Fun Historical Facts

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This is a variation of my "Fun TV Facts" thread, but involving historical leaders and events.

I'll start.

Topic: Records and firsts for heads of state. (Note: monarchs are only included if their country is an absolute monarchy)

Khertek Anchimaa-Toka (Tuvan People's Republic): First female head of state, in office 1940-1944

Fidel Castro (Cuba): Longest-serving non-royal leader, in office 1959-2011

Janet Jagan (Guyana): First Jewish head of state of a country other than Israel, in office 1997-1999

Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan): First female head of state of a Muslim-majority country, in office 1988-1993

Guy Scott (Zambia): First (and so far, only) white head of state in post-apartheid Sub-Saharan Africa, in office 2014

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (Iceland): First LGBT head of government, in office 2009-2013

Sabina Bergmann-Pohl (East Germany): First female head of state of a communist country, in office 1990

Sobhuza II (Eswatini, formerly Swaziland): Longest-reigning monarch (or any head of state) ever, reigned from 1899-1982

Mohammed Abdulaziz (Western Sahara): Longest-serving leader of a country lacking international recognition, in office 1976-2016

Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum (Cambodia): Longest-lived world leader, in office 1962, died in 2009 at age 103.

Hastings Banda (Malawi): Oldest actively serving world leader, left office at age 96, in office 1966-1994

Barack Obama (United States): First black US president, in office 2009-2017

Mary McAleese (Ireland): First female head of state to succeed another, in office 1997-2011, succeeded Mary Robinson

Evo Morales (Bolivia): First indigenous head of state in the Americas, in office since 2006

Kim il-Sung (North Korea): First "eternal" world leader, in office 1948-1994, declared "Eternal President" in 1998.

Samuel Doe (Liberia): Liberia's first leader not of Americo-Liberian heritage, in office 1980-1990

Donald Trump first US billionaire president.

His net worth estimated to be more than all prior US presidents combined.

4673 YEARS OF PI.

2686 B.C. (Approximate Year): Construction of the first pyramid at Giza begins. The pyramid was built so that the circle whose radius is equal to the height of the pyramid has a circumference equal to the perimeter of the base (e.g., 1760 cubits around and 280 cubits in height. 1760/280 = 6.286, which is 2 x 3.143, or the value of Pi correct to 2 decimal places or 0.04 percent).

2000 B.C. (Approximate Year): The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus indicates the value of Pi to be 3.16049 ("4 x (8/9)^2" or "256/81") -- correct to 1 decimal place or 0.60 percent.

555 B.C. (Approximate Year): An unidentified Biblical writer (possibly Jeremiah) implies that the value of Pi is exactly 3 (1st Kings 7:23 & 7:26, and 2nd Chronicles 4:2 through 4:5) -- off from the actual value by 4.72 percent.

250 B.C. (Approximate Year): Archimedes calculates the value of Pi to be 3.1418 (average of the bounds defined by "223/71 < Pi < 22/7") -- correct to 3 decimal places.

20 B.C. (Approximate Year): Vitruvius calculates the value of Pi to be 3.125 (= 25/8) -- correct to 1 decimal place.

130 A.D.: Chang Hong calculates the value of Pi to be 3.1622 (the square root of 10) -- correct to 1 decimal place.

150 A.D.: Ptolemy calculates the value of Pi to be 3.14166 -- correct to 3 decimal places.

250 A.D.: Wang Fan calculates the value of Pi to be 3.155555 (142/45) -- correct to 1 decimal place.

263 A.D.: Liu Hui calculates the value of Pi to be 3.14159 -- correct to 5 decimal places.

450 A.D.: Tsu Ch'ung-Chih and Tsu Keng-Chih compute Pi to six decimal places.

480 A.D.: Zu Chongzhi calculates the value of Pi to be 3.141592920 (355/113) -- correct to 6 decimal places.

499 A.D.: Aryabhata calculates the value of Pi to be 3.1416 (= 62832/2000) -- correct to 3 decimal places.

640 A.D.: Brahmagupta calculates the value of Pi to be 3.1622 (= square root of 10) -- correct to 1 decimal place.

800 A.D.: Al-Khwarizmi calculates the value of Pi to be 3.1416 -- correct to 3 decimal places.

1220 A.D.: Fibonacci calculates the value of Pi to be 3.141818 -- correct to 3 decimal places.

1400 A.D.: Madhava calculates the value of Pi to be 3.14159265359 -- correct to 10 decimal places. This value is more than enough decimal places to plot a course to circumnavigate the Earth and return to within 100 meters of the point of origin.

1430 A.D.: Al-Kashi calculates the value of Pi to be 3.14159265358979 using inscribed and circumscribed polygons -- correct to 16 decimal places.

1573 A.D.: Otho calculates the value of Pi to be 3.1415929 -- correct to 6 decimal places.

1593 A.D.: Romanus calculates the value of Pi to be 3.141592653589793 -- correct to 15 decimal places.

1593 A.D.: Viète calculates the value of Pi to be 3.1415926536 -- correct to 9 decimal places.

1596 A.D.: Van Ceulen calculates the value of Pi to be 3.14159265358979323846 using inscribed and circumscribed polygons -- correct to 20 decimal places.

1596 A.D.: Van Ceulen later calculates the value of Pi to be 3.1415926535897932384626433832795029 using inscribed and circumscribed polygons -- correct to 35 decimal places.

1665 A.D.: Newton calculates the value of Pi to be 3.1415926535897932 using his new calculus -- correct to 16 decimal places.

1699 A.D.: Sharp calculates the value of Pi correctly to 71 decimal places.

1700 A.D.: Seki Kowa calculates the value of Pi correctly to 10 decimal places.

1706 A.D.: John Machin develops a quickly converging inverse-tangent series for Pi and computes Pi correctly to 100 decimal places.

1719 A.D.: De Lagny calculates the value of Pi correctly to 127 decimal places (but only the first 112 are correct).

1723 A.D.: Takebe calculates the value of Pi correctly to 41 decimal places.

1730 A.D.: Kamata calculates the value of Pi correctly to 25 decimal places.

1739 A.D. Matsunaga calculates the value of Pi correctly to 50 decimal places.

1794 A.D.: von Vega calculates the value of Pi correctly to 140 decimal places (but only the first 136 are correct).

1824 A.D.: Rutherford calculates the value of Pi correctly to 208 decimal places (but only the first 152 are correct).

1844 A.D.: Strassnitzky and Dase calculate the value of Pi correctly to 200 decimal places.

1847 A.D.: Clausen calculates the value of Pi correctly to 248 decimal places.

1853 A.D.: Rutherford calculates the value of Pi correctly to 440 decimal places.

1853 A.D.: Lehmann calculates the value of Pi correctly to 261 decimal places.

1874 A.D.: Shanks calculates the value of Pi to 707 decimal places (but only the first 527 are correct).

1882 A.D.: Ferdinand Lindeman proves that Pi is transcendental and that the circle cannot be squared with a compass and straightedge.

1946 A.D.: Ferguson calculates the value of Pi correctly to 620 decimal places.

1946 A.D.: Presper Eckert and John Mauchly announce ENIAC, the first practical entirely electronic computer.

1949 A.D.: John von Neumann computes Pi to 2,037 decimal places using ENIAC.

1961 A.D.: Daniel Shanks and John Wrench compute Pi to 100,000 decimal places using an inverse-tangent identity and an IBM-7090 computer.

1987 A.D.: Yasumasa Kanada, David Bailey, Jonathan Borwein, and Peter Borwein use iterative modular equation approximations to elliptic integrals and a NEC SX-2 supercomputer to compute Pi to 134 million decimal places.

PLEASE don't politicize this thread!

Albania was the only country to have ever banned religion, from 1967-1990 under the communist regime.

We all grew up hearing that no two snowflakes were alike, but there was no scientific evidence to support that claim. In fact, science has now proven that to be false.

If you have trouble sleeping, maybe learn to count sheep according to the centuries-old British system...

1 - Yan
2 - Tan
3 - Tether
4 - Mether
5 - Pick
6 - Sesan
7 - Asel
8 - Catel
9 - Oiner
10 - Dick
11 - Yanadick
12 - Tanadick
13 - Tetheradick
14 - Metheradick
15 - Bumfit
16 - Yanabum
17 - Tanabum
18 - Tetherabum
19 - Metherabum
20 - Jigget
Then keep a tally of the number of Jiggets and go around again.

Several variations of this shepherd's counting system are known from different UK regions (the above one would have been local to the part of Yorkshire where I live). The words are derived from the Celtic languages that were spoken here many centuries ago (the pattern of fives and twenties is found in Welsh, Cornish, and Breton, too.)

(and I got to write "dick" and "bum" over and over - tee hee! )