In 1961 the Russian Venera 1 attempted the first ‘flyby’ of Venus, but contact was lost before the flyby could be carried out. Although contact was lost on the 19th of February, without any useful data returned, Venera 1 is believed to have passed Venus on 19th of May successfully.
In 1912 the last emperor of China, Aisin-Gioro Puyi, abdicates ending imperial rule in China after more than 2,000 years. The First Chinese emperor dates back to Qin Shi Huang in 221BC and the forming of the Qin Dynasty. Xuantong Emperor Puyi, as he was known, became emperor on the 2nd of December aged 2 and was forced to abdicate after the Xinhai Revolution aged just 4 years old. The Xinhai Revolution was in 1911 and led to the creation of the Republic of China and ended with the abdication of Puyi, the last Emperor.
In 1809 revolutionary naturalist Charles Darwin was born in Shropshire, England. Although he did not invent the theory of evolution, he certainly made the idea more accessible to the world. His theory (now proven fact) was evolution by natural selection, where by an organism with a mutation may be better adapted to certain environmental changes and therefore improve their survival. This means the organism with the useful mutation is more likely to survive and reproduce and hopefully pass on the useful mutation. Overtime species are able to adapt to the world around them and this process gave the Galapagos Islands (and the world) the rich diversity of its inhabitants. He is considered revolutionary because the idea of evolution was a very difficult one to sell at the time, as it went against not only the church but also the scientific views of the time. It is said that Darwin himself still believed in the biblical creationism explanation even after he left the Galapagos Islands.
