In 1960 France becomes the fourth country to develop and test nuclear weapons. The 70kt “Gerboise bleue" was the name of their first bomb tested on this day in 1960 in the Algerian desert, then under French control. The first nation to create and test a nuclear bomb was the United States in July 1945 with a 20kt device named “Trinity” followed by Russia with “RDS-1” in Aug/Sep 1949. The United Kingdom tested their first nuclear bomb on the 3rd of August 1952 with “Hurricane” a 25 kiloton device tested off Western Australia.
In 1920 the Neutrality of Switzerland was recognised by all members of the League of Nations (the predecessor to the United Nations). Switzerland’s Neutrality was first recognised at the Congress of Vienna, where the major powers of Europe met in Vienna to discuss international policies after the defeat of Napoleon. Switzerland had been invaded and occupied by the French until 1803 and they wished to be recognised as a Neutral country to prevent another invasion. Its geographic location and diverse population also made neutrality a sensible choice for the country. Swiss Neutrality was re-affirmed by the League of Nations during the Versailles conference and as such the League of Nations chose the Swiss city of Geneva as the home for their headquarters.
In 1633 Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome, ready for his inquisition and second trial for heresy in front of the pope. Galileo had been a strong supporter of the Copernican view of the solar system after observations he made with his telescope. The Copernican view said that the planets revolved around the Sun while the prevailing view was that the universe revolved around the Earth. This view was originally championed by Ptolemy and strongly supported by the church as it implied mankind’s importance. Galileo had already been warned not to support the Copernican view by the church but he could not ignore the evidence. He published a book called ‘Dialogue on Two Chief World Systems’ where he discussed the two theories through two characters in the book. Galileo was once again ordered before the pope and in April 1633 his inquisition began. This time he was threatened with torture and placed under house arrest until further notice; it was while a prisoner in his own home that Galileo died, on the 8th of January 1642. The church finally admitted that the Copernican view was correct in 1835 and in 1992 pope John Paul II expressed regret about the churches handling of Galileo.
