History of 24 May: Aligarh Muslim University was established on this day in 1920.
The day of May 24 has special significance for Aligarh Muslim University, one of the major educational centres of the country. Actually, this educational institute was established on this day in 1920. A great social reformer of his time, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, realizing the need to provide modern education to Muslims, established a school in 1877 which later became the Muslim Anglo-Oriental College.
This college went ahead and became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920. It was one of the four central universities in the country after independence. A series of other important events recorded on the date of 24 May in the history of the country are as follows: –
1543: Death of Poland astronomer Nicholas Kaepernick, who propounded the theory that all the planets, including the Earth, revolve around the sun and the earth also rotates on its axis, causing various seasons.
1689: British Parliament guarantees religious freedom to Protestant Christians.
1875: Syed Ahmad Khan founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental School in Aligarh, which is currently known as Aligarh Muslim University.
1883: The Brooklyn Bridge connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan is opened to traffic.
1915: Thomas Alva Edison invented Telescribe.
1931: The first air-cooled passenger train was run on America’s Waltmore Ohio route.
1959: Empire Day was renamed Commonwealth Day.
1985: Death of ten thousand people due to cyclonic storm in Bangladesh.
1986: Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain’s first Prime Minister to visit Israel.
1994: More than 250 Hajis died due to stampede during a Haj ceremony in Meena (Saudi Arabia).
1994: Each of the four accused of bombing the World Trade Center in New York City in 1993 was sentenced to 240 years in prison.
2000: Israel ends its 18-year-old occupation of southern Lebanon and withdraws its army from there.
2001: Sherpa Tenba Sheri, 15, of Nepal became the youngest climber to conquer the summit of Mount Everest.
2004: North Korea bans mobile phones.
