Charles Macintosh was a native of Scotland. He was a chemist and inventor who is best known for his invention in 1923 of waterproof fabric. The waterproof coat, the Mackintosh, often called the ‘mac’, was named for him.

Charles Macintosh was born in Glasgow in 1766. At the age of 20 he left his job as a clerk to devote his time to science. In 1823 he invented a waterproof fabric by welding two sheets of cloth together with natural rubber. He made several other chemical discoveries and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Charles Macintosh, best known for his invention the waterproof coat, the Mackintosh, was born in Glasgow in the year 1766 On This Day.

Charles Macintosh

http://www.grosvenorprints.com/port2sci.htm#gilbmaci

Stan Lee was a comic book writer and publisher who was a native of the USA. He was one of the creators of superheroes such as the Fantastic Four, The Avengers and Captain America. He later created several comic book characters including Spider-Man. Lee was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1995. He received the National Medal of Arts in 2008 from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Stan Lee was born Stanley Martin Lieber in New York City in 1922. Following graduation from high school in 1939 he joined a comic company. The company would eventually became Marvel Comics with Lee as editorial director and publisher. Marvel grew to become a multimedia corporation creating characters such as X-Men, the Hulk and Thor.

Stan Lee, comic book writer, publisher and creator of characters like Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Hulk and Thor was born in the year 1922 On This Day.

Photo by Gage Skidmore

Stan Lee

Doctor Zhivago is an award winning movie. The movie, which was released in 1965 was based on a novel of the same name. The novel was written by poet and novelist Boris Pasternak who was a native of soviet Russia. It was published in 1959. The movie, Doctor Zhivago was the winner of five Oscars at the Academy Awards in 1966. It has a total running time of 197 minutes.

Filming of the award winning movie “Dr. Zhivago” began on location near Madrid, Spain in the year 1964 On This Day.

Photo by Ayuntamiento de Soria

doctor zhivago

Photo by jeffedoe

The Eiffel Tower is the most visited paid monument in the world. It was built by Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923). Eiffel was a French engineer, whose early work focussed chiefly on bridges. Eiffel also built the metallic skeleton which supports the copper exterior of the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in New York Harbour. The statue was delivered to New York as a gift to the United States from the people of France. It was officially received in 1885 by the Mayor of New York William Russell Grace, who was a native of Ballylinan Co Laois, Ireland.

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was born in Dijon, France on December 15^th 1832. He was educated locally and later at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, in Paris. Following graduation in 1855 he specialised in building bridges in France and abroad. Eiffel built the Maria Pia Bridge over the river Douro in Portugal. The bridge was completed in 1877.

Eiffel began building the Eiffel Tower in 1887 on the Champ-de-Mars in central Paris. It was the entrance arch for the 1889 Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair). The Exposition was held to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The tower which is 324 metres tall was the tallest building in the world when it was completed.

Many people initially criticised the Eiffel Tower and felt it was an eyesore. Some people would dine in the restaurant at the base in order to avoid seeing the tower. It is today one of the best known structures in the world and attracts an estimated seven million visitors every year.

Gustave Eiffel, builder of the the most visited paid monument in the world, the Eiffel Tower, died aged 92 in the year 1923 On This Day.

Gustave Eiffel

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-the-french-engineer-gustave-eiffel-1890s-news-photo/141551141

Photo by Nicolas Vollmer

Tour Eiffel