On July 15, 1799, a French soldier named Pierre-François Bouchard stumbled upon an odd black slab while helping fortify a wall near the town of Rosetta (modern-day Rashid) in Egypt. What he found would go on to become one of the most important archaeological discoveries ever: the Rosetta Stone — the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The slab dated back to 196 B.C. and featured the same decree written in three scripts: Greek, Demotic, and hieroglyphic. Since scholars already understood ancient Greek, this gave them a kind of translation guide to crack the code of Egypt’s mysterious writing system, which had stumped historians for centuries.

It wasn’t an overnight breakthrough. It took over 20 years of study, with French linguist Jean-François Champollion finally breaking the code in the 1820s. His work unlocked a whole world of ancient Egyptian history — from pharaohs to religious texts — and changed how we understood one of the world’s oldest civilizations.

So on July 15, 1799, a random dig in Egypt turned into a game-changer for history and archaeology, all because someone thought to take a closer look at a dusty old rock.

On July 15, 1916, a timber and mining entrepreneur named William Boeing officially launched the Pacific Aero Products Co. in Seattle, Washington — which would soon be renamed The Boeing Company. It started with a single, homemade floatplane built in a boathouse. Today, it’s one of the biggest aerospace companies in the world.

Boeing had gotten into aviation after taking a joyride in a rickety plane and deciding he could build something better. He teamed up with Navy engineer George Conrad Westervelt, and the two built their first plane, the B&W Seaplane. After its first successful flight, Boeing knew he was onto something.

By World War I, Boeing was producing planes for the U.S. Navy. By World War II, they were building bombers like the B-17 Flying Fortress. And after the war, they pivoted hard into commercial aviation — eventually creating icons like the 707, 747, and today’s 787 Dreamliner.

So on July 15, 1916, with a dream, a boathouse, and a bit of spare lumber, Boeing took off — and ended up reshaping the way we travel and fight wars for the next century.

Gunboat Diplomacy💣
In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry led a U.S. naval expedition to Edo Bay (Tokyo Bay) to force Japan to open its ports to American trade. When Japanese officials refused to accept U.S. demands, Perry ordered a cannon demonstration, firing blank rounds and live shells near the village of Uraga as a show of force. The intimidation was part of a strategy known as gunboat diplomacy. Just a year later, in 1854, under threat of further military action, Japan signed the Convention of Kanagawa, ending over 220 years of national isolation under the Tokugawa shogunate. ⚓📄🇯🇵

Banned Parachutes🪂
In 1930, the British Air Ministry issued a nationwide ban on parachute jumps for public entertainment following the death of a performer at the Thurston Fair in Suffolk, England. During a stunt witnessed by approximately 20,000 people, the parachutist’s chute failed to open, resulting in a fatal fall. The incident raised safety concerns over civilian use of parachutes in non-military contexts. The Air Ministry cited the lack of regulation and equipment standards as justification for the ban. 🪂⚠️

Ketchup = Vegtables🍅
In 1894, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued guidelines allowing ketchup and other tomato-based sauces to be classified as vegetables under prison meal regulations. The classification was based on nutritional content per serving rather than botanical accuracy. The ruling allowed prisons to meet federal standards for vegetable servings at reduced cost. The same logic resurfaced in the 1981 Reagan administration proposal to classify ketchup as a vegetable in public school lunches, which was later withdrawn after public backlash. 🍅📑🏛️

Napoleon Kidnaps Pope🇫🇷
In 1807, after repeated conflicts with the Catholic Church, Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the arrest of Pope Pius VII following the pope’s refusal to annul Napoleon’s excommunication and opposition to French occupation of the Papal States. French troops entered Rome and took the pope captive, transferring him to Savona, and later to Fontainebleau, where he remained under house arrest for five years. Despite pressure, Pius VII refused to lift the excommunication or recognize Napoleon’s legitimacy over the Church. He was released in 1814, following Napoleon’s first abdication. ⛪🇫🇷⚖️

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