Alex Wesolek (1896 - 1970)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Alex's lifetime.

In 1896, in the year that Alex Wesolek was born, in April, the first study on global warming due to CO2 - carbon dioxide - in the atmosphere was published by Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius. Arrhenius concluded that human activity due to the Industrial Revolution would amplify CO2 in the atmosphere, causing a greenhouse effect. His conclusions have been extensively tested in the ensuing 100+ years and are still seen to hold true.

In 1901, Alex was only 5 years old when John Pierpont "J. P." Morgan created U.S. Steel. J.P. Morgan was an American banker and financier who dominated U.S. business at this time. He had previously overseen the creation of General Electric, as well as International Harvester and AT&T. He has been referred to as America's greatest banker. U.S. Steel was the first billion dollar company in the world, worth $1.4 billion in 1901.

In 1923, when he was 27 years old, the A.C. Nielsen Company was founded in Chicago. It provided an audience measurement system that could provide radio station owners with information on their listeners and the popularity of their shows. Later, the Nielsen company became the basis for the fate of television programs.

In 1957, by the time he was 61 years old, on September 24th, the "Little Rock Nine" (nine African-American students) entered Little Rock High School. Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus had previously prevented the students from entering the school at the beginning of the term with the Arkansas National Guard - they blocked the door. President Eisenhower ordered federal troops - the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army - to guard the students and allow them entry.

In 1970, in the year of Alex Wesolek's passing, on April 10th, Paul McCartney announced that he was leaving the Beatles. (John Lennon had previously told the band that he was leaving but hadn't publicly announced it.) By the end of the year, each Beatle had his own album.