Earth Site Encyclopedia: 9th February

In 2002 Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon died on this day aged 71. The youngest daughter of King George VI and sister of Queen Elizabeth II died “peacefully in her sleep”. HRH, Princess Margaret, suffered a stroke on the afternoon of the 8^th of February and later developed heart problems. She was taken to Edward the VII hospital in London, England where she sadly passed away. Her Funeral was held on the 15^th of February at Saint George’s Chapel, Windsor.

In 1995 Dr Foal and Dr Bernard Harris take a space walk from the United States Space Shuttle Discovery and floated in its shadow for 20 minutes. This was to test the new insulation system in their space suits which kept them warm in the cold of space. Dr Foal (born in Lincolnshire, England) was the first British born American astronaut to space walk while Dr Harris was the first African American Astronaut.

In 1964 the Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan show for the first time after arriving in the United States on the two days before for their first US tour. The show had 5,000 fans apply for the 750 available tickets to see them live on the show while 40% of the entire US population tuned in to watch them perform. It was reported that there was a dip in crime in the United States during the performance which was the lowest crime rates in the US for 50 years.

In 1950 United States Senator, Joe McCarthy started a communist witch hunt within the State Department in order to gain popularity. Six days before his accusations were made a communist supporter and Russian spy, Klaus Fuchs, had been arrested in England for passing secrets about the American and United Kingdom’s atomic bomb projects (Fuchs had worked on both projects as a respected physicist). McCarthy originally produced a list of 200 people he claimed were communists but this number decreased over time to just 10 names after several inquiries. The arrest of Klaus also led to the arrests of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in March 1951 also for giving away atomic secrets to Russia, fuelled his four year campaign and public hysteria. After he was censored by the senate committee in 1954 the damage was done. Many people had lost their jobs and reputation and 25 States had outlawed communism. McCarthy died in 1957 after excessive drinking caused health problems.