Welcome to Infinite Women

This Day In History

Activism

1983 10-year-old Samantha Smith of Manchester, Maine, received a reply from Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov to a letter she’d written expressing her concerns about nuclear war; Andropov gave assurances that the Soviet Union did not want war, and invited Samantha to visit his country, a trip she made in July.

2004 The March for Women's Lives brings between 500,000 and 800,000 protesters, mostly pro-choice, to Washington D.C. to protest the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, and other restrictions on abortion.

Arts

1917 Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born in Newport News, Virginia (U.S.). She was one of the leading jazz singers of all time. In her lifetime, she won thirteen Grammys—two from the first Grammy Awards in 1958 (best jazz individual and best female pop vocal performer). Her recordings have sold more than 40 million albums.

Aviation and Aeronautics

1990 The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed in orbit from the space shuttle Discovery. This achievement was due largely to the efforts of Nancy Roman, who had been NASA’s leading advocate for the power of space astronomy for a decade and a half, had made its first satellites a reality, and had gathered support and funding for the Hubble Space Telescope, but the mid-1970s saw her pushed increasingly from the centre of the action. In 1974 a reorganization of NASA placed her one step lower in the administrative hierarchy, with a new overseer who redistributed the work she used to do to other people, even those who technically ranked below her. With less to do, and finding little support from the astronomical community that still rankled from her frank approach to project rejection, she retired from in 1980.

Politics

1990 Violeta Chamorro takes office as the President of Nicaragua, the first woman to hold the position.