On This Day: January 14

This is the 14th day of the year.

Fact of the Day: penguin

The name pen gwyn or 'white head' originally referred to the great auk in winter plumage and was misapplied to the animal we call penguin. The majority of the 18 species breed on islands in subantarctic waters. The total populations of some species, such as the emperor penguin, are estimated in hundreds of thousands, but those of most species of smaller penguins run to several million. The economic importance of penguins is negligible. Most colonies are left alone or actively protected. Some species are now increasing in numbers, apparently as a result of the drastic reduction of Antarctic whales, which compete with penguins for the krill (minute crustaceans) on which both feed.

Holidays

Feast day of the Martyrs of Mount Sinai, St. Barbasymas or Barbascemin, St. Antony Pucci, St. Datius, St. Macrina the Elder, St. Sava, St. Felix of Nola, and St. Kentigern or Mungo.

Uzbekistan: Army Day.

India: Pongal.

Events

1639 - The first constitution in the American colonies, the "Fundamental Orders" of Connecticut, was adopted.

1784 - The United States ratified The Treaty of Paris with England, ending the Revolutionary War.

1794 - Dr. Jesse Bennett of Virginia performed the first successful Caesarean section; the patient was his wife.

1914 - Henry Ford started his first manufacturing assembly line.

1942 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered all aliens in the United States to register with the government.

1943 - United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at Casablanca.

1952 - NBC's "Today" show premiered on TV.

1954 - Baseball hero Joe DiMaggio married film star Marilyn Monroe.

1963 - George C. Wallace was sworn in as governor of Alabama with a pledge of "segregation forever."

1980 - Gold reached a new record price of more than $800 an ounce.

Births

1741 - Benedict Arnold, turncoat American general in the American Revolutionary War.

1875 - Albert Schweitzer, German philosopher, musician, physician, humanitarian, winner of thw 1952 Nobel Peace Prize.

1892 - Hal Roach, American producer, writer, and director.

1904 - Cecil Beaton, British photographer and stage designer.

1919 - Andy Rooney, American writer, columnist, commentator.

1941 - Faye Dunaway, American Academy Award-winning actress.

Deaths

1742 - Edmund Halley, English astronomer.