"The Cassandra Crossing" released 1976

The star-studded disaster flick, The Cassandra Crossing, was released to rather not-very-positive reviews February 9, 1976.  The plot of the movie has 1000 passengers on a train who have been exposed to a potentially deadly virus.  They are not allowed to leave the train and are being diverted to a place in Poland.  But first they have to traverse the Cassandra Crossing, an abandoned railroad bridge, which has been closed for over twenty years because it was falling apart back then.  Will it manage to support the train or will it collapse?

It starred Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Martin Sheen, O.J. Simpson, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Ray Lovelock, and Dan Haggerty(?) in an uncredited role.

Despite the negative responses, I enjoy the movie and will continue to watch it.

Celebrating Black History Month: Ira Aldridge, nineteenth century actor and trailblazer

Ira Frederick Aldridge, born July 24, 1807 in New York City, was a Shakespearean actor and toured all over Europe, becoming one of the top paid actors of the time. He began acting in the early 1820s but facing persistent discrimination against black actors, he emigrated to Liverpool, England in 1824.  British Parliament had outlawed slavery and was trying to abolish slavery in all of the British empire. This increased the possibility for black actors to perform.

In October 1825, he debuted at London's Royal Coburg Theatre, where he played the lead role in Revolt of Surinam, or A Slave's Revenge.  Audiences loved him, but theatre critics at the time were scandalized by his race, and made their racism evident in their reviews.

He continued to perform throughout Europe and was on tour in Poland in 1867, when he died from a prolonged lung condition.  He is the only African-American actor to be honored with a bronze plaque at the Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon.  

Happy birthday, Polish cosmonaut Miroslaw Hermaszewski!

Miroslaw Hermaszewski, born September 15, 1941 in Poland (now Ukraine), is the only Polish citizen to go to space.  He traveled aboard Soyuz 30 to the space station Salyut 6 with fellow cosmonaut Pyotr Klimuk as part of expedition EP-3 in June 1978.

He returned to Earth almost 8 days later.

Marie Curie, 2 x Nobel prize winner, born 1867

Marie Curie, born November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, Poland, is still the first woman to win a Nobel prize, the first person (and only woman) to win TWO Nobel prizes and the ONLY person to win a Nobel prize in two different categories!

Although she studied and worked in France, she remained loyal to her home country of Poland and named the first chemical element she discovered 'polonium' after it.

She shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with her husband Pierre for their work in radiation research. 

Her husband died in a tragic road accident in 1906, which devastated her, but the University of Paris where Pierre taught decided to offer his chair to Marie.  She accepted and became the first woman to teach at the university.

In 1911, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work in discovering and isolating the elements polonium and radium.

Due to her long exposure to radiation, Marie Curie contracted leukemia and passed away in 1934.

Happy birthday, shuttle astronaut James Pawelczyk!

James "Jim" Pawelczyk, born September 20, 1950 in Buffalo, New York, is an astronaut who flew on the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-90) April 1998. He is the first American astronaut of full-blooded Polish descent to fly in space.  Cosmonaut Miroslaw Hermaszewski was the first Pole in space in 1978.

Pawelczyk got a MS in physiology in 1985 and PhD in biology from the University of North Texas (Go Eagles!) in 1989.  It was his education and background why he was selected for the STS-90 mission, which conducted research on the human neurological system.

First Polish cosmonaut, launches with Soyuz 30 1978

Cosmonaut Miroslaw Hermaszewski

June 27, 1978, Miroslaw Hermaszewski became the first Polish national in space, when he took off in Soyuz 30 with Commander Pyotr Klimuk.  The Soyuz 30 crew docked with the space station Salyut 6 and spent almost 8 days conducting experiements with the Soyuz 29 crew.  Hermaszewski and Klimuk returned to Earth July 5.