November 1 Birthday
On November 1, 1512, the Sistine Chapel ceiling was first displayed. Michelangelo had painted it on his back for four years, lying on a scaffold sixty feet above the floor. The ceiling depicts scenes from Genesis — the Creation, the Fall, the Flood. The most famous panel, "The Creation of Adam," shows God extending his finger to Adam. Pope Julius II, who had commissioned the work, died four months later. The ceiling was restored in the 1980s and 1990s, removing centuries of candle soot to reveal colors so bright that scholars initially thought the restorers had damaged the work. In 1800, John Adams moved into the White House. It was not finished — the plaster was still wet in the East Room. Abigail Adams hung laundry in the East Room because there was no other space. Adams wrote: "I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof." Franklin Roosevelt had these words carved into the mantel of the State Dining Room. People born on November 1 fall under the zodiac sign of Scorpio. The birthstone is Topaz and the birth flower is Chrysanthemum. Historical events on November 1 include 1512: Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling first displayed to the public, 1765: Stamp Act goes into effect in American colonies, 1800: John Adams becomes first president to occupy the White House. Famous people born on November 1 include Stephen Crane (1871), Gary Player (1935), Larry Flynt (1942).