JANUARY 17 - Today in Food History
- National Hot Buttered Rum Day
- St. Anthony the Abbot, patron saint of pigs & butchers.
1501 Leonhard Fuchs was born. He was a German botanist who compiled the first modern glossary of botanical terms. The plant and the color fuchsia were named for him.
1560 Gaspard Bauhin was born. A Swiss botanist who developed a binomial system of plant classification. He published 'Pinax Theatri Botanici', which was a compilation that included over 6,000 species that had appeared in works from Theophrastus, Dioscorides and many later herbals.
1705 John Ray (Wray) died. A leading 17th century English naturalist and botanist. He contributed to the advancement of taxonomy, and established the species as the basic unit of taxonomy.
1706 Benjamin Franklin was born. American diplomat, publisher, inventor, etc. Among his inventions were the Franklin stove and biofocal eyeglasses. He also published 'Poor Richard's Almanac.'
1890 Peter Henderson died. A Scottish-American scientist, known as the 'Father of America Horticulture,' he published 'Gardening for Profit’ and 'Gardening for Pleasure'.
1922 Betty Marion White was born. She was the actress who played the 'Happy Homemaker' Sue Ann Nivens on the Mary Tyler Moore TV show.
1929 Popeye the spinach loving sailor first appeared in the comic strip 'Thimble Theatre.'
1997 Clyde W. Tombaugh died. An American astronomer who discovered the planet Pluto in 1930. Born on a farm near Streator, Illinois, he made his first telescope from old farm equipment parts.
2001 Norway lifted a ban on exports of whale meat.
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