In 1997 IBM’s “Deep Blue” computer beats Chess Champion Garry Kasparov.
In their first match on the 10th of February 1996 Kasparov won the match loosing only two games out of six to his computer opponent. Kasparov was born in the Russian republic of Azerbaijan and considered the greatest chess master of all time.
Deep Blue had human intervention between each game and went on to win 2 games loose 1 and draw 3. Kasparov accused IBM of cheating and requested a rematch but IBM declined and also refused Kasparov’s requests for printouts of deep blues log files, immediately putting Deep Blue into retirement. Deep Blue was named after its predecessor ‘Deep Thought’ which was taken from the fictional computer in Douglas Adams book, ‘The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’
In 1956 The UK government announced its decision to award independence to the Gold Coast (now Ghana) if fair elections were held in the country.
After elections were held, Ghana gained its independence on the 8th of March 1957. Ghana was the first Black African country to gain independence from European colonial rule. Its first Prime Minister Dr Kwame Nkrumar was greeted by tens of thousands in the capital city of Accra but he only took the title of Prime Minister for a few years. In 1960 he proclaimed the country to be a republic and in ’64 he changed its constitution to proclaim himself President for life, banning any opposition parties. Within two years a military coup removed Dr Nkrumar from power and this was followed by many other coups creating instability in the region for a long period. In 1981 Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings seized power for a second time and began returning political stability to the country. In 1992 a referendum was held with the people of Ghana voting for a multiparty system once more. Rawlings was re-elected and continued in power until 2000 when he retired.
In 1820 the HMS Beagle was first launched on the River Thames.
Built as a gun ship for the Royal Navy the Beagles first use was in celebrating the coronation of King George IV. It saw no action as a military vessel but was kept as a reserve ship. Then in 1826 she was modified as a survey ship ready for her maiden voyage on the 22nd of May which was a four year mission to Patagonia (the southern tip of South America). It was her second voyage that made the Beagle famous when it set sail on the 27th of December 1831 surveying South America and returning via New Zealand and back to England on the 2nd of October 1836. It was one of the crew members aboard that would make the ship famous, a young Charles Darwin and it was his experiences on this voyage that would later allow him to create his theory “evolution by natural selection”. But Darwin was not aboard with the job of surveyor or even a scientific role, Darwin very nearly didn’t make it aboard at all but the position he secured was that of “Gentlemen’s Companion”. This role was basically to keep the captain company and thus prevent him from going mad on the five year mission at sea. Darwin’s diary of the mission became very popular and would later be known as “The Voyage of the Beagle.
Churchill proved to be the strong leader required to fight Axis powers determined that Britain would never surrender. Initially Russia was part of the Axis powers but after Hitler invaded the Soviet Union on the 22nd of June 1941 Stalin switched sides and began to repel the German advance. On the 8th of December 194 the United States were attacked by Japan and they too declared war on the Axis Powers.
