Alexander Watson (1881 - 1967)

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

In 1881, in the year that Alexander Watson was born, on November 19th, a meteorite landed a few miles southwest of Odessa, Ukraine. According to one report: "About 7 o'clock one morning a bright and serpentine tail of fire was seen passing over the town by the inhabitants of Odessa, and M. Prendel, editor of one of the Odessa papers, surmising that the phenomenon betokened a fall of meteorites, offered a reward to any person who would bring him one. Three days afterward a gentleman of Grossliebental brought him one which had been found by a peasant who was nearly frightened out of his senses at its fall. It fell beside him while at work in his field and buried itself .55 meters (almost 2 ft) into the ground." The recovered piece was about 17.5 lbs.

In 1898, at the age of 17 years old, Alexander was alive when on March 24th, Robert Allison of Pennsylvania became the first person to buy an American-built car. He bought a Winton, which he had seen in an advertisement in Scientific American. The Winton, built in Ohio, was made by hand and came with a leather roof, padded seats, gas lamps, and tires made by B.F. Goodrich.

In 1915, at the age of 34 years old, Alexander was alive when in May, the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German torpedo. The Lusitania was a British passenger ship that was sailing from New York to Liverpool England. She sank in 18 minutes - 1,198 died and 761 survived. While travelers were the main casualty - and commodity - the Lusitania did carry wartime weapons. "Remember the Lusitania" became the rallying cry of World War 1.

In 1941, Alexander was 60 years old when on December 7th, the Japanese attacked the military base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The surprise aerial attack damaged 8 U.S. battleships (6 later returned to service), including the USS Arizona, and destroyed 188 aircraft. 2,402 American citizens died and 1,178 wounded were wounded. On December 8th, the U.S. declared war on Japan and on December 11th, Germany and Italy (allies of Japan) declared war on the United States. World War II was in full swing.

In 1967, in the year of Alexander Watson's passing, between June 5th and 10th, Israeli and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria fought what came to be called the "Six-Day War". The hostilities began when Israel launched "preemptive" strikes against Egypt, destroying nearly its entire air force. It ended with Israel occupying the Sinai Peninsula, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and West Bank.