July 10 Birthday
On July 10, 1925, the State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes began in Dayton, Tennessee. Scopes, a high school teacher, had been charged with teaching human evolution, which violated the Butler Act. The trial was a media circus — the first to be broadcast on radio. William Jennings Bryan argued for the prosecution; Clarence Darrow for the defense. Darrow called Bryan to the stand and questioned him on the Bible for two hours. Bryan could not defend literal interpretation. Scopes was convicted and fined $100. The verdict was overturned on appeal. The trial was depicted in Inherit the Wind (1960). Nikola Tesla, born this day in 1856 in the Austrian Empire (now Croatia), came to America in 1884 with four cents in his pocket. He worked for Edison, quit, and developed the alternating current system that powers the world. He invented the Tesla coil, radio remote control, and fluorescent lighting. He died alone in a New York hotel room in 1943, penniless and forgotten. The SI unit of magnetic flux density is named the tesla. People born on July 10 fall under the zodiac sign of Cancer. The birthstone is Ruby and the birth flower is Larkspur. Historical events on July 10 include 1925: Scopes "Monkey Trial" begins in Dayton, Tennessee, 1973: Bahamas gains independence from Britain, 1991: Boris Yeltsin sworn in as first elected president of Russia. Famous people born on July 10 include Nikola Tesla (1856), Marcel Proust (1871), Arlo Guthrie (1947).