Today in history
1766: Birth of Thomas Bruce 7th Earl of Elgin, British administrator and diplomat who negotiated the removal to Britain of friezes from the Parthenon in Athens called the Elgin marbles after him. 'Elginism' derived from his name now refers to the illicit removal of items of cultural interest from stately homes or places of historical interest. His son James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and viceroy of India in 1862 was also born on this day in 1811.
• 1766: Birth of Thomas Bruce 7th Earl of Elgin, British administrator and diplomat who negotiated the removal to Britain of friezes from the Parthenon in Athens called the Elgin marbles after him. 'Elginism' derived from his name now refers to the illicit removal of items of cultural interest from stately homes or places of historical interest. His son James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and viceroy of India in 1862 was also born on this day in 1811.
• 1836: Birth of Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt, English physician, and the inventor of the short clinical thermometer. It replaced a foot-long model that required 20 minutes to determine a patient's temperature. He also was the first to prove that angina is caused by the narrowing of the coronary artery.
• 1919: Birth of Sir Edmund (Percival) Hillary in New Zealand. He teamed up with Sherpa Tenzing to be the first to reach the summit of Everest. He later became New Zealand High Commissioner to India.
• 1924: Representatives of 15 countries met in Paris to organize the first permanent international chess federation, known as FIDE, its French acronym for Fédération Internationale des Échecs. This is the international body, which unites national chess federations and directs the chess world.
• 1936: Greek Konstantin Kondylis became the first runner in the history of the modern Olympic torch relay.