in February 1753 the Swedes got it right, by then the calendar was 11 days behind, thus 17 February was followed by 1 March allowing all of Christian Europe to work with a single calendar.

The Russian and Turkish Empires did not evolve until the early 20th century, by which time they were 13 days behind.  

18 February 1745 - Count Alessandro Volta born.

Italian chemist and physicist credited with the invention of the battery and the voltaic pile (whatever that is!) and the "discovery" of methane. Created a Count by Emperor Napoleon in 1810, Volta's birthplace in the Duchy of Milan then under French control.

The SI unit the volt is named after him.

19 February 1473 - Nicholaus Copernicus born.

Polish astronomer, not the first to speculate that the Earth revolved around the sun with the sun being the centre of our universe, but the first to prove it with observations and calculations which he published in his work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium a few days before his death in 1543. He had spent 30 years on his theories.